We went to Killerton House, as she hadn’t been before. The weather was atrocious at times, but as we were going inside the house today and not the gardens, it didn’t matter too much.
There is always an exhibition at Killerton. At the moment, it is Seeing the Woods for the Trees, which is celebrating 100 years of the Forestry Commission. Francis Acland was instrumental in establishing this in 1919. Killerton also has an extensive clothing collection and also showed an exhibition of dresses/coats which had been inspired by trees, flowers etc.
We explored the ground floor rooms. As with most Nat Trust properties, there were volunteers in each room who readily gave information of the family, whose home this was until 1944 in the case.
By the time we had finished the ground floor, we were a bit peckish. So we had lunch in the restaurant, the Killerton Kitchen. I had a Ploughman’s with ham and cheese, it was delicious! Mum had a posh Sausages and Mash which looked scrumptious too. Killerton has 18 tenant farmers and the food comes from these farms. We were so full, we couldn’t manage a dessert. A neighbouring table had crumble with custard, which looked wonderful.
After lunch, we did the upstairs of the house where the clothing exhibition was held. It always amazes me what women had to wear and how uncomfortable it must have been. Their feet, too, were so small and narrow!
Once we had seen the rest of the house, we walked back to the courtyard, to the shop, cafe and second hand book shop. Due to the weather and the fact that Mum had already done a fair bit of walking, we didn’t do the gardens. We’ll do that another day when she is up to us.
I saw Mum back on the Falcon bus back to Plymouth, did a bit of food shopping and early evening went to my Aqua aerobic class. It was a full, but very enjoyable day and I slept like a log last night.
I’ll leave you with a photo of me and the birthday girl, taken at Killerton. Thanks for popping by, cheerio for now, Ann x
Aww, lovely photo. It's good to have really nice photos of our parents (and other relatives and good friends), something to cherish when we no longer have the people around. I have a lovely photo of my mum as my screen saver, it makes me smile whenever I look at it. Sounds like you both had a lovely day yesterday.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is, Sooze. I cherish the last one I have of my Dad & I. It was taken on Fathers Day 2016 and he felt perfectly well then. A month later, he felt unwell and passed away from cancer Dec 2016. So photos are so important.
DeleteWe had a lovely day:)
Your mum looks well for 81. A memorable day for you both.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Joan. It was a day we will both remember fondly.
DeleteSounds a perfect birthday day out together.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was and the fact we dodged the heavy showers was a bonus :)
DeleteHappy birthday to your Mum. Killerton is a lovely place to go for a day out.
ReplyDeleteAnn31 July 2019 at 09:32
DeleteThank you, Debbie. Yes, it is. It only takes about 10 minutes to get there from my house, so I pop up there quite often. It's lovely to see the gardens in the different seasons.
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ReplyDeleteSounds like a wonderful day, I am a Devon maid, lived there all my life until 4 years ago, I gave birth in Exeter.x
ReplyDeleteIt was lovely, Marlene. Heavitree Hospital? That's where I had my two. Weird that Waitrose is now on that site, isn't it!
DeleteRoyal Devon & Exeter.
DeleteIt should have been Okehampton, well it was to start off then it was a siren to Exeter job.
Gosh, that must have been traumatic!
DeleteIt sounds like you had a wonderful day with your mum, a memory you will cherish.
ReplyDeleteYes, Janice, these days out are lovely to look back on :)
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