Stourhead and Stonehenge

Sunday was a beautiful day (if slightly overcast) and I spent it with one of my favorite people in my new favorite landscape garden: Stourhead. The Stourhead website claims this to be the first English landscape garden. Whether true or not, it is a wonderful garden. The house was built by the Hoare family (a banking family) and although not a truly notable house in terms of architecture or style, it is very notable for its collections. When we left the house we felt we had truly met the family and had followed their travels through the collections they brought home. It reminded me of all the travel memories that are a part of our own home!

The garden itself was so inviting. They built a lake and as you walk around it (up and down hills) you come across numerous monuments that tell you the ideas and issues the family supported. High amongst these ideas was their support of liberty. The lake had beautiful full trees of various shades lining the side of the water. At the end of our walk round the lake we wound up at the church. It was obvious this was an old building whose congregations had built and changed across hundreds of years.

We had missed lunch and walked for over an hour so we were hungry. Instead of lunch we had homemade scones, the best fresh clotted cream I have ever had in my mouth, and fresh strawberry jam with a pot of tea.

Our final stop of the trip was Stonehenge. I have been there many times but I thought you might enjoy a picture of one of the most famous sites in England!