A Grand in a Grand Pile

Oh dear! The day did'nt look very promising weather wise which was a shame because I had it in my mind to walk with Millie to the location for today's blip. I'd Googled the map, 45mins walk, that was okay we normally walk for an hour + depending on distractions, but with the weather looking iffy, I had a rethink. Plan B. Walk Millie, then drive to the location, so that's what we did. Of course I had'nt gone too far when the skies brightened so it would have been a lovely walk. We continued, walking through Cockington Court up onto the John Musgrave Trail, doing a reverse loop of our previous two morning walks. More hazelnuts, gosh it's a bumper year. I must go and check out my other "go to" Hazelnut hedge. I exhausted last years roasted hazelnuts making the last batch of courgette burgers. I found the bird feathers again that I'd spotted yesterday, picked them up to bring back to try and identify. Doggy poo bags have more than one purpose :) I always seem to have them in my pockets these days lol!!
Back from our walk I jumped in the car and shot across to take some images. I found a parking space on the roadside without having to pay so that was a great start. 1 hour parking should give me plenty of time. Thought I was heading in the right direction but thought I'd check with am elderly lady just to be sure. Yep, just along the road, the last time I came here was with Mum when we came to register Dad's death. Hubby & I were witnesses to our next door neighbours registry office wedding in the same building, phew, about 27 years ago. They got married in the April, we were the only two people who knew they were getting married. They had a large circle of friends, but did'nt wish to offend anyone by asking two of them to be witnesses, we were neutrals, perfect for the job. We had buck's fizz in the cottage before heading to Oldway Mansion, Becky had arranged for a bouquet of flowers & a bottle of champers to be delivered to her mum & dad at 10.45am in Hampshire with a note asking them to raise a glass at 11am, the time of the 10 minute ceremony. It was a gloriously sunny  Spring morning, the flower beds a mass of colourful tulips & forget-me-nots. A perfect backdrop to some wedding pics.The listed mansion set in 17 acres of gardens was built at the end of the 19th Century for the Singer family which made its fortune from manufacturing sewing machines. The French Renaissance style building has been empty for 6 years. Today Oldway Mansion is boarded up, the registry office moved to Cockington Court. The building is quite magnificent, the interior fabulous. I remember the beautiful sweeping marble staircase. It would be a tragedy if the building was left to deteriorate. There were plans to turn it into a luxury hotel but that did'nt materialise. Torbay Council is now apparently preparing a bid for a grant of £15m to restore the building for public use. There must be no end of possibilities so fingers crossed they find a solution. I spent an hour just exploring the exterior of the mansion, the sadly neglected Italianate gardens, which are listed, plus the surrounding buildings. I did harvest a few seed heads :). The box topiary design & layout in the Italianate garden still remain, & clipped, so would'nt need too much work to restore. An hour that I thoroughly enjoyed. I was planning to use an image of the mansion itself but when I looked through the dirty floor to ceiling French windows that would have opened out onto the main terrace I spotted the grand piano in what I guess might have been the ballroom. I could'nt decide whether to use the image as taken or the one above that I have brightened slightly. It's such a grand room, in a grand but sadly neglected building, which hopefully will not be left to crumble into a pile.
Whizzed back to the car as I had gone over the hour. Whoops! No problem, no ticket.  Back for lunch, quick catch up on Celebrity Masterchef on the Beeb iplayer, then over to Teignmouth to pick up a secondhand stereo system bought on-line. What a friendly, but slightly odd couple. I was there an hour, hearing about their son who is on the autism spectrum, the daughter who is a doctor & getting married at the end of the month, plus so much more. Oh, and they are keen gardeners, growing Canna's from seed gleaned from the gardening contractors ripping plants out at the end of the Summer season over on Exmouth seafront last year. I got caught up in all the school traffic.
Back to base, time for Millie and I to stretch our legs once more. We make a good team, I pick up the rubbish, she eats, or should I say, she WOULD eat if I did'nt stop her, the windfall apples and blackberries fallen along the way.
Easy dinner tonight once I'd got to grips with the microwave here. It's got settings for Chinese/Indian, Pasta/casserole, Pana crunch, crispy top. The options are endless. All I wanted to do was cook a jacket spud. I pushed the crispy top button too, just for the hell of it. LOL!! So an easy dinner for one ... microwaved orts plus jacket spud. Perfect! Milk chocolate digestive for dessert with a coffee. We watched Celebrity Masterchef. Millie climbing onto my lap, not sure if she is supposed to be on the furniture. Sssshh!

Earlier tonight. Now off to finish reading A History of Insects.

Thanks to steveng for hosting wide Wednesday, with the additional 'A Grand Pile'