A Trip to Stourhead National Trust House & Gardens

After yesterday's beautiful sunny weather, this morning was a complete change - heavy rain for 3-4 hours at least. However the forecast for the afternoon was much better, so we decided on a plan which would give us the morning indoors and the afternoon outside: we drove to Stourhead National Trust property, an 18th Century Palladian mansion with extensive grounds.
 
The house itself was full of fascinating artefacts so it was hard to choose which to blip. In the end I decided on this "Pope's Cabinet". It had been a gift to Pope Sixtus V, and so his personal possession, but some time following his death Henry Hoare (nicknamed "Henry the Magnificent") purchased it from the Church and shipped it back from Italy (at what cost? - one asks!) for his collection of cabinets. It's made of pietre dure (hard stone); the softwood carcass is covered with thin layers of marble, glass and semi-precious stones and conceals over 150 hidden drawers. The workmanship is magnificent, especially when examined close-up.
 
Happily the weather forecast was correct so we had a lovely walk round the beautiful grounds in the afternoon: the walk took us round the artificial lake which was looking its best with the trees showing off their autumn colours (see the extra).