Dumfries House

When posting this yesterday I became caught in a mess of uploading three items simultaneously, one of which was spurious and could not be cancelled, deleted or turned off. The Helpdesk removed two but the odd one continued to scroll into eternity so this morning Mr Flum suggested turning off the phone and on again - and it stopped. It must have been exhausted, I certainly was! So here's the story I had written, to account for my day.

Not only is this an elegant Palladian mansion designed by John and Robert Adam in 1750 but it has been saved for the nation complete with furniture (including much by Thomas Chippendale) by a consortium headed by the Duke of Rothesay aka Prince Charles, Prince of Wales.

Not that the house was open today but the grounds provided plenty of interest, from the knot garden at the front to fountains in ponds buzzing with damsel flies, arboretum of unusual varieties and glorious walled garden,all teeming with butterflies and topped with a belvedere decorated with Welsh Dragon gargoyles.

We noted two sundials, one a lectern style in danger of being shaded by one of many giant redwoods, the other a modern armillary which was half an hour fast. Another, on a wall by the cafe, was sadly too eroded to read.

We returned to the car by way of the Chinese Bridge, reproduced from an original drawing, see extra photo.