Speke Hall

Spent a couple of hours in the garden doing a bit of weeding and potting on and then we took Mum for lunch at Oliver's. 

In the afternoon we went to Speke Hall. Last time I was here with my husband, we had forgotten that it was half term and it was very busy and the queue to get into the Hall was huge, so we didn't bother to go in. But this time we went in and found it really interesting. 
The Hall as we know it today was started in 1524 by Sir William Norris and extended in 1546 to accommodate his growing family. He had 19 children!!! The work continued and was finished in 1598 by his second eldest son who succeeded him, as his eldest son was killed in a battle. So all in all, it took 68 years to build the Hall, which is just a tad slower than today's builders ; )
There were plenty of volunteers around and the information about each room was easy to find. We had a good afternoon, and walked through  the woodland and around the bund to get a few steps in whilst the sun was shining.