16th June is my Nan's and Aunty's birthday. And they are both called Valerie (Sr & Jr). To celebrate we all went out to Osterley House: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/osterley-park/. We had some tea and cake in the Stables (don't worry no horses, its a cafe now) then we looked around the house and grounds.
With intermittent sunshine and clouds, but strong gusts of winds all the time, the day was quite a success. I had an excuse to take out my camera, this time with black and white film, and (hopefully) got some good shots. Since its good old fashioned film, I'll have to wait for them to be developed. As soon as they're done, I'll post the best on here.
Having not visited Osterley Park since I was a child, at first I didn't remember certain things. My Dad told me about me and my sister climbed trees and we all rode our bikes around the grounds. I remember a little bit but I thought most of those memories were at another park.
The house was amazing, though not as full and detailed as Hatfield House was. Many of the rooms, especially downstairs were quite sparse or empty. I thought the Library was most exciting, as I do love old books. There was even a woman demonstrating how to clean old books in there. While my Dad couldn't get over the plaster carvings, I was quite obsessed with the curtains. I tried my best to take photos of the them, but without flash in a dim room, I'm not sure how good they'll be.
Another highlight was seeing the kitchens, especially the pastry room. The rooms had been set up, all neat and tidy giving the best impression of how it would have looked when in use. Another room that stood out was a bedroom that had a 8 poster bed in it, and the bed had a dome on the top. The guide told us that this was one the most experience bed at the time as it cost, in today's money, £150,000. It was meant to be for when the King came to stay, but he never actually did.
I took a few photographs but with my phone, so excuse the bad quality.
This is a marvelous tea set that was in a rooms just off the side of the main entrance
This is an unusual game we found in the room next to the Servants' Hall
And this part of a series of framed illustrations just outside the kitchens.
Before we went to the house, I told everyone 'that I'm sure Batman was filmed here not long ago' and behold I was right, but I'm sure most people knew that. In fact Osterley House has been used many a time and there is an exhibition being held about this in July til October.
Click on the link for more info: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/osterley-park/things-to-see-and-do/events/
An awesome family day out, so happy it didn't rain.