Summary of a working visit at Madhyamaka Buddhist Meditation Temple -Yorkshire

Its a beautiful, tranquil spot, Madhyamaka Buddhist Meditation Temple up in York. As a volunteer worker, the conditions are spelt out before you arrive. It is defiantly not a place to expect to sit and ponder the worries of the world or meditate for hours on end; unless you are able to do this zen style ( in a moving mediation method) 

There are plenty of opportunity to join into the faith sessions, mediations and rituals during the week. 

Though the work is fairly simple, it can become tedious and repetitive, but this is due to the low expectations of supervisors on what the ability of its workforce. This is understandable as there is a wide range of abilities applying to volunteer.

It does give an insight into the life of a monk or long term helper within the temple and an excellent way to explore the Buddhist faith and teachings. 

Though it was challenging to do this with the kids in tow, it was an invaluable experience for them.

Every picture has a thousand stories

There are so many reasons I love to visit National Trust Houses, least of which is their astounding array of artworks. I kinda hyperventilate sometimes when I recognise a very famous painting.. just hanging there. Other times, when the room may be quiet, and the attendant is particularly helpful, I will get some history behind pieces; which again brings it all to life and more excitement about the place.

This painting is one that the duchess at Nunnington hated with a passion. It was painted when she was about 12 and held so many flaws that the painting was hidden until past her death. Her daughter, the most recent owner of the property before it was handed to the National Trust ensured that the painting was hung in pride of place along with its story. 

The duchess maintains that the dress was so scratchy and dreadful to wear, that it was only used for the sitting. Her family was shocked that the artist placed her on a couch in the way she is sitting, as she would never have been allowed to sit on the arms like this. She would never have been allowed to have shoes on near the furniture and certainly never have been allowed to have an outside toy within the house, let alone the sitting room. The best bit about this story is, is that the duchess's mother saw the painting and got the artist to come back and extend the length of the dress by a few inches as the actual dress was far too short and showed her knees.  LOL!

Nunnington Hall - Yorkshire

Nunnington Hall is a beautiful Tudor Manor house in the Yorkshire dales. We visited because it houses the worlds largest collection of minature dolls houses and scenes. The toy collection through the ages is extensive as well.

I took a load of photos, but have chose a few to share. The lady of the manor had miniatures of her home here - or her other homes made and decorated with actual fabrics and incidentals ( plates, chandeliers, paintings) The collection is exquisite in its detail and simply priceless. 

There was a section for kids to dress up in the era that the home was in its 'hey day' Lily chose to be a flapper and loves the feeling of gloves and jewellery. 

Tudor dark wood rooms. I love the paneling and the floorboards.

A tribute to the hunting craze of the gentry. So many skins and heads. It was a bit creepy to be honest.

The gardens are renown as one of the finest in the area. It has a huge organic walled kitchen garden and beautifully manicured hedges and formal gardens.  One of the stories that I loved, was that in winter, the lord woudl flood the front garden and allow it to freeze ( doing this several times for several layers of ice.) and then the children and family would go skating on the a huge rink it formed.