Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire

What a fascinating place! Angelesey Abbey is a Jacobean-style house with expansive gardens. The home was in ruins - as an Abbey wrecked during Cromwells reign of disaster and laid to waste for several centuries. An American family, cashed up with money from oil became interested in the area and one of the sons, at the age of 30, bought the ruin with the idea to create an English Manor house and fill it with his treasures.


Lord Fairhaven  wanted to create something that both inspired and surprised his visitors, and had always intended to gift his collections and home to the people through the National Trust.  He lived a very luxurious life which revolved around horse racing and shooting, and having high flying guests visit.
All of this is reflected in the silverware, the paintings and furnishings throughout the manor. its difficult to choose a favourite piece, but the silver clock, with its intricate carving, really took my eye.

I also loved to see some Constable paintings on the walls.


On the event of his death, his will stated that everything must remain as he he left it, which included pens on desks, and cups on mantle pieces. It looks as though he has stepped out and is due to return at any moment.

Its so difficult to rush through these homes as every room deserves hours of contemplation, reflection and research. It was Michaels first National Trust home and it was s delight to allow him space and time to look at the paintings and sculptures; though 2 hours was scarcely enough time to really look at everything.


The kids explored the expansive gardens and delighted us with their creations in the woodlands. Something that I love about National Trust places, is the space (and encouragement) for kids to build tree houses and dens.

The treehouse was incredible!  Three stories high..

 Anglesey Abbey has a wildlife discovery centre, which I know you could spend an entire day wandering around. The rose garden and the formal gardens were beautiful with the vistas of the landscaped areas taking our breaths away, and giving Michael a bigger appreciation of what travelling and experiencing places like this means to the kids and I.

Flatford Bridge

Flatford Bridge.. Where Constable drew most of his inspiration from for his iconic paintings 

I guess only another art enthusiast could get quite so excited about seeing some ponds and a foot bridge. I think what could top this would be seeing Monet waterlilly gardens just outside of Paris.

I will resist going to see them THIS time we head to France... Sigh.. I digress. 

We had a relaxing picnic on the riverbanks, fed the overstuffed ducks, and wandered into the little cottage Constable withdrew to in order to paint. 

There were a number of reproductions of his most famous paintings; incredible to look out the window as see basically the same vista.

I noted  a number of workshops and art based weekends based here.. Huge sigh.. Again, something to explore next time we are here.

Disruption and Disarray of Blog posts

Anyone who has subscribed to my blog, and gets them posted to their mail box when something is published will notice a bit of a lag (read absence all together) in posting for around 3 weeks End of July - mid August.

Although I will be taking alot of photos and posting on instagram, I very much doubt actual blog posts will be completed until much later - they will be 'post' dated, but you , my loyal fans, will get them in dribs and drabs and with dates that make no logical sense.

My reason for the absence is that Michael has flown 20K miles to join the kids and I for a whirlwind tour of England, before being whisked off to Paris and shuttled sadly back to Australia.

Normal 'posting' of blogs will resume and updates from the trip will get to you.. sooner or later.