Kevin & Petra's travels: Birthday Boy

Tuesday 28 August

Kev’s Birthday today only 54 years young, had a lovely load of cards and everyone kept to the agreement (no gifts!) except Dad who is a law unto himself and as the family patriarch he can do what he likes! Thanks Dad you're the best. Big thanks to all my family and friends for the lovely cards and to Jo & Paul and Petra for the quality chocs.

This morning we packed a picnic lunch and flask ready for the outing in the afternoon and picked up Audrey. We then had a quick dash around Burton on Trent shops to get some essentials, maps of Weymouth and France, Bodyshop, blah, blah blah. We arrived at Shugborough Hall near Stafford about midday and set up the table and chairs for lunch on the grass verge next to Campy. Unfortunately, the verge was right next to the high speed rail track from Stafford to New St, Birmingham, it was really noisy when a train went by it was enough to stop all conversation. Anyway, lunch duly dispatched we set off for the house.

We didn’t realise it but we were quite a distance from the house and we were greeted a very nice chap in a green uniform who asked us if we were going to the house and if we wanted to go to the house on his minibus, so on the bus we got and we were off. We were glad we did as it was quite a walk and the view from the bus was really good. On arrival we passed the old stables walked to the ticket office to get our entry tickets. Now as you know National Trust houses are usually free entry for members and we were rather surprised when we were told if we wanted to see the Servant’s Quarters and the Farm it would cost another £7.50 each to enter. We decided to say no thanks. We also had to pay £3 for the car park which Dad could redeem off his ticket for entry.

Personally, and on first view, I felt the house was lacking some of the grandeur of other houses we have seen of late. It’s a dull grey colour and looks drab as if was made of concrete. Architecturally, it is uninspiring and frankly we preferred the design of the out buildings to that of the house. Internally, the house has a feel of being owned by a corporate body (in this the Council) and clearly it has to pay its way by hosting weddings, conferences, and I am sure all manner of other functions. Also the furniture in places looked out of place.

I do realise that I am being a bit negative in this blog and to be fair some of the rooms are nice and I hope the pictures will do it justice.

What we didn’t realise and later found out, was the house and the grounds are indeed owned by the National Trust but they have been leased out to Stafford Council on the understanding that they manage the the said grounds and house. Also, when the Anson’s (AKA Patrick Lichfield) handed the keys to the house over to NT I think in the 60‘s they leased some of the rooms back, enabling them to carry on living in the private rooms in the upper part of the house. After Patrick died at the early age of 65 in 2005 the family relinquished the lease and removed all the furnishings. The upstairs is now filled with a mixture of furniture and carpets some genuine but most from the council who had some furniture of their own in storage. They have furnished the apartment as best they can with lookie-likie furniture but in my opinion the atmosphere wasn’t quite authentic enough to pull it off. You also had the feeling that the place was not quite up to the standard we have come to expect from the NT.

After the walk around the house was complete we went for a cup of tea in Lady Walk Tea Room. Copious amount of tea for 4 for only £4 so we were impressed with that. It was a shame it came in a tea pot that had definantly been in the war as it’s lid was bent almost beyond recognition. Still it tasted ok and you can’t have it all your own way.

The grounds to the estate are well laid out with nice walks along the River Trent at the bottom of the garden the path led us to a Chinese house which I assume was called so because of the design of the roof but that is about all that could be said for it. To the right is an oriental type bridge which is painted pink! We took some photos on the bridge. We then moved on down a beautiful tree lined path to the cat monument? We have no idea what that is about as there was no information to explain its existence. In essence it is a 4m high structure with a cat lying on top of a large vessel which in turn is resting on the back of 4 rams. Again I have no idea of the significants of the rams. Opposite is a disused tennis court all covered in moss and un-loved.

In conclusion, We found Shugborough Hall not at its peak and it is a shame. Nevertheless we did have a nice day honest and I really enjoyed the company of Petra, Audrey and Dad. A good day was had by all. Off for a slap up meal down the Dog and Partridge now to round the day off.

Best view of the house (the out buildings)