Wednesday 20 October 2010

--LIVING IN HISTORY--

So peeps, last weekend I stayed in a temple. Caj.


No, but actually. Last weekend I stayed here.



HOW COOL? There's a company in the UK called the Landmark Trust which restores historic buildings and rents them out to people in order to pay for their upkeep. This particular gem is part of Stowe Landscape Gardens, also home to Stowe School (so yes, I did get to do a bit of public-school-boy-spotting while I was there. Little pleasures, as they say). An amazing building, and the only downsides of staying there were the fairly nippy temperatures at night, and the attempts by members of the public to storm the place after seeing me sitting inside. (Joke, I think they were probably just after the architechture...although who knows with pensioners).



The weather was pretty amazing almost throughout, and the trees were just turning from green to gold-best part of autumn, I think. The colours at this time of year always make me want to go to New England.



You can look it up elsewhere, but in short, the gardens (which we were allowed to wander through freely after hours) were Capability Brown's first venture and are full of all these Classical temples and follies etc. (The Gothic Temple, where we stayed, is the only anomaly in an otherwise Arcadia-like eden). Every time you turned a corner there would be something else to catch your eye. English gardens at their finest; I was so lucky to be there and have the chance to 'recharge my batteries' (as my mother always puts it, subsequently making me cringe at her ad exec-style turn of phrase) in such amazing surroundings.









(own photos-please credit)

2 comments:

Rebecca Maureen said...

Just laughed so hard I had to catch my breath. Pensioners storming the building for you, haha! I can't believe you can stay there. It looks like heaven.

Anonymous said...

i really think u should revive your tradition :)
sparklers are so cool! :)