Kingston Lacy

In between caravans in Hayling and moving to Weymouth, we had some time so visited Kingston Lacy (thank you National Trust passes). The house is part of the estate of the Bankes family who owned Corfe Castle (which we visited later in the trip). So huge. 

There is no scale but I could stand in this.

Modern sitting room.

King Charles.

The lady of the estate

Creepy and I have no idea.

Another cosy dinner table

The keys to Corfe castle

Another amazing library.

The upstairs bedrooms were all decorated like a circus.

Oddly there was an Egyptian exhibit downstairs.

Osborne House

The weather was pretty miserable on Saturday so I went to Osborne House in Cowes, one of Queen Victoria's favourite. They recently filmed the Victoria and Abdul film here. 

Entrance

Statue of one of Queen Victoria's favourite dogs.

Family portrait.

They had the whole house dressed up for Christmas. And as most of the traditions we have for Christmas come from Victorian times, it was nice to see them up.

Christmas table

Love chair, for dating couples (middle) and their chaperones (the ends)

Victoria's billiard table - taller so she could play without bending

Statue with earrings.

Horn chair

All the furniture in this room was made from antlers.

Queen Victoria's lift (hand pulled)

The last room was the main banquet hall, used for official visits and later on family (she had 40+ grandkids!). It's all plaster and based on Indian designs.

It was drizzling when I went outside (after a lovely chat about books with the lady in the shop) and headed over to the Swiss cottage and down to the beach.

The back garden

Around the Swiss cottage.

The cottage was shut but the walk down to the beach was open.

Queen Victoria loved being outside so she had these little huts built across the grounds so she could sit outside during any weather. There was one down on the beach and no one else around. It was so peaceful. I really want one of these! (Hut and beach.)

The beach

On the way home I went to the second vineyard on the Isle of Wight, Adgestone Vineyard. The guy who gave me the easing there was very good and they have some lovely wines. Also some interesting ones, one of which I have brought my brother-in-law for Christmas, along with a few for myself of course. 

I got back to Shanklin early as I had an early dinner reservation and ticket for the theatre. The dinner was nice though they put me the opposite side of the restaurant to everyone else. It wasn't a toilet seat (the one near the toilet or behind the kitchen door where they usually put single people) but it was weird.

At the theatre, I saw the Russian State ballet perform Swan Lake. It was very good though the story was the usual. Boy meets girl. Boy promises girl everything. In the day it takes girl to join him, he has promised himself to someone else who was wearing a similar dress ("But I had a drink and I thought she was you!" Where have I heard that one before?) And in the end everyone dies. But they were very pretty while doing it. 

Buckingham Palace

Last weekend I got a ticket to visit Buckingham Palace (the gallery, mews and state rooms). I got there a bit early (you have timed entry) so stopped for a cup of tea and something to eat. It turned out to be the most expensive cup and tea and biscuits I have ever had. And the biscuits weren't even very big!

The gallery is nice but I am just not that into historical art. Especially as I had no idea why I was looking at Venetian art at an English palace.

Some of the sketches of the theatre parts were interesting.

You are supposed to spend about 1 hr 15 mins around the gallery. I was bored within 10 mins. Though it took another 5 mins to find the way out.

The next stop was the Royal Mews. Which apparently doesn't actually house any horses. There are the carriages, though they all looked the same to me and the numbers on the information had no relation to the numbers on the audio guide. 

The only one with real information was the jubilee carriage. From what I can gather, most of it is made from old material but is newly built.

Jubilee carriage.

Distinct lack of horses

The only horses were plastic!

The main carriage (the name I forgot) was very dramatic, and I think used for the coronations.

A lot of gold leaf.

Neptune.

I managed to spend about 20 mins there before I ran out of things to do and had a while before my next entry so went for lunch before the state rooms. 

On entry they had 3 metal detector to get about 250 people through every 15 minutes. So chaos. 

Once I got in, it was better. You can't take any photos inside, but it was the only bit worth seeing. Though I would have liked some more information about what was going on. 

From the gardens.

Overall it was a giant disappointment. Windsor was so much better, with more information and much better organisation. 

Through the garden on the way.

The day was not helped by mass chaos at the tube so it took me ages to get home on the overground. Hoping this weekend will be better. I'm back in the centre of London but this time on a food tour. :)