The Dukeries - Clumber Park

Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire,  is owned by the National Trust and open to the public but it used to be the ancestral home of the Duke of Newcastle.  Guests arriving in 1790 would travel through the park gates and down an avenue of lime trees (over two miles long it was the biggest in Europe) before reaching this bridge and catching sight of the fabulous mansion for the first time.

"The house has a dining-room 60 feet long, 34 wide, and 30 high, and contains many rich works of art; and the park has a lake in front of the house, and is about 11 miles in circuit."


1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales








It was so beautiful it was described as a place "to paradise the mind" by a guest in the 1790s.  Unfortunately it suffered a great fire in 1879 and had to be rebuilt.  A second fire in 1912 followed by the First World War and The Depression led to the house being demolished in 1938.

Well, today we enjoyed a stroll round the Duke's estate, photographed a few birds and had tea and scones in his back garden.

 


Nuthatch

Nuthatch Movember!

"I can see right through your nose!"







Andy took the photographs of the Nuthatch and the Mute Swan - I don't have to tell you that I took this one!!!  I tried!

On the way back to the car this Mandarin Duck was splashing about in the river.