28 November 2019

Dressing Up




My boys gave me an enthusiastic welcome when I got home today.  Rick gave me furry hugs and kisses, Paul made me a cup of tea.  I had been out for the day with two friends from the village, a trip to Doddington Hall just south of Lincoln.


Doddington Hall is an Elizabethan mansion, a privately owned and family managed enterprise.  Rain prevented us from exploring the walled gardens but the house was a delight, slightly theatrical but warm and inviting.  Beautiful paintings, furniture and tapestries but not too much in the way of historical artifacts.  There was a solitary glass cabinet containing a cavalier’s boots and costume dating back to the Battle of Gainsborough in the sixteenth century.  This felt more like a home (albeit a very posh one) and less like a museum.





We wandered freely through the rooms, I loved the teddy bears picnic in the drawing room.  On the top floor the unusual tented room reminded me of an opium den.  The tent was originally made in Cairo around 1900 and used outdoors.  It has recently been restored after years in storage.

Then through a narrow corridor hung with old coats.  The temperature suddenly dropped and we entered into a room full of snow covered Christmas trees -  we had arrived in Narnia.  It was an unexpected and charming scene.  For a moment we forgot we were mature women of a certain age and took it in turns to dress up as the White Witch of Narnia.

friend Jackie dressing up as the White Witch
We had a leisurely lunch in the Hall’s restaurant and then it was time to head home, only half past three but already nearly dark.  A lovely day out.

19 comments:

  1. You are getting braver and braver.

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    1. The village ladies are not going to let me be a hermit.

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  2. What a treat to live in a country with so much history. I envy you!

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    1. We are lucky that so many of these historic houses are open to the public nowadays.

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  3. What a beautiful house, but they really should have taken their last year's tree down. They'll be wanting to put this year's one up in a few weeks!!!!

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    1. I have never seen so many Xmas trees in one house. But to be fair their decorating theme was an Enchanted Forest.

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  4. And......how many opium dens have you been in I might ask?? ( It looks like a wonderful day out )

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  5. This is the wonderful thing about the dog that is always happy when you come home, about a husband I can no longer remember ...

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    1. Always a boisterous and joyous canine welcome.

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  6. Interesting to see the house and it's decorations, but I couldn't live in such surroundings. I'm always glad to get back to my fairly minimalist home.

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  7. Sounded like a great day out. Hope the decorating got finished?!

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  8. What a fun day out! Who would have thought you would have ended up in Narnia?

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    1. It was unexpected and very well thought out. They even had the lamp post, but sadly no Aslan.

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  9. Aye lass, 'twere, as Wallace might have said, a grand day out... I m so pleased that you now describe fellow villager Jackie as a "friend". That is great.

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    1. It seems easy to make friends in this little village.

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  10. Thank you for the photographs of Doddington Hall - it brought back such memories because I can remember it before the days when it became such an enterprise. It all looks really well done now and - like Sue above - I am pleased to see that you are making friends so easily (us yellow bellies are easy to get to know!)

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