Mike and Wendy's holiday blog: Mar 22: Milton Keynes and Churnet Valley Railway

Wednesday 23 March

Journey down to Old Stratford near Milton Keynes. Lovely village - had a bit of a wander. Lovely day - temperature in high teens C!

Thursday 24 March

Early morning wander in the nature reserve at the side of the Great Ouse river.

Bletchley Park - home of the code breakers - fascinating place!

One of the earlier simple methods of decoding - looks like the old slide ruler 😁

Beautiful grounds for the workers to relax in.

Made from tiny pieces of slate.

Then to Waddesdon Manor - a fabulous place owned by the NT but still overseen by the Rothschilds who owned it for 3 generations and used it as a weekend residence for entertaining. It is a neo-renaissance style whimsical building filled to the rafters with all their collections and antiquities.

Horses with webbed hooves.

A very beautifully trained climber on the tower in a very precise pattern.

The largest chandelier in the house - huge decorated teardrop crystals.

Stunning dining room.

Some of their wonderful collection of clocks.

Part of their famous wine collection.

Quirky chandelier made of broken crockery and cutlery.

Billiards room with a fabulous ceiling.

Saw this trundling along the road near Milton Keynes - they are used for local food deliveries and are very cute..😍

Lovely day in the sunshine - about 18⁰C so pretty warm!

Friday 25 March

Motoring back towards Stoke ready for our railway trip tomorrow.

Our first stop was Stoneywell - an Arts and Crafts cottage in the middle of Charnwood Forest - built by Ernest Gimson (artist/architect friend of William Morris) in 1899 for his brother.

It was like a hobbit house built into the side of a hill on about six levels with quirky little rooms leading up or down from one another! Fabulous views from every window of the glorious garden - we were so lucky to see this on such a warm and sunny day..☀️

The acorn leaf design on this chest was the one used on the original NT logo - it won a competition.

The gardens were beautiful too.

Next stop was Keddleston Manor near Derby and more culture and more collections housed in the Curzon family's neo classical mansion this time..😁

Booked into our accommodation at the Huntsman and walked back to the centre of Cheadle for a mooch - only to find Pugin's Gem!

In 1840 the architect Pugin (who also did much of the decoration in the Houses of Parliament) was commissioned by the Earl of Shrewsbury to build an RC church 'that would have no rival'. So he did. And this was the result - one of the finest examples of lavish, ornate Gothic Revival. No expense spared, no corner left uncovered, totally OTT but I loved it..😁

All the pillars were beautifully decorated with matching chevrons - but all the in-between bits all slightly different - and all hand painted.

Saturday 26 March

Lovely breakfast (which we didn't need!!) then another walk into town. Popped back into Pugin's Gem to see how different the light was at a different time of day.

Then off to Froghall Station for a ride and meal on the Chernet Valley Railway courtesy of Louise, Luisa, Ema and Pete who had bought it for Mike's birthday present.