After the Dockyard closed as a military base, the boring parts were cleared and re-developed, while the historic bits were conserved and opened as a large-scale museum. Today, as well as interior displays, the visitor can explore a Victorian warship, a WWII destroyer, and a submarine. Inside various buildings is an audio-visual recreation of the sailing Navy, a collection of naval hardware inside a wooden shed which is an exhibit in itself, etc etc. The long rope-making building is still in use. There are many historic buildings on site (not all open). Items from the Tudor navy to the 20th century are on site. Currently (Sept. 2011) components of the dismantled and somewhat charred “Cutty Sark” can also be seen at Chatham. On some days, you will see a steam hauled dockyard train trundling around.
There is a lot to see, and visitors should be aware that it takes some time just to walk from one end of the site to the other. My favourite items were the beautiful Victorian warship, HMS Gannet, the destroyer HMS Cavalier, and the great shed with the complex timber roof, housing a collection of anything from boats to boilers.
(HMS Gannet survived because the hulk was used as a floating Gulag for hapless sea cadets, who were subjected to a regime that today would be considered too harsh even for juvenile delinquents.) Outside the entry booth for the submarine, HMS Ocelot, is a plywood board with a large hole in it, and a sign suggesting that fatties should try climbing through it before proceeding further :-).
Admission prices aren’t particularly cheap, but this is a first-rate museum and the standard price covers a year’s re-admission, which is just as well as there is too much to see in one day. On entry, you will probably be handed notices and invites for timed events, and you could start by making your way to those, and having a preview of what’s en route, bearing in mind that walking to the far end will take about 20 mins even if you don’t linger. Thanks to demolition, there is plenty of car and coach parking. If you have time on your hands after a 2nd visit, the Royal Engineers’ military museum is in the town.
Anglesey Abbey, Cambs.
National Trust.
The house’s last wealthy owner bought the stone Jacobean manor house because it was conveniently placed for the stud he owned at Newmarket. He then transformed it over the next 40 years, filling it with his collections of fine and decorative art. 98 acres of unpromising fen were transformed into a garden. The house today is an Aladdin’s cave of priceless furniture, paintings and objets d’art, a collection that ranges over every style and period from all parts of the world. There is an exceptional collection of books in a library built in 1938, and paintings, including many of Windsor, in a square two-story gallery built on in 1955. In the grounds is the Lode Mill, an old water-mill now restored to working order.
There is plenty to look at in the house, including the sole visible fragment of the old Abbey, a vaulted room now used as the dining room, and the two-storey gallery extension which houses a number of impressive paintings and an elaborately painted piano.
Outside, exploring every section of the 114-acres of lawns and gardens should tire even the most energetic visitor. There are intimate flower gardens, courts with stone columns, and long tree-lined vistas, a canal, a woodland nature walk, and a lake. The house looks its most Jacobean from the south/garden side. On arrival, the visitor’s first mission is to find the house, which is several hundred yards from the car park, beyond a line of tree and shrub planting. At the Mill, you can admire the working machinery, and purchase flour and oatmeal ground there.
Woburn Safari Park, Beds.
The main attraction is a drive-through, which takes you through several areas of parkland in which large animals roam. Here are areas with herbivores, including giraffes and elephants, carrnivores and monkeys. There is also an on-foot area, with restaurants etc, and displays of smaller and more child-friendly animals.
I took my elderly mother here in 2008 and remember herds of grass-eaters of various species on
the wide grasslands, a large and obviously male elephant, a wood with various species of monkey monkeying about, and a lot of lazy-looking lions and tigers lying about in groups. It took over an hour to drive through all the enclosures.
The tickets are quite expensive, but unless wild animals really bore you, you should find that it’s worth the investment. Season tickets and discounts are available.
Be aware that convertible cars are not permitted in the carnivore enclosure 🙂 and that in the monkey enclosure, monkeys may damage parts of your car. You can drive around the enclosures loop as often as you like.
Townend Farmhouse, Cumbria
Townend is a rare and remarkably intact survival of the house of a family of yeoman farmers. The house largely dates from the seventeenth century, with limewashed walls, mullioned windows and a slate roof topped with six round chimneys. Just across the lane, dating from the same period as the house but built on a much grander scale, is the farm’s stone and slate galleried barn, with a ramp up to the granary floor and the date 1666 carved on one of the lintels.
The Browne family who lived here for over four centuries were sheep farmers, and seem to have gradually risen in society through careful management of their affairs. The contents were preserved by the last George Browne, an antiquarian and woodcarver, some of whose intricate carving remains in the house.
Much of the attraction of Townend lies in its contents, which reflect the Browne’s life and interests over several generations. There is a little library, with fiction, angling and farming periodicals, and a wealth of heavy oak furniture. Various old-fashioned rooms remain much as they were. There was a real fire burning in the kitchen on the day I visited.
The small garden has been re-created as it was in the Edwardian era.
Well worth a visit if you are in the area. It takes an hour or two to go round and see everything. Parking is some distance from the farmhouse.
Torre Abbey, Torquay, Devon
There was originally an Abbey of the Premonstratensian Order here, but after the Dissolution of the monasteries, the remains of the buildings were converted into a large rambling house, owned for centuries by the Cary family. The Abbey, by now largely Georgian in character, was purchased by the local council in 1930 for use as an art gallery. The building is said to be divided into 122 rooms, rambling over 20 different levels and with 265 steps. However, in recent years the building was found to be in need of urgent major repairs, and was closed for a time, re-opening in 2008.
Today, the Abbey houses an enlarged art collection, including Pre-Raphaelite paintings by Holman Hunt and Edward Burne-Jones, and sculpture by Frederick Thrupp. In the gardens are some abbey ruins and a hothouse.
Adjacent to the house is the historic Spanish Barn.
The abbey is well worth a visit, both as a historic house and as an art gallery. One can get lost wandering around a large number of rooms at various different levels.
It is possible to visit Torre Abbey by train, as it is an easy walk from Torbay station.
Revisited May 2022
Oldway Mansion, Paignton, Devon
The Oldway Mansion was built around 1875 by Isaac Merritt Singer (of sewing machine fame) and remodelled by Paris Singer, his 3rd son, in 1904-7. The remodelling was intended to make the house resemble the Palace of Versailles. After use as a hospital in WWI, a country club, and a training centre for RAF cadets in WWII, it was acquired cheaply by Paignton Urban District Council, who use most of it for civic offices.
Oldway Mansion is set in 17 acres (69,000 m2) of gardens, which are laid out on an Italian theme by the French landscape gardener Achille Duchesne. Beneath the eastern elevation of the building is the maze, which consists of dwarf box hedging and flower beds. To the south of the mansion there is the grotto garden where a waterfall passes over a rocky cave into a pool below. The grounds of the mansion contain many sub-tropical plants and shrubs.
The mansion and its grounds can be visited free of charge by members of the public, and it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Torbay. The mansion has a small museum with exhibits linked to the building’s history, including antique Singer sewing machines. Oldway Mansion is a Grade II* listed building.
In May 2010, it was reported that Torbay Council had reached an agreement with the property developers Urban Splash, which will transform Oldway Mansion into a £10million 85-bed hotel, and build around 160 homes on the site. The contract was valued at £1 million and allowed for around £3 million of repairs needed at the mansion. Torbay’s mayor Nicholas Bye supported the plan, while opposition councillors expressed concerns that the site had been undervalued.
Bastards!!
is my immediate reaction to this news, coupled with a suspicion that Torbay Council’s next move is to squander tens of millions on a shiny new prestige office block for themselves.
(If you think my reaction intemperate, reflect on how much public money councillors squander on new prestige offices for themselves given half a chance. Newham council reportedly spent £111 million on theirs, and if you Google you might find an even more outrageous example.)
As of Sept 2011 the mansion and grounds were still open to the public. I urge you to go and visit the place while you still can, and if you live locally, to protest loudly and rudely against the plans.
When I visited the site in 2008 (free of charge), the mansion looked extremely impressive on its slightly elevated site. Inside, the Versailles-style décor of the hall and staircase is gob-smacking, but not much else of the interior is on view. Outside there are large and well-kept formal gardens, which complement the house, and a round building, the Rotunda, which was built in 1879 and used for horse exercising. The Mansion can be visited by train, though it’s a bit of a tramp from Paignton railway station.
Moggerhanger Park, Beds.
Private, grounds accessible
The house was built in 1790-1816 to the design of Sir John Soane, the famous architect. Since then it has had a chequered history, and from 1919-1987 the house and gardens were the site of a local hospital. Threatened with being turned into a housing estate, in 1995 the house and grounds were acquired by a Christian trust. The stakes were raised when in 1997 the rating of the much-abused house was upgraded from Grade II* to Grade I, implying a more costly restoration.
Today, the relics of the hospital have been cleared away, and the house has been expensively restored to its original appearance. It is in use providing space for Christian organisations,and hirers. There is a tea-room in the grounds, near the walled gardens. The grounds have been tidied up and restored, and are open daily to the public. When I was last here I took my aged mother, who just managed to make a circuit around the outside of the house on her own feet. The house is not open other than by guided house tours during the summer. I was fortunate enough to go on a house tour during the major restoration, and another after the house was completed. There are some interesting Georgian interiors with good ceilings and plasterwork.
Surviving Soane buildings are rare, so the Park is well worth a visit if you are in the area.
2023 visit: the hut that contained the museum has been moved to a new site near the walled gardens, and contains the tea-room. The museum is currently in storage. The B&B’s are now discontinued. The walled garden may be newly planted, as I don’t recall any walled gardens from previous visits.
Lundy Island, Devon
National Trust & Landmark Trust.
The car-free island encompasses a small village with an inn and Victorian church, and the 13th-century Marisco Castle. For nature-lovers there is a variety of flora and fauna. The waters around Lundy were designated the first Marine Conservation Area, and offer opportunities for diving and seal watching. Lundy is financed, administered and maintained by the Landmark Trust. There are cottages to rent, and also a campsite.
Access is normally by Lundy’s own ship, the MS Oldenburg. Sailings are from Bideford or Ilfracombe. It is possible to go for a day trip, which gives one about four hours ashore, enough time for an active person to visit the village and other locations on the half of the island nearer the landing pier. If you stay for a week, various away-from-it all experiences are possible, including doing as little as possible :-).
I went for a day trip, and got to the island on the second attempt, the first attempt being cancelled at short notice because of rough sea conditions. On the voyage, the sea was fairly calm, and the whole day was sunny. I visited the village, the pub, the church, the converted castle (now holiday lets), and various points of interest including the lighthouse in the middle of the island. There are some old ruins, the relics of granite mining on Lundy (a topic you can look up if you are interested.) The voyage itself is quite enjoyable on a fine day with good visibility, as various landmarks and ships slowly move in and out of view. As we approached, Lundy got bigger ahead of the ship quite suddenly.
Lakeland Motor Museum, Cumbria
I visited this in its previous incarnation at Holker Hall, and recollect that there was a lot of it, and the exhibits were very interesting.
Holker Hall, Cumbria
Much of the house dates from the 1870’s, when the West Wing was rebuilt after a disastrous fire, and this is the part that is now opened to the public. The house is built in red sandstone in a kind of Elizabethan Gothic style. Inside, a hall and a series of grand rooms are luxurioiusly furnished. Popular pieces of furniture include the Rent Table, work by Chippendale, the Regulator Clock and the Nursery Yacht.
Outside are large and noted gardens, long-established and containing many fine trees. Hall and Gardens are well worth a visit, and there is plenty to see and do. Suggested visit time: half day.
I recollect that there was a motor museum on the estate, but this appears to have been relocated to Ulverston. (see Lakeland Motor Museum)