A Queen Anne house in extensive grounds. Two flanking pavilions are joined to the main house by curving corridors. There is a noted collection of sporting pictures. If I remember correctly, the house is notable for being exceptionally well maintained: everything inside looks like new. The house is open to visitors on limited dates during the warmer months, and admission is by conducted tour.
Crownhill Fort, Plymouth
This is a Victorian Fort built to defend Plymouth from attack. Obsolete for its original purpose, it was later used as a barracks. There is quite a lot to see, with gun emplacements, embankments, tunnels etc. The Fort is owned by the Landmark Trust. Unfortunately it is not open daily to the public, but there are pre-booked tours and events during the year. If you are interested, you should look on the website and book a tour or event. I found it a most interesting place to explore.
My sister just reminded me about this access nightmare – approaching from the north a right turn is required, and it took some time to escape a tangle of looping service roads and get on the other side of the dual carriageway.
(Looking at the digital mapping today, it appears that turning off onto the B3413 Crownhill Road may not work, and you have to continue south to the big A386/A38 roundabout and execute a U-turn. Another possibility is to take an early right turn at the Looseleigh Lane roundabout and then approach circuitously along the B3373.)
Dales Countryside Museum, Yorks
Typical local museum, not worth a big detour to visit. You can probably park for free on the roads outside.
Deene Park, Northants
Private
A substantial house, with crenellations, and built of honey-coloured stone around a central courtyard. The earlier parts date from the 16th centurey or earlier, with 18th and 19th century additions. The contents include relics of Lord Cardigan of Balaclava fame, and of the scandalous Adeline Horsey de Horsey. The house is open on limited dates during the summer months.
The contents are of considerable interest and rooms downstairs and upstairs are opened for visitors.
The grounds are worth seeing and include a number of feature garden areas as well as woodland walks and an expanse of lawn. Not accessible to visitors are the former walled gardens and an intriguing circular building.
If you want a leisurely visit to the house, the grounds, and the tea-room you are advised to arrive soon after the grounds open as the total opening time is only 4 hours.
If using satnav, look for brown car park signs, as the satnav may direct you to a back entrance by a longer route.
Note that there are other grand houses in the Corby area which could be visited on the same day. Kirby Hall is nearby.
Imperial War Museum Duxford, Cambs.
This is a major aviation museum. If you want to know what aircraft they have, you can check the website, which makes you search a database to check the collection. You’ll find that it has many British and American aircraft from WW2 and the post-war period. The American hangar is dominated by a B-52. The museum also has a B-29 Superfortress and a B-17, an Avro Vulcan, etc. Aircraft exhibits fill several hangars. There are also regular flying days. You should plan for an all-day visit.
Duxford Chapel
English Heritage
A small but complete and attractive 14-th century chapel.
Worth a visit if you’re in the area. It’s sited just off a main road. Open at any reasonable time.
Dyrham Park, South Gloucestershire
National Trust
The grounds are of substantial size and drop dramatically down towards the William & Mary period house, with its long east front. Behind the house there are gardens. The interior is furnished in a Dutch style. The house is worth a visit and besides the main rooms one can look at rooms in the basement, and an orangery. Outside there is a large park, and behind the house some formal gardens with ponds. The church can be visited but the access route was not obvious.
The main car park is next to the road, some 500 yards from the house. The property is only a few minutes drive from the M4, and is a handy break point on journeys to the far south west and South Wales.
Revisited May 2022.
Forest Centre, Marston Moretaine, Beds
This area was used for brick clay extraction, and the land is now being reclaimed by planting parts as forest, and establishing nature reserves. In the Forest Centre building is an exhibition that makes a noble effort to get the public interested in forestry and forest products, and also a café. Nearby is a wetlands reserve which can be visited, for a fee. There are also walks around the lakes, and watersports on Stewartby Lake.
If you are interested in the Great Outdoors and our feathered friends, you should have a great time here. I’d recommend taking advantage of all available navigational aids, as the ground is flat and there are screens of small trees, so it’s often hard to see where anything is, where you are, or which big square lake you are looking at.
For car-free access there is a railway station at Millbrook, a healthy 20 minutes brisk walk distant.
Geevor Tin Mine, Cornwall
Until 1990 this was a working tin mine and major local employer, but now it is preserved as a monument to the Cornish tin mining industry. Some of the machinery was removed for scrap, but much remains. It is now a major exhibit, with a museum and the surface machinery areas open to the public. The preserved site extends over 67 acres. The mineshafts are not open to the public, but within the site you will see a scary looking black hole which is the mouth of one of the vertical shafts. Look out for the model somewhere in the museum which reveals the enormous complexity of the system of shafts and galleries, which extended deep undergoround and under the sea.
There is a guided underground tour into Wheal Mexico, an 18th century mine. This is shallow and mostly horizontal, but authentically twisty and cramped and dank. My sister survived the surface tour but balked at going into Wheal Mexico.
Allow several hours to see everything.
In the surrounding landscape are many relics of earlier mining enterprises, in the form of gaunt engine houses and rubble-strewn ore processing floors.
Harrington Airfield, Northants
During the war, the airfield was the base of the USAAF 801st and 492nd Bomb Groups, and the USAAF’s clandestine “Carpetbagger” operations. Carpetbagger operations delivered supplies and personnel to resistance groups in occupied countries. Later, it became a Thor missile base.
Today, the runways have been returned to agriculture. On the site of the original buildings the Carpetbagger Aviation Museum can be found. This crowded museum contains many exhibits related to Carpetbagger. If you a military aviation buff, you should find this of great interest.
In the surrounding countryside a few concrete relics and a memorial can be found. The memorial is on the C-47 dispersal site at the side of the Lamport – Harrington Road.
