Audley End House And Garden

After a night in a quiet layby near Barton, and a stop at a Cambridge "superstore," we continued our tour of East Anglia, now (July 4^th) on to Audley End House and Garden, near Saffon Walden, Sussex. Audley End is owned and managed by English Heritage, another cultural non-profit. The distinction between English Heritage and the National Trust is, broadly, that English Heritage does the ruins, castles and abbeys and such, and National Trust does the "live" buildings, those still intact (mostly) and furnished and that you can still visit and in which people (remaining lords and ladies with sharp lawyers) still live (parts of them; the houses). But there are exceptions, and Audley End is one of three "live" houses done by English Heritage. Did I mention that on our British campaigns we generally become members of the National Trust, English Heritage, and the Camping and Caravanning Club? Given our interests, and the entrance fees, these memberships pay for themselves rather quickly. The organizations do not envisage Americans spending weeks or months in the UK visiting houses and gardens and ruins and such. Anyhow, after WWII, Audley came to the government (it had already been used as an army base) and eventually to English Heritage, and thus to all of us. It was a superb visit, with a garden tour, the butler's pantry private tour, and the house tour. Two caveats: 1) no fotos in the house, and 2) if you're in a motor-home, you'll have to get to the car park via its exit; the main entrance has 9'6" height limit.

Full frontal, but only a fraction of its former glory; Jacobean age, although the
contents vary over the centuries

Front lawn, looking toward a distant folly; note cricket pitches, left

Great cedar, beautiful trees all around

Former glory, 17th

Enormous cloud-sculptured hedge

Tulip tree tulip

Water feature near the walled garden (which we left prematurely for the (private)
tour of the butler's pantry)

Back side, formidable ha-ha

Garden view of the house

Looking toward the major folly, a Greek temple

Thus

Helpful model

A few pix off the web...the entry hall is knock-out

Main hall

Just a bit of the library

Ladies' withdrawing room, Pompei-style, painted on the walls

Bedroom

Long hall, filled with dead things, mostly fowl