Erddig (It's a long post so settle down with a cuppa!)

We visited Erddig Hall with my parents a while ago & I completely fell in love with the place! The house hasn't been modernised at all so it really is like you're stepping back in time. We loved seeing the laundry room with the huge vats surrounded by red bricks, the model of the house, all the servants bells & the shower in the nursery bathroom! I loved the room that was enclosed in glass walls to preserve it & climbing the rickety stairs to the servant's quarters. Squire Yorke lived there alone until he gave the house to The National Trust to look after in 1977. There is a room for every week in the year, a bedroom for every day in the month and a staircase for every day in the week. That's a BIG house for one man to live in alone!!
This is the front door looking out across the Welsh hills...
...and this is the view from one of the bedrooms on the first floor (don't worry I turned the flash off my camera!). Wouldn't it be amazing to have a garden this big?! Mind you, you'd need a lot of money to pay a lot of gardeners to maintain it wouldn't you?!

My parents treated us all to a horse & carriage ride around the grounds which was lovely. (Thankyou!).

This was the lovely horse who pulled the carriage for us. He was very sleepy & on a strict 'no grass' diet!

There were little secret hidey holes all around the grounds. They were cool & relaxing. I agree wholeheartedly with Squire Yorke that Erddig is an oasis in fast changing world.

We all enjoyed some ice cream sitting in one of the larger ones. The tea room even sold my favourite honeycomb ice cream! Yummy!

Jordan had fun running backwards & forwards along the path trying to beat how long it took him to run each time!

Later on all three boys had a race (if you click on the photo you should be able to read more about it!)

We had great fun exploring the grounds.

I love the back door!

The stained glass windows in the background are part of the house's chapel! It was lovely & peaceful in there.

I loved all the gates surrounding the grounds. I think it's because they remind me of The Secret Garden... there's something magical about them....

... this little house was a bit magical too. The boys knocked & knocked but no-one was in!

Even the trees in the gardens had smiles!!

The boys had a great time rolling down the hills & almost into the lake!!! There was much excitement because we saw Henry the fish in the lake! Apparently, according to the lady who drove our carriage, Henry is very very rarely seen as he prefers to stay in the cooler deep waters! Timmy & Luke spent a lot of time calling for Henry after we saw him the first time & then Timmy announced that he wanted to eat Henry for his tea so understandably we didn't see him again after that!

Timmy enjoyed stopping to smell the roses!

The flowers in the garden were certainly very beautiful. Luke & Timmy asked why there were daisies on the lake! They were delighted to see all the bees drinking the 'connector' on the sea holly too! Their enthusiasm for nature is wonderful!

Jordan can tell you what this Welsh sign says...or at least he could when we were at Erddig. I wonder if he remembers what it says now?? So, we had a fantastic time at Erddig & I can't wait to go back there & see the rest of the house & gardens. It's just so nice to see the boys running around exploring in relative safety & discovering new things. Thanks Mum & Dad for the National Trust membership- it's great!

PS If you think there are a lot of photos here, you might like to know that I took 182 photos in the 4 hours we were at Erddig! That's part of the reason it has taken me so long to post piccies on here- I just had so much trouble whittling so many gorgeous photos down to a bloggable amount!!! Still, it's done now- ;o)

PPS I've just asked Jordan if he remembers what the Welsh sign says & he does! Clever boy!!