Friday – October 4 - Emsworth

Not surprisingly, sleeping last night was a bit off and on...but surprisingly on. Woke up with the dawn and did a bit on the computer. After breakfast, Brian and Paul came over and we decided to head for Stourhead.  Stourhead is a large home and garden the Maxine and I first discovered in a BBC National Trust television show that ran in the US. It looked quite wonderful and we couldn't understand why we had never been there. It was about a 90 minute drive from Sue's house, so the undertaking was a bit dependent on the weather, always a discussion item in England. It looked OK outside and the computer forecast seemed OK, so we started out.  The route took us right by Stonehenge and since Stonehenge is one of my favorite places in the whole world, we couldn't drive right by without stopping. Paul had never been to Stonehenge until I brought him here a year or so ago and it turned out that Brian had never been there either. The weather was a bit chilly, with a strong breeze making it feel much colder than the thermometer said. So we bundled up and made one leisurely circle about the stone, then back into the car to complete the trip. By the time we made it to Stourhead, there was grumbling in the back seat that it was time for lunch. The restaurant at Stourhead served a very nice lunch so we were all back in shape and ready for the tour of the gardens.  The total grounds at Stourhead are over 2000 acres, so we didn't intend to see it all, but even just the formal planted and tended gardens are several hundred acres.   The owners who developed the gardens were the Hoare family, heirs to a large banking fortune and easily able to afford such a large project.  They constructed a dam to turn the River Stour into a lake and then built faux Greek temples overlooking the lake.   After walking about the gardens, we paused in the local village pub for a coffee then drove back to Emsworth.  Dinner at the local Italian restaurant was as good (better probably) as any I have ever had outside of Italy.   Tomorrow, more local touring.  Hope the weather holds.  The forecast if iffy.