We had an interesting trip out over the bank
holiday weekend. We went to visit Milton Manor, which is a small stately
home, situated in Milton village, not far from where we live.
The house is privately owned and is only open for
30 days a year. We have visited once before—probably around eleven years
ago now—but it was when the children were very young and so we didn't
actually go into the house, but just enjoyed
the grounds. We have been keen to visit the inside of the house for a while now and so were pleased to see that it was open on a day that we were free.
The guided tour was given by (who we took to be) the lady of the house. There
were very few visitors (maybe ten of us in total), so it was all rather
lovely and intimate. You were free to ask questions and positively
invited to sit on the chairs. As our hostess said:
‘Well, they are made for sitting on!’
The house is very beautiful, if
rather dilapidated (peeling exterior paintwork, silverfish in the
wallpaper, a broken pane of glass in one of the windows, etc.). It was built in the eighteenth century by Inigo Jones, and the Gothic library and the private chapel are particularly impressive.
There are things to see and do in the grounds too. You can pet the ponies and the llama, cross the stream on the rope bridge, visit the tree house and walk in the surrounding woods. When we visited there were pony rides for children and teas for sale in the stables.
We had a lovely time, and it was good to see a small(ish) private home open to the public and run in such a relaxed and friendly way.
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