31st July Packwood House

Aaarrrggghhhh!! Just managed to lose the blog I started writing so this is the second attempt. Rather irritatingly this happens every so often and I haven't worked out what I'm doing to cause it. So it's a big deep breath and start again ....

Today we had a dry morning followed by on and off showers through the afternoon. Luckily late morning we took the dogs for a walk across the fields and then along the canal. On our way the local dog lothario Duke, who made a house call recently, joined us until he lost interest. We now know from his impressive high jump of his garden fence that it seems likely that he leapt over our fence to visit.

Our across the fields route took us to Preston Bagot village where we popped into All Saints Church.

The stain glass windows are from the factory owned by the Pre-Raphaelite artist William Morris.

Our route to the canal then took us on a pretty muddy and gloppy path. I fully expected Ian to take a nose dive into the mud as he was being propelled along huskey style by the dogs. The water loving dogs also had a dip but this time we were prepared for the shaking afterwards and avoided to getting splattered (unlike yesterday).

Lots of locks on this part of the canal.

Back home we gave the dogs a good clean with the hose pipe. They loved it! Then after lunch and a downpour we headed off to a local National Trust property Packwood House. This was a freebie as I'd collected vouchers in last week's Daily Express. Free family passes but you don't need children to use them 😀.

A restored Tudor house with a notable topiary.

A colourful kitchen garden as well.

I didn't realise that sun dials didn't have to tell the time for all times. This is for I-VI.

We had a lovely visit and got round without the forecasted rain. As I've got a few more vouchers, and there are quite a few NT properties in the area, we hope to make the most of our time here and get to visit a few more.