Dunham Massey was once the home to the Earls of Stamford and Warrington, but it’s another National Trust treasure now. Although the home isn’t open on Thursdays and Fridays, the gardens and falllow deer park are available to the public.

On such a glorious day, it was perfect to spend our afternoon here. The estate includes the house, stables, a mill, a motor house, a restaurant and gardens.

 

We elected to take a free tour of the gardens with a guide—highly recommended since this estate includes plants and flowers we haven’t seen (or heard of) before. It’s also home to one of only two moss gardens in all of England. Rhodedendrons are in bloom along with blue bells, comfrey, tulips, magnolia trees, and even a handkerchief tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are other details in the most surprising details—a hidden gate that includes the three matiff heads of the Earl’s shield, a distant obelisk dedicated to a racehorse that managed an unlikely win and resulted in a needed windfall for one of the earls, and the mastiff atop a column.

 

And then there’s the wildlife. They’re everywhere! But then, who wouldn’t want to live on this estate?

 

We’re off to Cumbria. Our home base for the next three nights will be in Windermere-on-Bowness. Ta-ta for now!