Croome Court

Thanksgiving weekend, Babette, the boys, Mike and I made a trip to Worcester to visit our friends Anita and Kwesi and their boys Henry and Owen. Anita is one of my sister's favorite people from high school and her sister Denise became one of my best friends. Living far from our dear ones feels a lot like being hungry all the time, so at this point, I was dying to spend some time with a family who we know and love so well.

Happy!

I wasn't the only one who was enchanted. Dominic fell head over heels for Henry.

We headed to Croome Court which is a National Trust property near Pershore, south of Worcester in Worcestershire.

It has an interesting recent past that includes being a Catholic boarding school for poor children and a Hare Krishna compound. Seeing the pegs and cubbies of the poor children made me sad, I imagined it was grim. Then the Hare Krishnas partied it up and painted some of the plaster work jolly colors of the rainbow.

The park and house were designed by Capability Brown in 1751 for George, the 6th Earl of Coventry.

Grandma!!

You cannot visit a National Trust property without learning about the landscape artist Capability Brown! He is everywhere.

Drunk on ginger beer.

Croome Court was his first landscape design and his first major architectural project.

The landscaping is called gardenless because it was created to appear completely natural, with rolling hills, rivers, and lakes. An interesting feature of this style are "eye catchers'', which are buildings constructed at a distance from the house to draw the eye. Some of them were built to mimic ruined castles, and there are a few pretend ruins at Croome Court.

Your toes are so....gross.

Our boys had a fantastic time exploring the building. Some properties are stuffier than others, and this one was quite kid friendly.

Withdrawing.

Mmmmm, potted lamprey anyone?

Notice groovy Hare Krishna decor of plasterwork behind the dashing, young Earls.