Two lovely old houses

Last week we went on an Art Fund trip to visit two lovely old English houses. The first was Dryham Park, now owned by the National Trust. The present house dates back to the 1600s but there have been houses on the site for over a thousand years and the Domesday Book, compiled in the late 11th century on the orders of William the Conqueror, lists the house and fish pond at Dyrham Park. The fish pond is still there too. In the afternoon we visited Badminton House, home of the Duke of Beaufort. We were privileged to have a tour of the house, which is not normally open to the public, and saw the tiny racket and shuttlecock used by the Duchess of Beaufort in 1841 which effectively started the game we now know as "badminton". To this day badminton courts are precisely the size of the Great Hall at Badminton House. The Duke's estate is also the home of the Badminton Horse trials - 250,000 spectators and competitors had been there the previous weekend and the marquees were still being removed when we were there. The photos show Dyrham Park and Badminton House - that's the one with the Land Rover parked outside the front door(good old Land Rover!)