Basildon Park

Or how the other half lives.....

We woke up to a lovely day which meant that we had to make the most of it! Now that it is daylight savings it is staying darker a lot later we thought we would visit a NT property and maybe do a walk.

NT own a heap of properties across the UK, so we had heaps to choose from. We finally settled on Basildon Park near Reading because it was reasonably close and it was on a large estate so we could do a walk afterwards.

First stop though was Newbury for lunch! Peter chose a pub on the canal which was great. As we were eating a couple of canal boats pulled up to the lock to go through. Seeing these in action is pretty cool. Basically it allows boats to move different heights. Anyway, wikipedia has an article explaining it all if you are interested.

Following this we drove to Basildon Park to look around. Since this was my first NT property I joined the trust (16 quid a year all you can eat) which took far longer then I suspected, and then we moved onto the house.

The house was built about 250 years ago and went through various owners until falling into disrepair just after WWII. It was then purchased by Lord and Lady Illife in the 50's and restored. Apparently the upkeep became too much for them so in the late seventies they handed the house over to the National Trust (but kept a wing of it for themselves). The interior was decorated like it was in the seventies so it was a little dated (especially with the match between period and contemporary furniture), but it was still quite impressive nonetheless. The Baron died in 1996, but the Baroness still lives there and apparently takes an interest in the running of the property.

Once we left the house we took a quick walk around the gardens before heading to the shop. Unfortunately the entire estate closed at 5:00 so a walk was out of the question.

We returned home and then decided to go and see Hitch. It was well worth seeing for the dance moves alone. That guy is a genius!!





The canal at Newbury



Boats passing each other in a lock



Basildon Park House



More house!



Lord of the Manor?



The gardens