Only One Post Again Today,

it was Diana's Day off, 

so a day out was planned, I should say I am only making one post today, yes I took way too many photographs! a quick stop at the garage,

I guess because of the cold weather a warning light came on to check the tyres, so a stop,

the last time I put diesel into the car it was £1.17 a litre, thankfully I filled up then and still have a few hundred miles to go before having to fill up again at these prices!

it was a lovely day,

and we soon arrived in Sevenoaks,

and this is where we were headed, Knole, 

down to the gate house, we had pre-purchased tickets for the car park and entrance,

over the cattle and deer grid,

and we were into its over 900 acres,

Diana had seen a photograph of someone feeding the deer here,

and there they were, 

just one of the herds here,

all grazing,

it is times like this I wish I had a telephoto lens,

we slowly moved as close as we could to the herd,

but it was as if there was a invisible line between us and them, as we moved towards them they at the same slow speed moved away from us,

a panorama of the herd,

Diana was so excited at seeing so many deer, 

but despite calling out 'Bambi' not one of them looked our way,

Diana was looking at how thick the ice was, it was cold as it happens,

 under the photograph of the deer that were being fed that Diana had seen and prompted our visit, the caption said, 'bring lots of carrots, as that is the recommended food to give them', naturally we cornered the market on carrots the day before our visit,

and then read this, looks like I will be on carrot soup for the next month or so!

we made our way towards the house,

the admission to the outer house is £6.00 each, free parking if you book online,

unfortunately a part of the house was closed on our visit,

even so we could still have a nice visit, and very imposing it was as well,

time for a pose,

or two,

or three,

a quick look at the plan of the buildings,

and here it is,

looking back towards the car park,

a panorama,

we made our way into the first courtyard,

there are two main ones,

and in this one,

the visitor centre,

it has a couple of rooms,

nicely laid out,

with lots of information about the buildings, which date back over 400 years, a little history of the house, from 1603, Thomas Sackville made Knole the aristocratic treasure house for the Sackville family, who were prominent and influential in court circles, Knole's showrooms were designed to impress visitors and to display the family’s wealth and status,

we had our tickets stamped for the trip up to the viewing platform,

but first a look at the items on display,

so many treasures are in the house,

a little more about the house,

I thought this was quite neat,

outline drawings for the kids to colour,

at the base of the tower,

and up we went,

on the way up the spiral staircase rooms lead off of it,

a pose,

or two in the first of the rooms,

looking at the headroom that Diana has in the doorway, people then must have been a lot shorter!

a look over the courtyard,

I explained to Diana when I first moved into the flat we are now living in, this was exactly the same bath I had at the time,

up a few more steps,

to the music room,

where Edward Sackville West whose family made such a contribution to the house,

after Vita (Victoria) Sackville-West, could not inherit the estate due to the laws of primogeniture dictating that only men could inherit property, but as it happens the family still live there today,

it was fascinating, looking at photographs and items in the music room,

plus a small television showing black and white films of the time, 

and I just love some of the art deco,

prints in the room,

down a few steps then up again,

Diana looking back at me puffing up the 77 steps to the top,

and here we are,

it was pretty scary dairy up here, and Diana nearly jumped out of her skin,

when the clock struck the first of 12 chimes!

Diana now composed,

for a photograph,

and a few of me,

as I got as close to the edge as I dared,

in every room and feature of the house there are guides giving information about the building, the one at the base of the tower mentioned that last week it was so windy they could not let people up into this part of the tower,

looking to the south,

west,

north,

and east,

Diana relaxing before the descent,

but before we went down,

in the distance,

another herd of deer,

one of the guardians of the building,

a last pose,

77 steps later we were downstairs,

and exploring the orangery,

which was huge,

we take things like oranges today for granted, 

but back in the day they had to be grown, shipping them was still in the days of sail,

in the orangery the Buzaglo stove, I believe one of only two complete ones surviving, the stove was designed to heat large rooms,

along one side of the orangery huge stain glass topped windows,

leaving their reflection on the opposite wall,

looking from the far end of the gallery,

I would have loved to see this with all of the oranges and other fruits waiting to be picked,

outside a cold day,

but in here it was appreciably warmer,

I made my way back,

to where Diana was waiting,

we made our way through the green courtyard,

a quick pose,

and a panorama,

as we made our way through,

to the stone courtyard,

on the far wall,

a huge skull and antlers,

looking to the left of the skull,

a boot scraper, that almost looked somehow Egyptian,

we made our way back to the grass courtyard,

in the courtyard,

two statues,

outside a huge tree, a oak I would guess,

looking back,

one of the guardians I photographed earlier,

we walked along the side of the building,

where we found the café,

we started to warm up,

'Cheers!' with a cup of coffee, we ordered a Cornish pasty each, 

and a piece of cake for Diana, the bill came to £19.00,

we then went to the conservation centre,

where there were a number of exhibits on display,

like this chair,

that you can sit on, it is a part of an experiment, there is a counter the keeps track of the number of people that sit on it, the conservationist want to see what effect a known number of bums on the seat do to the fabrics that have been used, 

this was the interesting bit, the conservation room, although we could go inside photography was forbidden, I am not sure why but there it is, it was fascinating watching one of the conservationist work on a minute section of a Goya,

downstairs we noticed this,

it was a good job we chose this week!

back outside, 

we started walking,

towards another herd of deer,

carrots at the ready, no as requested we did not feed the deer,

behind me the house,

and in front of me,

a very happy Diana,

so many deer here, Diana had been wishing to see one since the brief encounter we had on one visit to Coombe Wood when we saw one,

a few clouds were now rolling in, but it had been a perfect day, except the bitingly cold wind,

which did not seen to faze the deer out at all,

this was about as close,

as we got to the deer,

one more,

I am guessing in a month or so,

the numbers will increase,

I made a short video of the deer here,

a quick pose,

and a last look,

as we started our walk back to the car, in the distance,

a third herd,

I thought this was a nice stand of trees,

one thing that puzzled both of us on our walk, was these mounds,

literary hundreds of them,

in this tree plain to see at this time of the year, the trees sans leaves,

a few balls of mistletoe, 

we walked past more of the mysterious mounds in the ground,

down to the pathway that crosses the one we were on,

looking to the right,

and left,

plus Diana!

the pathway behind us,

on the hill above the car park another herd,

to the right the first herd that we saw when we arrived still there,

we decided to pass the car park and walk towards the herd on the hill,

slowly does it,

the one with the antlers, 

keeping us under observation,

this was as close as we got, so back to the car,

anyone for a carrot? we have lots of them!

we started the drive back,

what a wonderful day out,

past the gate houses,

and we were on our way, out of interest this is a good site for more information about the park, house and surrounding area, a few things about the trip, in total door to door 45 miles, a surprisingly slow average speed of 23 mph and recorded 43 miles per gallon,

in the evening time for a sherry and a read,

for our starter, poppadoms with Diana's home made salsa,

'Cheers!',

then a selection of Indian starters,

Diana had made a chicken curry with rice for our main course,

delicious!

after which I was at the club to meet up with Steve, although it was cold the tennis courts were being put to good use,

into the club where Steve and myself chatted the night away,

and as usual we were well looked after by Rob, after saying our farewells, a walk home for a Lewis before we were both off to bed.