Gallivanting Geismom: Another Gallivanting Adventure in the UK

Here we are once again, on the edge of Scotland, beginning yet another adventure as we make our way southwest to Wales. And, to add to the excitement, we are in the midst of the country celebrating the coronation of King Charles III. There are festive banners hanging in village shops and pubs in preparation of the anticipated event this weekend. The mood of the country is far different than our last trip, and it will certainly be interesting to see what adventures await us.

In the meantime, we traded very wet, cold weather at home, for cold, cloudy weather here, with a likely chance of showers most days while we are here. But that won't keep us from having as much fun as we can muster. We'll be bundling up as we go about gallivanting and, hopefully, we won't get soaked to the bone.

We landed early this morning, picked up the car, and headed to the Scottish Borders to Paxton House. It is a Palladium mansion which we had never seen, and its location made it just about the perfect distance to drive after just a few hours sleep on our overnight flight. It stands majestically overlooking the River Tweed.

I had scheduled a tour for 11:45 am, and we arrived with minutes to spare, joined by another very entertaining couple who hail from Birmingham. Graham, our tour guide, was extremely knowledgeable and had an uncanny way of telling the family history in a way that piqued our curiosity as we wanted to learn more.

But before we even walked through the doors, Graham was sure to mention that this house was the first in Scotland that incorporated a water wheel to aid in pumping water into the house. John Adam implemented a design that caused the flow of the water to turn the wheel which then activated a pump that pushed the water to a large storage tank at the top of the house. This invention eliminated the need to send servants down to the stream to cart water by hand. Pretty clever, for sure.

The house, itself, is considered to be one of the finest preserved homes built in the Palladian style. Symmetry is one of the key characteristics of this style, and you can easily see how the left and the right extensions to the house mirror each other.

John and James Adams had been commissioned to build the house, as well as decorate the interior. Aside from the fact that these famous men were involved in the design and building of this country home, Paxton house is known for its large collection of Chippendale holdings.

The interior of the house was quite remarkable. Photos were not permitted, but we found ourselves admiring countless pieces of unique Chippendale furniture, in addition to linens and wall paper made by the same company. The exterior pink sandstone came from a quarry that stood right on the ground, supplying large bricks that cost the owner virtually nothing.

Graham then went on to tell the history of this Palladian villa. Patrick Home built the house in 1758, in hopes of bringing the love of his life, Sophia, here to spend their lives as a married couple. Patrick had met Sophie at the Court of Frederick the Great in Berlin. He professed his love for her and his desire to marry. The king stipulated that Patrick's entire fortune be transferred to Prussia in exchange for his marriage to Sophie.

Patrick's mother refused to permit the marriage under these circumstances, and she threatened to disinherit him if he went through with the proposal. So, Patrick went on a world tour, collecting various artifacts over time, and waited for the opportunity to marry Sophie. That time stretched well over 21 years. (The marriage never was.)

In the meantime, by 1768, Patrick couldn't bear the thought of living in the villa without Sophie, so he sold the mansion to his cousin, Ninian Home. It was Ninian who commissioned the famous Adams brothers, along with the Chippendales, to create the stylish home, which included decorative motifs borrowed from ancient Rome. Many of the collections of Patrick were stored in the basement for safekeeping, and, amazingly, still exist today in remarkable good condition. There were items of clothing that he wore at court that look as brilliant as the day he wore them in the mid 1700's!

The home passed to Ninian's younger brother, George Home, who commissioned a wing to the house that holds a library filled with 4000 books, and an amazing portrait gallery, complete with glass domes in the ceiling to offer the necessary light to view the paintings in detail. Only one of the paintings is original to the house as the entire collection was sold at auction to satisfy death taxes. The art that fills the room today is entirely on loan from the Scotland Museum.

In the 1980's the house was donated to the country, and a separate Paxton house trust was created to assure that it would be preserved for the future.

The grounds are fairly extensive, and the River Tweed runs alongside. Cows rest among daffodils across from the entrance,

and there are some well maintained flower gardens surrounding the house.

Trees were beginning to bloom

and some are awaiting their spurt of green.

The exterior of one side of a walled garden features several varieties of fruit trees trained to climb.

Across from the trees stands a sundial, with the crossing bridge in the background, making for a lovely scene.

A window adorns this side of the wall, which had been rescued from an old building in Edinburgh, sometime in the 1800s.

Rather clever, if I say so myself.

There are fields and fields of Rapeseed, alive with color, in this area, and if the sun should happen to peek out from behind a cloud, it offers an even brighter glow!

Our adventures at Paxton were nearly at an end

but not before we stopped into the tea house for a cuppa with a scone, complete with clotted cream and home made jam.

Our first meal of the day! And it was delightful! At this point, we decided to head over to our B&B, The Walls, located along the walls of the city which stand along the River Tweed. (Interestingly enough, our room is entitled The Tweed.)

We decided to take a less known route, and check out the Union Chain Bridge, which was only just opened after a year long refurbishment. The original bridge was opened in July of 1820 and was the first suspension bridge in Scotland designed to carry vehicles. It has the recognition of being the earliest surviving iron suspension bridge in the world that continues to be used for its purpose.

The bridge is made of eye-bar wrought iron chains that were designed and patented by Samuel Brown.

The space between the entrance stones is really quite narrow, as is the driving surface itself as you pass along. Obviously, only one direction can be traveled at a time, and it can be tricky passing through without knocking the mirrors on either side, but Marty managed without issue.

The original plaque stands at the one end, embedded at the base of a brick wall.

and a life sized statue of Samuel Brown sits adjacent, with his rolled up plans tucked under his arm.

It was really quite an experience crossing over, and we stopped at the other side to get a closer look. No worries about too much traffic here!

We checked into our B&B, then headed to dinner to Foxton's wine bar. I had made early reservations, knowing that we'd be exhausted from our overnight flight. We toasted to the beginning of our newest adventure.