A Fabulous Day Out and About in Nottinghamshire

Today was yet another glorious weather day, beginning with a tasty breakfast in The Family Tree cafe before heading out on another adventure.  Well, technically it began with Marty venturing down to the stream to fish in somewhat frigid temperatures.  But that's what avid fishermen do, isn't it?  

Once again, no luck catching anything, but he certainly didn't mind his feet nearly freezing while he tried.  

We had a bit of a drive to get to our destination today.  Actually, the mileage isn't much.  It was 33 miles.  But that takes about 50 minutes by car as a lot of the drive involves smaller roads with lots of roundabouts to maneuver.  We don't mind as the scenery is like going back in time as you drive through the quaint villages and admire the landscape. 

First on the agenda was Mr. Straw's House.  Since we are Royal Oak Members who partner with the National Trust, I do try to fill the schedule with properties that are in close proximity.   This time, however, at the latter end of this trip, I picked B&B's with fishing rights so that Marty could try his hand at angling in the UK.  So, we needed to drive a bit to see some properties. 

The parking lot for Mr. Straw's house is in an old apple orchard that he once owned, and is located directly across the street from the upscale house that he had built later in life. 

He purchased the right side of this house in 1920 and spent three years improving the interior, moving into it in 1923 with his wife and two grown sons. 

William Straw was born in 1864 and was a successful grocer who had a business in Worksop.  He grew up in Worksop, met the girl across the street, Florence, the daughter of the butcher,  and they were wed in 1896. The couple had three sons, with the youngest passing at the age of 18 months, and they lived above the grocer shop for 27 years prior to moving into this residence on Blythe Grove. 

This area was considered to be the Posh neighborhood in Worksop and if you lived on this street, you were doing well financially, which was certainly the case with William Straw.  So, William Straw was a hardworking businessman who had done well enough in life to fulfill Florence's dreams of living on this well known street. 

Florence had the house decorated with all of the modern amenities:  running water, an indoor toilet and electricity.  The carpeting running up the stairs was Egyptian, reflecting a certain social status that indicated that this couple could afford to splurge on luxuries. 

William died quite suddenly while in the apple orchard in 1932. Florence took his death quite hard, and she instructed her two adult sons that none of her husband's personal belongings were to be touched, including his coats and hats.

They still hang in the front foyer when you enter the house.  

Florence passed seven years later.  The eldest son William, Jr., decided that none of his mother's personal items were to be touched as well.  Once again, everything was to be left exactly as it stood at her death.  Do you see a pattern here? 

No modern amenities were added to the house.  There was no central heating, no refrigeration, no radio, no television.  Walter had been living in the house, having acquired his grocer's exam with distinction. He ran the family business after his father's death until 1962 when he closed the shop that had run for 76 years. 

William served during the First World War, taught at the City of London College where he lived until his mother's death.  He moved back into the house with Walter. He was considered to be an academic and historian as well as a book collector.  He was 92 years old at the time of his death. 

Neither brother had married and when William passed in 1990, he had willed the house to the National Trust with the caveat that all of the items needed to remain exactly where they were placed. 

And, here's where the scary part comes. I'm willing to bet that there are some reading this who have experienced a situation where they are responsible for cleaning out  the home of a loved one who came from a generation where you just didn't throw things away.  Perfectly understandable.  I don't fault them. They lived through times that we will never imagine.  However, cleaning out a house/attic/basement can seem daunting when it has accumulated so much stuff over so many years.  

And, this is exactly what one will find in Mr. Straw's house.  There are over 30,000 items in this house, most of them untouched since 1939 when Florence passed.  So, brace yourself for what you are about to see. 

Before entering the house, a guide gave us most of the pertinent info so that we would be prepared for what we would see once inside. 

We entered through a door that features stunning stained glass. 

Passed this barometer in the hallway, 

and turned right into the front parlor which featured a beautiful fireplace and mirror. 

Note the box on the left side of the mantle.  It holds letters that have remained untouched since 1934. 

There was a photo of William on the wall.

as well as some other interesting paintings of which the guide had no knowledge. 

Just around the corner from the parlor was the dining room.  It held a large piece of furniture with piles and piles of paper items on it. 

Stacks of letters and files, even on the floor.  

There were 3 biscuit tins stacked on the floor to the right of the fire stove in the room.  That I found to be amusing. I hope they were empty!

The kitchen was pretty barren, with no modern amenities as noted earlier. A basic teapot for boing water and stove and a sink. 

The bathroom had a tub, which was considered to be high end in 1928 when this house was purchased. 

The flight to the next floor featured a grandfather's clock half way up the stairs in a short landing. 

and then we entered Florence's room. 

She loved playing the piano.  This gem dates from the 1880's and was Florence's piano from when she was a child.  It had stacks of music on top.

Around the corner was Walter's room. It sits in the front of the house and has lots of light from the window facing the street. 

There were two unusual paintings on the walls.

A lovely fireplace would have been used to heat the room since central heating was never installed. 

But even here you can see neatly packaged storage of items kept under the bed.  We have no idea what is inside.

There is a framed billboard advertising Mr. Straw's Grocery business next to the bed. 

Adjacent to William's room was this storage room. It had quite a collection of items. 

Bottle of seeds dated from as early as 1946.  

A bird behind glass on top of crates and stacks of boxes.

There was a helmet from WWI, and dozens of old glass mason jars with rusty lids on top.

And scads of old used jars, from honey and jellies, etc.  This reminded me of my own kitchen closet and I think I might have to go home and clean it out!

On the top floor was William's bedroom, which, actually looks rather neat. 

It held his boy scout uniform as well as his WWI service uniform. 

There was a dresser in the corner, but most of his clothes were in an armoir in the hallway as he preferred books to clothes.  The books were stacked on a bookshelf that was covered with fabric to keep the spines of the books from getting dusty. 

In the hallway outside his door there is a portrait of the family, with two servants, which was taken at the Grocers and Seed Merchant shop on Bridge Street when the boys were still quite young. 

I had mentioned that Walter had passed his Grocer's exam with distinction.  Here you can see the Presidential Chain of Office for the Worksop Grocers' Association.

Walter was photographed wearing it in 1954. 

I had no idea that such a distinction even existed!

The photos in my blog don't really show the enormity of the piles and piles of papers and items that are held in this house.  Really....it's like a time capsule that the National Trust has preserved at the request of the family, and it certainly was interesting to see how a successful merchant would have lived in Worksop.  What a treasure! 

From here we drove to Clumber Park which is only about 3 miles away and is another National Trust Site.  This one is a bit different though.  in 1709, these 3000 acres were granted to the 3rd Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.  Here you see Lime Tree Avenue which continues to impress all of these years later. 

The grounds are in the Sherwood Forest which made it perfect for the 3rd Duke to establish a deer park for Queen Anne. 

in 1760, a mansion was built on the property which was considered to be one of the finest non-royal houses in all of England.  A huge lake was also added to the property along with pleasure gardens. 

A series of fires in the house over the years had destroyed the house to some extent, but it was in 1938 when the owner decided to demolish the house entirely due to extreme taxation and the cost of trying to maintain such a huge house. 

In 1939, the war department requisitioned Clumber Park and the 9th Duke obeyed. It was used by the army for ammunition storage and military training.  When the war was over, the National Trust was able to purchase the property in 1946 with the help of donations and the conservation of the property began in the late 1950's. 

Although the property no longer holds a house, it does still have the original walled kitchen garden which was pretty impressive. 

This unique way of pruning the apple trees was very intriguing.  It can't be easy to train the limbs to grow in parallel, opposite directions. But there are scads of them....loaded with apples at this time of year too!

The pumpkins have already been harvested.

as well as some apples although the trees appear to be bursting for those ripe for the picking. 

Flowers have been arranged for drying.  Aren't they exquisite?

In the middle of the greenhouse stands this glorious yellow plant,  I have no idea what it is, but I did find it impressive,

There are vines of grapes hanging inside the green house as it offer a warm climate to grow,

as well as a few varieties of figs.  This one is known as the Brown Turkey.   Did you know there were different varieties of figs?  I did not. 

The glass greenhouse is one of the longest ones known.

Here you see the gardener's cottage.  The colors stand out so beautifully against the brilliant blue sky, don't they?

There are over 130 varieties of rhubarb.  Once again...who knew there would be so many different types?

There are loads of apple varieties, which really didn't surprise me.

Although it was interesting to see that Marty has his own variety featured. "Martin's Costard".

I didn't see any Barbara varieties.  But I didn't look very hard either.

As you can see, the kitchen gardens are certainly enjoyable to just walk through and enjoy the beauty. 

We headed down lime tree lane

to the stables, spotting the church in the distance. 

and the clock tower in front. 

Passing through this leads to the cafe, where, as will probably be no surprise to you, we stopped for a cream tea. 

You're probably wondering if I'm growing tired of this special treat.  The answer is no.  Each one is unique, yet familiar.  Delectable.  And, to be quite frank, one sees most people who are visiting enjoying this special delight, which is probably why they feature them at every National Trust site that has a cafe. 

Moving on, we headed to the Anglo Catholic Church on the grounds.  It is still a practicing congregation.

We popped inside for a peek. 

Very gothic inside with a stunning pipe organ and glorious stained glass windows. 

From here we decided to just stroll along the lake and take in the views. 

There was so much more that we could have seen, but we opted to return to the B&B.  The Familytree Inn also runs a cafe, but it closes by 5:00 pm. so there's no opportunity to enjoy an evening meal without driving a few miles.  That might sound simple enough, but when one is on a narrow road that is lined with a string of parked cars  limiting the driving to a single lane, it can be quite tricky when a car is coming the other direction.  Marty always handles it well, but I find that to be a bit stressful, probably because I'm on the side of the car that is weaving in and out close to the vehicles, or edge of the road, be it what may.  

So, when we returned, I asked if it was possible to order sandwiches for dinner and just have them hold them in the refrigerator until closing time at 5:00 at which point we would pick them up to enjoy later for our dinner. They were happy to accommodate. 

So, Marty was able to fish for a couple of hours and I was able to just relax a bit.  He came back without a bite, and I enjoyed a lovely conversation out on the patio with a woman who was sitting with her Jack Russel Terrier named Bella.  A very amiable dog. 

Afterwards,  we enjoyed ham and cheese on brown bloomer bread with a side salad for our dinner.  It was perfect!  

We head out tomorrow, driving north, as our trip will be coming to a close soon and we fly out of Edinburgh airport in a few days.  So we will be in Yorkshire once again for a two night stay. 

Thanks for following along, and I'll be sure to keep you posted!

Until next time.