Wondering through Waddesdon Manor

Today was quite the adventure visiting Waddesdon Manor.  The estate was gifted to the National Trust in 1957 by one of the heirs of Baron Ferdinand Rothschild, who was the man responsible for obtaining the property and building the manor. 

The stories about the estate are interesting because there is the implication that Ferdinand was a rags to riches persona.  That his family had risen from the Jewish ghetto of Frankfurt and within a generation had become the world's leading financiers.  

In reality, it was the great grandfather of Ferdinand who became a successful banker, and his future generations all carried on the tradition, accumulating wealth along the way. 

Ferdinand was looking for a place away from the city of London, where he could enjoy the countryside,  and when he found this piece of property, he purchased it in 1877 and had a manor built which was completed in 1883. 

Ferdinand was a lover of French architecture as well as art and furnishings, and he had the manor designed similar to a French Chateau, in renaissance style.  His affinity towards French decor is obvious as one walks through the house and sees the French influence in the furniture as well as art work.  It really is pretty amazing. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

It was a glorious morning, and we headed off to the manor and found the parking lot with relatively little issue.  (not necessarily the norm for us.)  Once there, we opted to walk to the house, not take the shuttle bus, which was really quite lovely but longer than I would have expected.  Like 3/4 of a mile long.  

But we would have missed the impact of viewing this as we walked along had we taken the shuttle:

There are 1476 life sized figures that have been planted on the grounds, signifying the lives lost under British command on D-Day. 

It certainly brings to light the enormity of lives lost in a single day.  During our visit, the grounds people were busy planting the figures throughout the front lawn and grounds. 

Once at the top, the size of the manor is pretty impressive. 

And the French influence in the decor is certainly very apparent. 

Marty and I had some fun posing in front of one of the mirror in the clock hall. 

There was a small library but something tells me that there was a larger one somewhere.

There is a wine cellar in the basement of the floor, and we had the opportunity to walk through and see the various vintages that are held there.  This is quite possibly the largest bottle of wine that I've ever seen. 

There was an amusing print on the wall

and an even more amusing statue of some sort that reminded me of Poirot. 

And a family tree hung on the wall in the wine cellar.  But it's not of the family...it's of the wine!

We'll add that to my lists of first. 

From here we headed to the upstairs to the bedrooms and their prospective sitting rooms. Queen Victoria enjoyed visiting the property and there was a suite of rooms saved for her personal use during visits. 

Other rooms had unique architecture, such as this one with an Asian theme.

And the hallways featured lovely tables

and beautiful paintings.

Interestingly enough, there were some American themed items on display.  Here you see an original copy of Buccaneers of America written in 1678.

 This is a French version of the American constitution published by Benjamin Franklin in 1783.  It is entitled Constitutions des Treiz Etats- Unis de l'Amerique, 1783.

There was also a letter written by Benjamin the day before the Treaty of Paris was signed. 

And, one of the earlier rooms had a porcelain turkey on the table.

It most definitely did not fit in with the French decorating theme!

Along a wall on the bottom floor, there are photos and memorabilia from various royals haven planted a tree on the property at Waddesdon.  King Charles, then known as the Prince of Wales can be seen cutting into the ground with a shovel.  But probably the most famous was Queen Victoria, and here you see the shovel in the middle, that was used by her personally to plant a tree at Waddesdon. 

By now, we'd seen most of what the house had to offer.  I'm sure that we were in there for well over and hour and a half as we managed to engage one national trust member in conversation.  She was so excited to have us visit the house that she would pop up here and there to give us insight into the lives of the people who had lived there. She was not only informative, but equally entertaining.  Marty and I loved the experience. 

But now we headed out on the grounds as the day was brilliant!  A bit nippy, for sure, but the sun was shining, adding a bit of warmth as we walked along. 

And, the first thing I spied was this giant bird. 

Pretty entertaining, don't you think? 

And these flower gardens were still sporting their beauty.

How magnificent is that? 

And, just across the way was an outdoor aviary, filled with various birds and we could hear the beautiful melodies being sung while one kept shouting "Hello!  Hello!"  Believe me, it was loads of fun and we probably spent an hour there, completely fascinated by the various birds in their enclosures. 

I do have to mention that it was very tricky getting photographs as the area has a pretty close knit metal grid protecting the birds, and the camera has difficulty focusing within the square.  But I did manage to get some that aren't too blurry so you can get an idea of what we saw. 

This is a Rothschild's Myna.  He is considered to be an extremely endangered species. He had a very entertaining call, and bobbed his head up and down while singing. 

Peeking through the leaves is a Common Hill Myna.  He and his partner were having a grand time yelling. 

Here is a snowy crowned Robin-chat. 

A Luzon bleeding heart.  It's not too difficult to figure out how it got its name.  When it walked toward us, it looked like someone had stabbed it in the chest. 

This brilliant bird is an Asian Fairy-Bluebird.  Truly magnificent. 

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Here you see a spotted laughing thrush.

And this is a red tailed laughing thrush. How beautiful is he? 

This is another photo of the Asian bluebird.  He's having a little drink. 

As you probably noted, Marty and I had a grand time checking out these unusual birds, although one of them did look very much like a common pigeon.  

Upon departing the aviary area, we realized that the back of the bird at the entrance was equally decorated. 

Just around the corner, Marty posed with an elephant.  

No, it's not real.  It's one of three made of some type of wood standing nearby. 

After all of this excitement, we decided that it was time to stop for a bite to eat.  So, we enjoyed a delightful cream tea at the stables.  A horse statue stands in the middle, which certainly seems appropriate.

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By now, the weather was becoming overcast, and we'd seen quite enough, so we began to make our way back to the car park. 

Walking along the back of the house, I noticed the unusual construction of the turret where there appears to be a stairway going round, but it is strictly decorative. How unusual, and clever!

The gardeners were still hard at work finishing their job of placing the memorial figures on the grounds. 

Some had been added to the front gardens since we had arrived.

The gorgeous colors of these trees caught my eye on the return walk. 

and one last look at the house, with the mist rolling in, gave an eerie cast on the figures. 

It was certainly a memorable day, don't you think? 

We were able to attend Saturday evening mass, then walked to a nearby pub for dinner.  We thought we'd try something different from our hotel restaurant.  It wasn't nearly as nice as the place where we are staying.  But we still had an enjoyable evening looking at "hanging kabobs" ordered by other patrons in the pub. 

And, now it's time to call it a day.

I hope you enjoyed our adventures.  We'll be heading to Bletchley tomorrow. 

I'll be sure to keep you posted....