Richmond Park, Ham House, And A Bye, 29 September 2014

The minibus trip took us to Richmond Park and Ham House.  We rode with the Curleys and had a wonderful time.  Richmond Park is the largest of the Royal Parks.  It was created in the early 1600's by Charles I as a deer park, being home to Red and Fallow deer.  We knew this when we went but were not ready for what we saw.  The park includes acres and acres of land and deer roam freely and are not afraid of people!  Roads wander all around the park where you can drive and look at the deer.  There are walking paths as well and bikes are plentiful on the roads.  It was an amazing sight to behold and Dad, especially could not believe what he was seeing.  The camera was in the boot so Sister Curley stopped for him to jump out and get it.  Wow, he was happy then, "shooting" deer after deer after deer!

Our favorite picture, right along the roadside.

It was amazing to see them so clearly.  Even with the misty rainy day, it was a wonderful drive through the park.

Can you see the one in the bottom picture?

We had come up one road, turned across, and headed down the other side.  We didn't see any deer right off and Dad was wondering where they all went and started calling for them to appear.  When Sister Curley saw the sign ahead, she couldn't resist and said:  "Look!  There is one!"  Dad instantly pulled up the camera and started looking for them.  We all had a good laugh when he saw the sign.  It wasn't far past the sign we saw the fawn.

After two trips around the park, we located the car park and stopped.  We crossed the road and walked on a footpath to the Isabella Plantation.  It is an ornamental woodland garden in the park, full of exotic plants.  It is completely fenced to keep the deer out.  There were four couples of us strung out on the footpath.  When Dad caught up to me in the plantation, he said he saw a big stag just across the road in the open field.  There was a lady on another road about twenty feet from him taking pictures.  I had the camera so Dad missed out.

We entered through an iron gate to the plantation and when we stepped in, it was as if we were in another world.  The vegetation was lush and very well manicured, pruned, and cared for.

There were a variety of waterfowl in the pond and when they heard the rattle of our snack bags, out they came to see if we would share!

I even thought this could be the Garden of Eden, but, no fruit!

 Dad taking a rest on a bench cut out of a tree trunk with no seam.

As we were leaving out of the plantation, it began to rain more.  I was glad I had the umbrella with us.  We exited out the gate and walked to the car park.  As we were coming to the field where Dad saw the stag, he scanned to see if he was still there but no deer was in sight.  We decided to walk the road on the bordering side of the field, just in case he was lying down in the tall grass.  We saw nothing and were about to give up when down at the end where another road ran, there was a big brown bump.  I thought it was a log or a pile of rocks.  I could not imagine it being a deer as a truck had passed right by it a few minutes earlier and it did not move.  The closer we got we could see it was the stag.  We were so excited and kept walking closer and closer and he was making no effort to move or even be concerned about us being there.  A mum and her baby in a push chair even came walking by and he did not move.

We got just across the road from him and the Curley's had joined us by now and we were all talking in excitement when he lifted his head and turned to look at us.  Finally he got up, stretched out and bugled.  He took one more look at us and started sauntering off into the trees and brush.  It was quite the rush to watch him.

The stag made Dad's day.  Instead of him usually going along on these outings because I go and it is something to do. he said seeing the stag was worth the whole trip.

From the park, we drove over to Ham House.  It is situated on the Thames, in Ham and is the most complete "Stuart" Period house, built in 1610.  It is also noted as being haunted.

Top photo is the front view and the bottom photo is the back view.

The paintings hanging in the house date back 300 years.  It still amazes me how the naked body was the subject of so many.  It seems as though it was an obsession and reminds me of pornography in our day.  The Duchess of Lauderdale inherited the House from her father in 1655.  She maintained the House and spent lavishly to create a palace and gardens unrivaled except by royalty.  Her family and descendants ignored the passage of time and the changing of fashions, leaving her rooms much as she had known them.  Some of the rooms and gardens have long established and well reported sightings of Elizabeth's ghost!

The bed chamber, "bath" room, and great hall floor from the balcony.  It is another checkered floor reminding us of Chatsworth's House.

Note that the harpsichord has two keyboards.  It was neat to see it open for view.  The room on the left has a jib door, or hidden door.  The door is made flush with the wall without any moldings.  It is disguised by the continued wallpaper pattern and wood molding at the bottom.  We walked through it from the servant's hallway into the tea room.  When it is shut you cannot tell it is there.

The photo in the middle is a row of buckets hung from the ceiling in a hallway, with a row of them on the opposite side as well.  They are the fire brigade.  In the event of fire, they are taken down to the river and people line up and pass them full back up to the house.  They are made of leather.  The hallway is the one that leads through the jib door to the tea room.  Note the garderobe, or privy room.  The long table is the servant's table and the kitchen shown below it.  The bottom photo is of the great hall.  The two paintings on the back wall give an eery feeling of women in full flowing gowns wandering the halls.

The gardens to the back of the house are quite extensive with mazes running here and there.  We were going to sit in the chairs but they had puddles of rain in the seats so we opted to stand.  The bottom right photo is of chestnuts.  They grow in the prickly green bulb and then when ripe, crack open and fall out.  We enjoyed watching two squirrels fight over some as they scurried up and down the trees, jumping from branch to branch, chattering and arguing over who got the nut.

The east garden was laid out in a particular pattern and was viewed from the tea room.  There were not many flowers but I did find one or two.  One of the rascal squirrels fighting over the nut.

There were horses, other buildings, a stile, and the Thames.  It was a beautiful day and a great experience.