Day 13: Playing Farmers, and Haddon Hall

Our second to last day at Barnsdale, and Rutland Water was beautiful - I took this photo showing the reflections which cut off abruptly where the water changed from still to slightly ruffled.



I went for an early walk around the lake edge.



On my way back I heard a rustling in the oak tree above me and managed to capture this little fellow on my camera. My favourite squirrel photo of our whole trip.



We set off to visit Haddon Hall, with a stop at our friends N and S on the way. N worked with P years ago on a computer project in New Zealand, not long after P and I were married, and though we have very few chances to see each other any more, it was like old times meeting up again. Those were our pre-children days, and we used to have dinner at a restaurant every Friday night - the whole work team from the computer firm, plus partners.

N no longer works in computers, and he and S have a small holding complete with chickens and horses. This is Sporran the shetland pony:



N is immensely proud of his shiny new tractor. P had a go at driving it, whereas I just sat on it for a photo and pretended:



We then set off for Haddon Hall in Derbyshire in two cars (as N and S had to be back in time to feed the animals). Haddon Hall is a much earlier house than Burghley, being a medieval manor house, although parts have been refurbished since. It is less ornate but has its own simple elegance, and some interesting architectural details:







It was also used in the filming of Pride and Prejudice - the great hall I believe featured as the inn. In fact, I'm beginning to think that any house of any significance in England has featured in at least one movie if not more. (Burghley, I forgot to mention, also featured in The Da Vinci Code, and in the yet to be released sequel to Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth as Dr John Dee's house). Of course the owners have to pay for the upkeep somehow, and movie companies offer a better source of revenue than door fees from the public.

Haddon Hall's owners are more generous to the camera fiends among us than other places we visited. We were told that yes, we were welcome to take photographs inside. So why did this have to be the one day that I found I had left my spare battery pack behind? And of course, the first one went flat just as we were about to head inside. So again, I bought the guide book. And again, all I can do for my blog readers is suggest clicking this link.