Visit to Newby Hall

I spent a lovely day yesterday at Newby Hall, with my good friends Katy and Alison.  Newby is one of our favourite places to visit and is about 2 hours drive north from us, near Ripon.  It is a lovely house and we enjoyed the tour, led by some very enthusiastic guides.  There is an amazing tapestry room, one of the only ones in the world with the tapestries which were originally designed for it, still in situ.  There are also many Chippendale pieces of furniture, again, made for the house.  There is also one of the earliest sculpture galleries, with Roman sculptures on display.  However, Newby is also known for its beautiful gardens., with a huge herbaceous border which runs down from the house to the river.

 This lily pond in on the terrace by the house.

In another part of the garden, there is a rockery/grotto area, with a picturesque arch.

 From the upper terrace, you can see into the tops of some of the trees.

 This is Sylvia's Garden, a very quiet and peaceful garden, names for the current owner's grandmother.

 Two greyhounds or whippets sit on guard at the entrance.

 The water in this fountain was lovely to listen to on such a scorchingly hot day.

 Everywhere you look there is another lovely view.

 I was taken by the colours of this beech hedge, with the sun lighting up the bright red new growth.

 Another enticing view...

 And another...

 I didn't take many photos of flowers, but this coral coloured red hot poker caught my eye.

 As did this lovely echinacea.

As has become a tradition on our visits to Newby, we stopped off for tea and cake, or scone, jam and clotted cream, in my case. As you may know, I don't like dried fruit, but as fruit scones are the only ones on offer, I just had to pick the fruit out.  I have been known to make rather a mess, but I managed to be reasonably tidy yesterday.  I didn't waste the fruit, as I donated it to a robin, a young blackbird and a chaffinch, who were waiting patiently for some crumbs. Despite the fruit, the scone was delicious!
We had a lovely day at one of our favourite places.