Well, you'd never believe it!

This morning (12th Sept) we took bus 139 from Wallingford to Nuffield Place where after a tour of the house we visited the National Trust gift shop where we met this lady.  

As we walked in she asked if we lived on a boat, were we Carol and George? Well we were gobsmacked I can tell you!  She has followed our blog for many years and spoke of nb Rock 'n' Roll as well as our travels on Still Rockin'.  It was lovely to meet you Sheila and hope that you continue to enjoy following our watery wanderings.

Now, make your self a cuppa, put your feet up and come on tour with me ...

Wonderful far reaching views as we walk along the lane

... to Nuffield Place's gateway

First port of call of course was the reception area to show our National Trust membership cards and to hear what was happening today ... a guided tour of the four main rooms in the house at 11, a guided tour of the garden at 12 and a free-flow tour of the house from 1pm.

Click on any of the photos to enlarge

We'd arrived at about 10:30 so for half an hour wondered around the vegetable garden and peeked inside the potting shed

I loved the dahlias around the veg plots by the greenhouse

The Reception area where we purchased some potatoes dug this morning and green beans picked today too

We walked through the butterfly garden

... and the wildflower meadow which has not been cultivated for over 400 years and would look amazing during the summer

... and to the garage

... where we found this potted history of William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield and founder of Morris Motors Limited, the Nuffield Foundation, Nuffield Trust and Nuffield College, Oxford  ...

1887-1963                

Waiting for the house tour to begin ...

The house has been left as near as possible to how Lord and Lady Nuffield would have left it.  After Lord Nuffield died he willed the house to Nuffield College and they used it for 40 years until it was put into the hands of the National Trust in 2011

The Billiard Room ...

... with its cosy seating area and a photo on the wall of Morris' first venture into business with a capital of £4, repairing and later building bicycles initially in his parents front room!

He had been apprenticed to an Oxford bicycle shop at the age of 14 and left after being refused a pay rise after 2 years.

A request from the Private Secretary to Edward, Prince of Wales to play golf at Huntercombe Golf Course in July 1929

The Dining Room

 With beautiful Bohemian Blue Glassware

 ... its exquisite tapestry chair covers

 and displays of fine china and a collection of Clarise Cliff pottery

Fireplace tiles throughout the house were also lovely as were the many tapestry fire screens in the hearths.

The Entertaining Room

 ... with a fireplace at each end

As a 'Stokie' born in the Potteries, this commemorative mug caught my eye because when I left school in 1964 my first job was with a company called British American Glass Co. Ltd. (later Allied English Potteries) who were the buying office for a UK wide glass and china retail business called Lawley's Glass and China Limited which owned Paragon China amongst many other pottery companies.  I was secretary to the buyer.

The Sitting Room

This was the room that Lord and Lady Nuffield used most often and where Lord Nuffield had his desk. Many of their favourite knick-nacks and pictures were displayed here and Lady Nuffield would have enjoyed the company of her scottie dogs.

The Landing 

As you may have gathered Lady Nuffield loved her tapestries and on the landing are some fine examples of Berlin Tapesties, I loved the story in this one of the Roundheads sacking a Royalist's home.

The Bedrooms

Lord Nuffield's bedroom made us smile - a lot! He was a very frugal man and concocted his own bedside light, carpeted the floor with stitched together car mats 

... and in his wardrobe were all his treasures and tools including between the Parker Quink and wooden mallet is his pickled appendix!

As part of the extension to Nuffield Place, Lord Nuffield created a sunroom where there had once been a balcony which also gave access to ...

 ... Lady Nuffield's bedroom

 ... and where she would sit writing her correspondence and her diary 

... overlooking the garden.

Personally I thought that the double guest room was the best in the house.  I think there was a total of five bedrooms each with a dressing room

... and three bathrooms each a similar design but different colours - very 1960's!

 Another beautiful tapestry - Jane Gresty's work aged 12 years in 1851.

And so back into the garden which was laid out by the architect Oswald Partridge Milne who was once an assistant to Lutyens.  When the house was taken into NT hands the garden was very overgrown and so will be for some time to come 'a work in progress'.

We had a great six hours here and hope you've enjoyed it too.