I was intrigued by the ripples caused by the swans, which in turn affected the reflected light from the late afternoon sun.
Stanton Country Park is near Stanton Fitzwarren in Wiltshire, in between Highworth and Swindon.
Tags: Wiltshire Stanton Country Park swans ripples lakes
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Littlecote House near Hungerford dates from the 13th century, and is effectively three houses rolled into one. The original medieval mansion was inhabited by the de Calstone family from around 1290. When William Darrell married Elizabeth de Calstone in 1415, he inherited the house. His family went on to build this adjoining Tudor mansion in the mid-16th century. Henry VIII courted Jane Seymour at the house; her grandmother was Elizabeth Darrell. This major Elizabethan brick extension was completed in 1592. Elizabeth I, James I, Charles II, and William of Orange all stayed here and no doubt spent much time in this Great Hall.
Tags: Littlecote House Wiltshire The Great Hall country houses Tudor architecture
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Littlecote House near Hungerford dates from the 13th century, and is effectively three houses rolled into one. The original medieval mansion (on the left of the picture) was inhabited by the de Calstone family from around 1290. When William Darrell married Elizabeth de Calstone in 1415, he inherited the house. His family went on to build the adjoining Tudor mansion in the mid-16th century. Henry VIII courted Jane Seymour at the house; her grandmother was Elizabeth Darrell. The major Elizabethan brick extension was completed in 1592. Elizabeth I, James I, Charles II, and William of Orange all stayed there.
In September 1943 the US 101st Airborne Division requisitioned part of the house, and it became home to regimental staff, regimental headquarters company, and headquarters company of the 1st Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The house provided office space and sleeping quarters for 506th officers with the best rooms being allocated to Col. Robert F. Sink, Regimental Commander and Lt. Col. Charles H. Chase, his executive officer. The colonel used the library as his office, and a memorial plaque can now be found in this room. From airfields in this area, including Ramsbury just to the west of here, the Airborne Division took off during the night of 5 June 1944, the eve of D-Day, as part of the invasion of Normandy. Easy Company from this regiment have become famous through the book and TV mini-series "Band of Brothers". All other ranks lived in Nissen huts built alongside the main drive between the house and the east lodge.
Littlecote House is currently a hotel.
Tags: Wiltshire Littlecote House country houses medieval architecture 13th century manor house Elizabethan architecture hotel Band of Brothers US 101st Airborne Division 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment King Henry VIII Jane Seymour
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Littlecote Roman Villa is a Roman winged corridor villa and associated religious complex at Littlecote Park in east Wiltshire near Hungerford. The settlement may have begun life as a small short-lived military establishment guarding a crossing of the River Kennet. This was replaced by local circular farming huts around AD 70 and a Roman-style rectangular building fifty years later. Activity involved baking ovens, malting tanks and grinding stones. After another fifty years, this was replaced by a large two-storeyed winged corridor villa with integral bath suite. This building went through a number of changes over the subsequent centuries, notably a major rebuilding around AD 270. The villa had a number of mosaics and there were detached workshops, barns and a large gatehouse. Around AD 360 agricultural activity seems to have ended and the complex acquired a religious use. A large barn was converted into a courtyard and a very early triconch hall was built alongside with its own bath suite. Upon its floor was laid the now famous Orpheus mosaic, first discovered in 1727 by the Steward of the Littlecote Park estate. This mosaic is usually interpreted in very complicated pagan religious terms involving not only Orpheus, but Bacchus and Apollo, the hall being seen as a cult centre for these two gods. Other buildings may have been converted to accommodate visiting pilgrims. This development has been associated with the pagan revival under Julian the Apostate (361-363).
(Source: Wikipedia)
Tags: Wiltshire Littlecote Park Roman villa Roman mosaic Orpheus mosaic Roman remains mosaics Roman religious complex Roman settlement England
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Stourhead near Mere in Wiltshire is a 1,072-hectare estate at the source of the River Stour. It includes a Palladian mansion, the village of Stourton, these magnificent gardens, farmland, and woodland. Stourhead has been part owned by the National Trust since 1946.
With hills, water and classical architecture overlaid by a fabulous collection of trees and shrubs, Stourhead was described as ‘a living work of art’ when first opened in the 1740s.
The centre piece of the garden at Stourhead is the lake, which dictates the path you take and the views you enjoy. The damming of the river and the creation of the lake was an ambitious undertaking. Henry Hoare, who had bought the Stourhead estate in 1717, and his architect Henry Flitcroft planned it before work began on the garden buildings including various temples.
The original planting of the garden was undertaken by a team of 50 gardeners, who planted and tended beech, oak, sycamore, Spanish chestnut, ash and holm oak.
Tags: Wiltshire Stourhead Gardens National Trust lakes trees gardens
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