Today we visited the Tudor mansion Coughton Court, at Alison’s suggestion. It has been owned by the Throckmorton family for 600 years and although it’s now owned by the National Trust, the current generation of the family still have an apartment in it. I loved the house and its history. The Throckmortons were a Catholic family who often found themselves on the wrong side of the royal family as the Tudors moved from Catholicism to Protestantism and back again. They were heavily involved in various plots against the monarchs Elizabeth 1 and James VI / I, culminating in the infamous Gunpowder Plot in 1605. The failure of this led to a depletion of their fortunes from which they never fully recovered. The house is quirky and full of original features, and it has lovely gardens. We weren’t able to explore the surrounding woodland and river walks because they are currently flooded by the recent torrential rain, but we spent time in the kitchen garden and walled gardens and they have loads of beautiful flowers in full bloom, including some amazing scented roses. What fascinated me was the variety of different scents from the roses; some very richly perfumed, some sweet, some citrussy. We were fairly lucky with the weather and when the rain came on we wisely retreated to the café for scones and coffee, before venturing back outside when it cleared up again.
Our next stop was Stratford on Avon, where we went for a stroll around its picturesque centre, marvelling at how some of the more precarious looking half timbered houses were managing to stay upright. As we walked back along the riverside the sun made a welcome appearance.
Back at the hotel we had another excellent dinner and evening of chat and laughter.
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