Today was our last day spent with Jane from Australia. We headed over fairly early as her first choice of place to visit was Osterley House and the tour of the upper floors was at 11.00am. I was surprised at £7 parking and also that we could not visit the gardens! Jane was blown away by the tour of the house whilst we wandered the grounds. The grounds are lovely and we spotted a kingfisher twice fishing over the lake.
After lunch in the stables, we drove back to Orleans House as I wanted to show Jane the restored Grade 1 listed Octagon room. A happy coincidence was that I noticed greeting cards for sale in the new shop and a brief conversation with the woman in the shop revealed that there is also going to be a Christmas fair at the end of November which I might be able to get a stall at.
Colin left us at that point and Jane and I walked over to Sandycombe Lane where Turner’s house has been opened to the public. I had booked tickets a couple of months ago for an official tour. It was very interesting although a lot smaller place than I had expected. Colin turned up again downstairs and we walked together over Richmond bridge for our final stop of the day and of our time with Jane. We enjoyed Eccles cakes and English breakfast tea. When we finally parted outside of M&S, we were all a bit bleary eyed. I have a feeling we will meet again in the future as Jane wants to return and we’ll be ready for her with our National Trust cards!!
