10 photos from Sandringham (11)

Hello!

I have officially returned and would like to share with you some photographs that I took when I went to Sandringham.

We were really lucky in that the weather was great, I took the garden tour, and it was lovely to walk around the grounds for an hour an a half with the sun shining.

I don't claim to be a great photographer but if I go to a garden I get snap happy - some may remember my Devon trip where I took some pics and posted here.

Sandringham is:

Sandringham is the much-loved country retreat of Her Majesty The Queen, and has been the private home of four generations of British monarchs since 1862. The house, set in 24 hectares of stunning gardens, is perhaps the most famous stately home in Norfolk and is at the heart of the 8,000-hectare Sandringham Estate, 240 hectares of which make up the woodland and heath of the Country Park, open to the public free of charge every day of the year.

I walked around the garden, checked out the museum and visited the part of the house that was open, the house is still used by the royal family and the queen visits every summer and it is where she spends christmas, it was interesting to imagine them walking around through the same rooms that we were. But enough of that! Here are 10 pics and for those of you interested in seeing the other 140 pics  shall post a link soon to my flickr...

 1.

This amused me....can you see why? There are no toilets at Sandringham...only lavatories.

2. 

This is the main house and has quite a interesting history, not least the fact that the newest part (on the right side of the wisteria) was originally built in the late 19th century as an american bowling alley after Edward VII visited the US and fell in love with the game.

3. 

A pretty part of the walk that I went on, actually it was all pretty, but as I am restricted to ten photo's I shall try to give an overview. 

4. 

When you get to Sandringham and leave the car park and head towards the entrance there is no real big gate or anything, but this is called the North Gate and as you can see is very ornate and regal.

5. 

I am posting this because when I looked at it I thought there was something odd, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it, till i noticed that I had inadvertently taken a picture of five people walking towards five trees.

6. 

Is it traditional for every garden to have a secret gate? I think this leads to the walled garden but I like to believe it leads to the secret garden.

7. 

Just as we approached the lake we saw this very twee scene of a duck and her 13 ducklings - she hurriedly dashed across the pathway and they all followed behind! It was very cute.

8. 

I may have mentioned (a million times or more) that irises are my favourite flower, Sandringham had about 8 different colour variations in bloom the day we were there so I was very much in heaven. 

9. 

There is a house on the ground called Park House and was once inhabited by George and Mary whilst Queen Alexandra lived in the main house with Edward. Not far from there and leading towards the stables (now converted to tea rooms, museum and the coach house) is a stream and this is that stream, well a little bit of it.

10. 

This is the walkway leading to the museum (directly in front), the coach house (to the right) and the tea room (to the left).

Well, I hope you all had a good week too!