Salt Air and Saltram

We left the apartment at 6:15am this morning to catch the 7:40am train from Paddington to Plymouth. 

We thought we'd escape the heat and noise of London for a day.

We made a great choice as it was a clear blue sky pleasant day in Devon.

We chose to visit Saltram, for 350 year the home of the Park family.

What a wonderful gem of a house. 

I do not have the words to describe the beauty and harmony of the Robert Adam interiors.

They are exquisite.

I became taken with the fireplaces of all things.  Each one is a unique creation and a little work of art in and of itself.

The rooms are somehow graceful. Tasteful and restrained.

I thought the needle workers amongst us might appreciate the canopy and bed covers. 

Here's the library. Don't the chairs look welcoming?

All the decorative details were perfect - chandeliers, chinoise details, curio cabinets, and ceiling details.

And the paintings!  One of the Parkers was a childhood friend of the painter, Joshua Reynolds.  Reynolds helped him amass a wonderful collection of paintings, including something like two dozen Reynolds.  

The Parkers did not just collect paintings, they painted too.  Frances, the first countess of Morley (pictured above) was a gifted water-colorist.

This is one of her many paintings. She sounds to have been a delightful woman with wit and charm and humor.  She had more than a nodding acquaintance with the novelist Jane Austin and corresponded with her. 

To engage younger visitors, there is a wooden mouse 'hidden' in each of Saltram's rooms.  Being young at heart, I attempted to find all the mice.  This one was in a dangerous location in a curio-cabinet.

After touring the house, we took a walk about the grounds.  There is a small wildflower meadow that is a butterfly magnet.

Mature trees created a shaded walkway. 

And our walk had vistas of the surrounding countryside.

Like the interior of the house, the grounds exuded grace and charm.  We ended our stay with a late lunch in the cafe.  I decided that seafood was appropriate and had a hearty brown and white crab-meat sandwich. 

I am far too tight with my money to ever spring for a 1st class airplane ticket, but boy howdy, I sure do enjoy the relative luxury of 1st class train travel.  A comfy leather seat, free snacks and WIFI - I'm easily appeased!  We returned to Paddington at 7:22pm and were back home by 8:00pm.  It made for a long day, but I must say that Saltram was worth it.