First stop.....Nymans, beautiful gardens and the romantic ruins of a fairytale gothic mansion.
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| Remains of the Mansion |
The mansion remains in the garden as a ruin after a huge fire in 1947. Several rooms remain open with a collection of 17th century furniture and tapestries. Again, the history of the families who owned these sorts of properties is sometimes enchanting, sometimes haunting. The last of the Messel family to live here was Anne Messel, who married a barrister, Ronald Armstrong-Jones and produced Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowden who married Princess Margaret. This gave his mother, Anne entry to the Royal family. They also had a daughter Susan. This was a well to do marriage but did not last, they divorced in 1935.
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| Anne in her finery for royal visits |
Her second marriage was to Laurence Parsons, 6th Earl of Rosse which gave her the title of Countess of Rosse, which was much better. From this marriage there were 2 sons. The Countess went on to live until she was 90, a fine life, with a nice friendship with the Royal Family and Christmas cards from The Queen Mum.
Anyway back to the garden........so easy to get side tracked with gossip......
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| Summer Border |
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| Rose Garden |
It's a sprawling landscape of 600 acres with a walled garden in the centre and surrounded by a cool leafy woodland where children can play and run free discovering birds and wildlife.
This is a far cry from kids today who don't venture out of doors and it was such a delight to see.
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