Today was a journey to visit an estate called Croome. It was only about 15 miles away but took around 45 minutes to get there! It just cracks us up about the length of time these journeys take. However, the absolute funniest thing was this small village sign we passed on the way--see the photo. Does America have these signs I wonder?? We are still chuckling over it.

Anyway, the estate was originally built several hundred years ago, but remodeled in the 1700's by The Earl of Coventry. He hired this guy named Lancelot "Capability" Brown to handle the design and remodel. (We saw signs all over the village about Capability this and that, and had no idea what it was all about until we took our tour.) He brought the Manor into to 18th century, adding quite a bit to it. Unfortunately, the descendant of the Earl lost a fortune to gambling and was forced to sell the property in the 1900's. One of the rooms, called The Tapestry room, held numerous tapestries and these were sold to the Metropolitan Art Museum in NYC, including the flooring and furniture!

In any case, we took a guided tour which lasted a couple of hours. The history of the house and the renovations were very interesting. The National Trust now owns it, but previously it was a Catholic school and a center for a Hari Krishna cult! We got to tour some behind the scenes places and the evidence was pretty clear as to why we had to wear hard hats--you could tell how time has not been a friend to the house, and how much still has to be done.

We grabbed a sandwich in their cafe and then headed for home. It was after 4:30 by the time we got back. Full day!