A Couple of Days at Hanbury Wharf

Wednesday 19^th April

In Vines Park

We are off down to Droitwich today, so we had breakfast then walked down the canal.  We did a couple of caches on the way, one we found and one we didn’t.  We got to Vines park and Kev and Smuggs stayed in the park and I went to the shops for a few supplies then when I got back we had a picnic in the park as it is another dry sunny day.

We walked back up the canal and back to the boat.

We are staying here tonight then on the move tomorrow.

Yesterday Tuesday 18th April

Today we are off to Hanbury Hall, it is less than a 2 mile walk from the canal and a National Trust property.

Cache hanging in tree

Hanbury Hall

We set off along the road and there was a cache on the way, we had a look but couldn't find it,so we carried on and went down a lane to Hanbury Park which takes you to Hanbury Hall.  Just before we entered the park, there was another cache and we had luck in finding this one, it was on a star hanging in a tree.

Dining Room

Lovely Staircase

We crossed the park and came to Hanbury Hall, it is really impressive.  Thomas Vernon, a highly successful London laywer, built Hanbury Hall in 1710 as a country retreat - a place for entertaining and an opportunity to express his wealth & his taste.

Having my lunch

There was a tour of the downstairs of the house shortly after we got there, so we joined that and had a look around.  After 1pm the house is open to anyone and so after then you can go back and have another look and also go upstairs.

Entrance to Ice House

We then went and had a look around the grounds, there are lots of separate gardens, fruit garden, vegetable garden, walled garden to name a few and a lovely formal garden called The Sunken Parterre which was designed by Royal Gardener George London.

Looking down on the formal garden

There is also an ice house in the grounds so we went and had a look at that then it was lunch time.  We brought a picnic so we sat on a bench by the Orangery and had that.

The Sunken Parterre

There was a tour of the gardens at 2pm so we joined that and it was really interesting and had a nice stroll around.

In Snobs Tunnel

There is a tunnel in the gardens called Snobs Tunnel, apparently it was so that Gardeners could go from one side of the garden to the other without being seen by guests.

We then had an ice-cream before we left.  Mine was Plum made from local Worcestershire plums and Kev had Rhubarb made from Rhubarb gown at Hanbury Hall and they were both delicious.

We then walked back to the boat and had another look for the cache in the lay-by and found it this time but sadly it was on the floor and broken, so we replaced it where it should have been the best we could and carried on.

It was a great day out at Hanbury Hall, really worth visiting.

We chilled out for a bit then John and Sharon turned up with Smuggler.   Smugs is staying with us for a couple of weeks.  We left Smugs in our boat and we went up to the pub where we are moored.  It does a great carvery and we weren’t disappointed, it was really good.  We had a nice meal then went back to the boat for coffee.  John & Sharon then said bye to Smuggs and went home.