Montacute House and Lyme Regis

Not even wet weather could dampen the mood of our happy tour group.  Today we made the journey to the coast, stopping at the magnificent Montacute House in Somerset.  This gorgeous Elizabethan mansion, now maintained by The National Trust, was the film location for many scenes in Emma Thompson's "Sense and Sensibility".

Here is Tracey and I in the l'orangarie.

                       

The house is filled with treasures including paintings on loan from the National Portrait Gallery.

The furnishings were very grand.

                                  

A beautiful crewel embroidered quilt.

There were original portraits of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.  Wow!

                                   

There was also a magnificent French tapestry of a knight on a horse.

                              

The house usually displays a collection of antique samplers but they are renovating that room at present and we were lucky that they took some out of storage for us to see.  The detail was just breathtaking. 

                                       

In the afternoon, our wonderful bus driver Izzi took us to the coast at Lyme Regis in West Dorset, the location of a dramatic scene from "Persuasion".  I climbed some of the granny teeth steps on The Cobb, but the weather was pretty wet and windy.

Here is The Cobb.

And the view back to this pretty village with its sheltered harbour.

We also visited the local Museum which held a display about Jane Austen.  This display case held glasses belonging to Jane's mother.

A great day again, despite the weather.