A Picnic at Lyveden New Bield

I was lucky enough to have been bought life membership to the National Trust for my 18th birthday by my Grandma so mum and I are always on the lookout for a property that we haven’t been to before.  When we woke up and the sun was shining, we decided that a picnic and a bit of history was in order so I checked the National Trust app for iPhone and we saw that Lyveden New Bield was only 20 miles from our house AND it welcomed picnics and dogs on leads, result!

We made a quick detour to Tesco and had a wander around the Deli section to pick up some bits and bobs to munch on.

The cheese twist was my personal favourite, I could’ve easily eaten hundreds!

We sat and chatted for awhile in the sun while Millie was tied up to a tree next to us, not sure whether she should be gazing longingly at the food we were eating or the moat we were very close to (we think she was a seal in a previous life).

We then went for a gander around the Elizabethan manor which was begun by Sir Thomas Tresham to symbolise his Catholic faith.  When he died in 1605, work stopped on the house and virtually nothing has been done to alter it since.

We then went back outside and looked around the garden which had gorgeous spiral mounts, terracing and canals.

We hadn’t been able to let Millie off the lead so as we were driving away, we saw a country park about a mile down the road and we jumped out so she could have a good run around and a swim, which we regretted after she came out covered in mud and green slime!  When we got home and had given Millie a hose down, we all cuddled up on the sofa to watch Escape to the Country and promptly fell asleep.