An Introduction to Grandeur

In late November, Hubby and I went on a little weekend getaway to the Lincolnshire region of England, making a  detour along the way to the 16th century Burghley House. Built between 1555-1587 by Sir William Cecil, who was the Lord High Treasurer for Queen Elizabeth, it

 was constructed in the shape of the letter E for the queen. Since then it has been the residence of his descendants, the earls and marquesses of Exeter, and today is owned by a charitable trust run by the family.

The house has 35 major rooms on the ground and first floors and 80 other lesser rooms. No small place for a treasurer to the queen.

The only downside of touring in November is that the interiors are closed for the season, and so we had to content ourselves with exploring the grounds

and taking a peek through The Orangery restaurant windows

which stays open year around--along with the gift shop, of course.

( A very nice one, I must admit.)

The gardens, landscaped by England's greatest gardener, Capability Brown, are open for free to the public all year long,

and the late fall colors

accented some of the architectural

highlights of the centuries old country house.

Hubby checked out the old truck on the grounds,

while I was intrigued by the rooftop landscape.

The entire estate is made of up 12,000 acres of farmlands, 700 acres of woodlands, 250 residential properties and 60 commercial properties.

Can you imagine the size of that?

Immediately surrounding the house is a 300 acre deer park and its inhabitants seemed quite content to graze in the sun, 

along with the sheep.

As we drove off the estate towards the market town of Stamford, which I'll share with you in the next post, I vowed to make this an upcoming spring day trip. 

If the inside of the house is as half as grand as the outside, it should be an amazing place!