Wollaton - Hall and
Park
w/e 06 January
2007
All
this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490
It seems for some inexplicable reason, that we are always drawn
to Wollaton during the winter months and this year has proved
to be no exception. Maybe it is because everywhere else locally
looks a little drab in January but there is always something
of interest in Wollaton Park. Since being featured on this site
last year, all the scaffolding that surrounded the Hall and the
Stable Block has been removed but an area on the other side of
the Hall to this view is fenced off as restoration work is still
being carried out on the garden wall and steps.
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On this visit we did not make it down the hill to the lake but
stayed close to the Hall in the formal gardens and this pleasant
wooded area near the golf course.
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We also pressed up close to the glass of the newly refurbished
Camelia House originally built in 1823 to see inside and were
joined by a friendly little robin scavenging in the borders nearby.
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We
also decided on this occasion, as it has been some time since
we had been inside, to enter the Hall and explore some of the
rooms. Passing through the Great Hall (left and right) we entered
the room seen above that is known as "The Salon". The
information board on the left of the picture above reads as follows:-
"This room was once the dining parlour, separate from
the turmoil and noise of life in the Great Hall. When Lord Middleton
modernised the interior of the Hall in the early 19th century
it was extended and elegantly furnished as a sitting room. You
see it now as it might have been when Lady Jane Middleton used
it as a room where she could sketch, display her natural history
specimens and entertain her guests."
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It
is perhaps fitting therefore that much of the Hall now is given
over to a Natural History Museum with displays of minerals, insects
and many other specimens such as the Indian lion, big game heads
and birds as shown above. Anyone who has visited the Hall previously
will no doubt remember George the gorilla (left) or the giraffe
(right) that used to be situated near the entrance in the Great
Hall. Both are still in the museum but they have now been relocated
on the first floor. Quite how such large specimens were moved
upstairs is a cause for some thought.
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Another display on the first floor is titled "African Sunset"
and shows many different animals at a watering hole. With an
angled cabinet that allows visitors to stand at either side of
the display, you get a feeling of being right in there with the
animals.
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If the Natural History Museum is not to your taste, there is
an alternative in the Stable Block which houses an Industrial
Museum. We decided to leave that for another time but did enjoy
a warming drink in the Coffee Shop. The Stable Block, like the
Hall itself, also houses a Museum and Souvenir Shop and is also
the venue throughout the year for a variety of events that include
Engines in Steam and Agricultural Days.
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But whether or not you visit either of the museums or take a
walk around the lake or through the gardens, no visit to Wollaton
Park would be complete without at least one picture of the red
deer.
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