Sorry to be redundant, but we visited another grand house today. This was Hatfield House. It is located on the outskirts of London, and was home to Elizabeth I from the age of 2 until she ascended to the throne at age 25. Most of the original home has been demolished, and a "newer" home, built in the earlier 1600's, dominates the property. The Duke of Salisbury and his family still live there, so we were only able to see a portion of the home. It's fun to see these grand homes, because so many stories from books and movies take place in these kinds of homes, and it really makes it easy now to visualize how they looked. Very little has changed in 400 years in the part of the home we saw. We saw lots of families with their children, not in the home, but going around the beautiful grounds surrounding the homes. So these stately mansions have become parks for the common people to enjoy.
Ancient oak trees - Elizabeth was reading the bible by one of these trees when she found out she was the new queen
The gardens around the house
The original house, inside and out
Side view of the new house
Evening stroll amongst the wheat fields