Spur of the moment

One evening last week, whilst watching the Olympics, I suddenly suggested to the Engineer that we visit Mottisfont the following day.  I had remembered there was a Beatrix Potter exhibition there at the moment and I really wanted to see her paintings.  These were her children's books illustrations, not her botanical art work. 
So the following day off we went; it was glorious weather and when we arrived at Mottisfont we were greeted by their new visitors' centre rather than the small shed that had been there on our previous visits.

Photo from Burdhaward.com

The building is not concreted into the ground so that when it is finally decommissioned the site can be put back to how it was.  It uses solar panels and a biomas generator for power and a wood buring stove in the reception area.
The National Trust who look after Mottisfont have devised a Beatrix Potter themed trail for the children to follow and there were some very excited children running around following it. (all photos were taken on my phone so the quality isn't that good)

We strolled up towards the house and joined the queue waiting to go in and see the art work.  Luckily we were there before 11am when the exhibition opens so the queue was short but got longer through the day.  I don't have any photos of the lovely paintings but they were meticulous and charming, each one full of life.  I really enjoyed seeing them.  We carried on around the rest of the house which was much better exhibited than it had been previously; it felt like people had really lived in the house, not like it was a valuable antique under glass. 

We then went and had some lunch in the new stables café where every piece of crockery and cutlery is compostable.  My soup bowl was made of plant based materials as was the Engineer's plate.  Once we had finished (the courgette and stilton soup was fabulous) we put all of our remains into marked bins and the plastic bottle containg the Engineer's Pepsi went into the plastic recycling waste.  Brilliant.  The chairs were basic wooden ones so there was a pile of cushions in the corner that you could help yourself to to pad the seats a bit. 

Then we had a walk along the river, which was just wonderful.  As there is water and its quite shallow in places, children will want to play in it.  However the river flow is pretty fast so its far too dangerous for playing in.  But there is an area of pumps and sluce gates that are all child sized and ideal and safe for children to access.  There were quite a few children enjoying getting wet.

There was also a "bog garden" (no photo) which the former owners of the house's children used to play in and build dens etc, so that's how its been re-setup.  I get the feeling that when it rains it really is boggy and any children playing there will get very muddy indeed. 

We walked around the walled garden jumping from shade to shade, it was so hot and sheltered from the breezes and although we were both wearing hats it was a bit too much for us.

A lot of the roses are now past their best (June is the time for the roses) but that didn't matter, the garden is still beautiful.  We stopped for an icecream in the shade of some trees and cooled down admiring the raised beds that were around us. 

All in all it was a brilliant day and I would recommend it.  The Beatrix Potter exhibition is on until the 18th of September.