We arranged to visit a friend who lives at Kinver, near Stourbridge this afternoon. We decided to stop off at another National Trust property on the way. This was Hanbury Hall, situated near Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire. We were the first visitors to the gate, ready for the opening at 11 AM. As it turned out, today just happened to be Father's Day in the UK so there was a special activity at Hanbury Hall - the visit of a falconer and his special birds.
Hanbury Hall is an early 18th century William and Mary style country house with beautiful gardens and parklands. Insidee, I found the most amazing attraction to be the painted walls and ceiling of the staircase area as well as some other beautifully decorated ceilings. We were treated to a guided tour of the downstairs rooms by a wonderful lady who was an excellent story teller. She shared stories about various members of the family who lived in the house over the years. She went into lots of intruiging details about their relationships, loves, travels and scandals etc.
After this very entertaining tour we went and had some refreshments before taking the full indoor tour. Later we walked across to the large lawn area at the rear of the house where we joined a large group of other folk to enjoy the demonstration of falconry.
The falconer had 3 trained birds for the show, including my favourite - a beautiful owl.
Later, we spent time exploring the gardens before setting off for Kinver.
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