Tyntesfield

While staying in Bristol we had a Grand Day Out to Tyntesfield, a National Trust property in North Somerset.  It was raining (well, tipping down actually) when we arrived, and did so for most of the day.  We discovered later that there had been flash floods, landslides (and, for all I know, plagues of frogs) in the vicinity, but we managed to get away with a light drenching.

The house is a Victorian Gothic pile, set in large grounds, which was bought by The Trust about 10 years ago.  One of the conditions of sale was that all the paraphernalia (i.e. crap), acquired by the family over the last four generations, were left as is rather than being discarded.  The house is, therefore, rather cluttered and not exactly pristine.  A poor cousin to Cragside in Northumberland, as far as I'm concerned, but interesting nevertheless. 

Needless to say I took advantage of the National Trust's new "camera friendly" policy...

The Billiard Room (actually an English Pool room) was something to behold.  It had a heated table, and a comprehensive array of antlered heads mounted on the wall.  The ceiling was quite impressive too.

As can be seen below, much of the furniture has that "lived in" quality, and many of the carpets are threadbare.  Rather refreshing compared to the "pickled in aspic" sense one normally gets from a National Trust house.

The hallway and staircase were suitably imposing.

A selection of some of the priceless "valuables" acquired by The Trust as part of the house sale.

A chapel was added to the house at some point, presumably when the family was more affluent than it later became.

By the time we'd finished going around the house it had almost stopped raining.  Within 30 minutes the sun had come out, and the whole place started steaming as a result.

To finish off, a couple of pictures taken in the gardens.