At Fenton House there's a very nicely maintained walled garden (which must be so much work) and an orchard which had a bonsai exhibition (I love bonsai), and when it stopped raining we went outside to have a look around.
The gardens are impressive and have some plants that even Lesley had never seen before, which is a rare thing as she is very very into gardening! Whereas for me, there were about four plants I had seen before, but that is because I am not very into gardening (though I can manage if I'm pointed at a patch of earth and given clear instructions).
Lots of garden photos:
Fenton House is a National Trust property in Hampstead, a smart town house dating from 1686 with some interesting collections inside. It costs £6.50 for non-member entry so is pretty reasonable (or you can just go into the garden for £2).
Lesley and I went on a very rainy morning, and annoyingly I don't have a photo of the house from the front as by the time it stopped raining my camera batteries had given up the ghost, but this is a view from the garden before that happened:
Inside the house are collections of paintings, china figurines and musical instruments including a whole lot of harpsichords. There was actually a harpsichord player in while we were there, which was really interesting to hear (I think this is a fairly regular thing so worth checking out!).
Instruments:
There was also this excellent thing, which was my favourite:
It is a nef and is a decorative salt cellar (obviously, I mean what else would it be??). A decorative salt cellar on wheels, no less. I love it and I want one.
The rain did stop after a while and we went out into the garden, but I'll put those pictures in a separate post.
