I started my day by rejoining the National Trust.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/
I'd been planning on rejoining the NT because there are so many great places to visit around the UK and membership includes free visits and parking. But I did it today because there is an NT house, Fenton House here in Hampstead.
The house and gardens were so interesting. The house was built in the 17th century by a builder who saw an interesting location and built the house for the merchant class, and then put it up for sale.
According to the tour guide, 27 different families have lived in the house over the centuries and in 1936 a Lady Binning bought the house to display her decorative collections of porcelain, 17th needlework and Georgian furniture. On her death, she willed the house to the National Trust so the house and her collections could be enjoyed by many.
And after the National Trust took over the care of the house and garden, additional collections of early keyboard instruments and drawings and painted were added.
It was really interesting to tour the house and gardens.
Lady Binning definitely had a large collection and many of the porcelain figures were fun to look at.
The needle work was extraordinary in both the skill in creating it and how well preserved it is after so many years.
There were a lot of harpsichords, pianos and virginals around the house, but this one in particular was such a clever design to let it be flat against a wall, but the player at an angle.
After roaming the house, I went out into the garden, and even with the heat and lack of rain here lately, it was beautiful.
After leaving Fenton House, I thought I'd walk over to see Kenwood, a stately home that is actually in Hampstead Heath itself. But -- it was way farther away than I thought, and the day became a walking marathon.
I did find Kenwood finally, but by then it was past 4:30p, the last entry time, so I'll go back tomorrow. But I think I'll drive 😄.
I then walked home through Hampshire Heath with only a vague sense of what direction I needed to go to get there.
I ended up walking more than two hours and close to five miles by the time I got back. And -- I had to ask Suri where I was and how to get back by the time I finally exited the Heath.
My route
The Heath is unbelievably beautiful and amazingly wild and dense in many places. I did find the Women's Bathing Pond and there were at least 30 women in line. I had thought about swimming there, but the signs have warnings that the water is deep and only 'competent' swimmers should swim there. So, that's not happening.
I just kept walking down and to the left and eventually emerged from the Heath, having no idea where I was. Thank heaven for Suri. She got me home. By then I was foot sore and tired, and still had to climb the stairs to my fourth floor walkup.
A tiring but good day.
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