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After a fantastic break in Liverpool, we went for a day trip to Brodsworth House on the way to see mum. Brodsworth House is managed by English Heritage, so if you're a member it's free entry otherwise it's fairly reasonable at £10.90 for entry to the house and gardens. Being a bank holiday weekend, we were treated to a brass band who were playing a range of jolly pieces to the assembled audience!

We spent a while wandering through the gardens, which are beautifully maintained and vary from rose gardens with blooming vines, to a fern 'dell', apparently stocking the largest collection of ferns in the north of England. Some of the gardens have almost an Aztec look about them, with lots of looming cliffs and rock gardens with succulents (possibly nothing like 'Aztec' landscapes, but it made us both think of it). From there, we had a quick look around the house - it was getting on for closing time. It is currently undergoing a serious renovation program. It was taken over by English Heritage in the 1980s but had previously not been really looked after since its heyday in the Victorian period. The conservation work seems to be taking the form of preserving the decay, which I'm always a bit uncertain about as you don't get a 'true' idea of what things really looked like but it is what it is. As it is, they do have an array of interesting objects from the Victorian period, such as an exercise horse and (what's left of) original wallpaper. 

All in all, a good day out!