Waddesdon Manor: Saturday 22 September

Ian booked a taxi (after failing to get onto Uber) and our new best mate, Dan from Rumania, drove us to Waddesdon Manor, near Aylesbury, about thirty minutes from Oxford.

Waddesdon Manor was built in the 1870s for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild and is now a National Trust property. The house and gardens are in the style of a 16th century French chateau and are quite magnificent! The manor was created by Baron Ferdinand as a place for him to escape London in the summer and entertain his guests at famous weekend house parties. Many of the rooms are splendidly decorated, as they were then.

One of the interesting items we saw was a staff log book which noted the departure of various garden staff as they were conscripted to serve in the First World War.

Following our tour of the house, we had a lovely lunch in the Manor Restaurant and then, despite some light rain, we walked to the village of Waddesdon where we are spending the night at The Lion Coaching Inn.