Lude Generation

Thought this might be a good idea. Maybe keep it less auto related seeing as we have profile threads and the before/after thread, but whatever you want really I guess.

So I figured I may as well take the old girl out for a jaunt in the summer sun today, give her legs a good stretch and all that. Talking about the Prelude and the mrs here

Went to Houghton Hall, out in the middle of nowhere, forgot satnav and only knew it was near Sandringham but managed to get there in the end. Some great twisties and fast road action spoilt only by the next pensioner on their way to the same destination as us. Also passed what I can only assume was a Mini club day out as easily 50 plus in a row passed us in the opposite direction, very cool

I didn't take any pictures and left the mrs to that but she took the bare minimum anyway, so most of these pictures are pulled from Google images.

Onto the house though. Designed by the founder of Georgian style and influenced by Palladio, architecturally it is impressive. Anyway, built during the 1720's for the first Prime Minister, lots of marble interior, mega money spent.



(View out of the house to part of the grounds)


The place was massive and there were ha-ha's everywhere which from what I gather were first used in Britain here, although they are a much older concept. One thing that got me was just how much grass there was to cut, and it was all in those lovely strips but quite narrow so whatever machine did it was a small one. DAYS of work just to mow the lawn.

Also lots of rare deer breeds, including all-white fallow deer. Pretty cool to see but they stayed well away.



The most notable thing was that the estate recently got it's original artwork back on loan from a St. Petersburg museum and they were all put back in place as Walpole had them in the 18th century. LOTS of Old Master paintings which were impressive, although how much of that was down to knowing they were meant to be impressive I don't know, but I did like them. But I wont bore you with pictures of pictures

Went for a wander around the grounds, cool gardens etc. Pensioners everywhere. Don't think I saw one person under 60 in the 4 hours we were there. Found some sculpture pieces made specifically for the grounds, including this wood cabin thing (James Turrell). You go inside and there's part of the roof missing. Looking up at the clouds makes you quite dizzy etc.



Most wat moment of the day: a water fountain on fire (Jeppe Hein). Vid:



Then walking back to the car I spotted this









Anyway. What did you do today?!

Chainsawed 4 ton of wood then split it and loaded up the van. Gonna eat ribs and chips for dinner, drink 6 beers and put my meat in the missis mouth.

Not a bad day.

Place looks nice but i wouldn't want to heat it

Continued decorating my flat most of the morning, got lude wash by the kosovars , went shopping, then hard gym session, now home cook myself some dinner bed up at 5am for work

I've been thinking about going to see that display at Houghton Hall. Didn't know there was more to see there than just the artwork being back.

is that you in the pic Donald?
I was thinking we might actually get to see your lude, but obviously no...

Today I meant to go and see some of Open House London but after hearing the queues to see Batersea Power Station (last time before redevelopment) were 5 hours long, I stayed in bed for the morning instead... SInce then we've mostly been doing gardening jobby, though that did also require running up the Xantia and moving that, so a bit of car stuff still involved.

Also stuck a load of ropes and crap through the washing machine that I brought back from one of my Dad's boats that Lisa and I spent yesterday afternoon jet and hand washing and trying to piece through whether all the bits were still there...

(watched the GP highlights too)

Wooh!

I had a car day working on the Prelude.

See profile thread for minimal details

wurlycorner wrote:I've been thinking about going to see that display at Houghton Hall. Didn't know there was more to see there than just the artwork being back.

is that you in the pic Donald?
I was thinking we might actually get to see your lude, but obviously no...

It was supposed to finish next weekend but it's been extended to mid-November. If you want to go again I'd be happy for the drive up there. Today was a good day for it, the weather was just right. There is more to see but as the weather draws in I can see it becoming less appealing. Price is a bit steep, £18 for access to everything but considering what you get to see it's not too bad. Price for the grounds only was just £8, same as Holkham and Blickling IIRC, so an extra tenner for the house isn't the end of the world. Forgot to mention the Tin Solder collection too, complete with a recreation of Waterloo. Bit anoraky but the painting is phenomenal.

And yes, although I seem to be sideways.
And obviously no. I've been a pauper of late and keep pushing the bodywork back in favour of other things, but all in good time

Iv been bending over my engine bay all weekend. Insert sexual pun where you like.

lewd lude lover wrote:Gonna eat ribs and chips for dinner, drink 6 beers and put my meat in the missis mouth.

Pics anyone?






Not of LLL and his meat. I mean of all this Prelude work going on

Spent the day fighting with a bush in my back garden that had been raped by some awful vine plant from next door, its a job I've been putting off but its gone now thank drokk.

Donald wrote:It was supposed to finish next weekend but it's been extended to mid-November. If you want to go again I'd be happy for the drive up there.

If I came up to Narrrrrrwich on the train, could you drive over there? Would that be ok?