Courts and cottages

We left Ross-on-Wye and drove to Wallsworth Hall in Gloucestershire where a stately mansion has been converted to an art gallery called Nature in Art.  All the artworks are about nature.
They have an artist in residence and we talked to Jo about the wildlife sculptures he welds from scraps of metal.

Then we drove through the Cotswalds (more green fields, hedges, sheep) to Easton Farm near Corsham.  This is where the Colletts (my father's mother's family) farmed until they emigrated to Canada and Australia in the early 1840s.  The people who now live in the farmhouse showed me around.  The house is large and rambling and has a fireplace dated 1672, but has been modernised inside.  The farm buildings are no longer in use and in poor condition.
We drove into Corsham for lunch.  It is a very pretty town with all the houses and shops in the main street built from pale yellow limestone  quarried locally.  When we arrived a peacock was strolling down the main street.

Corsham Court, home to eight generations of the Methuen family, is open to visitors and we were fascinated by their art collection and by the beautiful plasterwork on the ceilings of the East wing, which was designed by the landscape gardener Capability Brown to house the art collection.  His garden is also stunning.
The Methuens were 3rd great grandfather Benjamin Collett's landlords.

Our new B&B at Herb Cottage is delightful.  Our hostess, who is about our age, sat us down for a cup of tea when we arrived, and offered to show us around Bradford on Avon when we get back from Bath tomorrow.






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