Sudeley Castle

 Yesterday’s adventure was Sudeley Castle



It’s a privately owned Castle and estate open to the public.The current owner, Lady Elizabeth Ashcombe, reserves a mere 20 rooms for her own use while allowing the public to see most of the castle and gardens. It was quite expensive to get in but after seeing how big it was and how much upkeep it would take, I began to wonder how she could afford to only charge 23£ entry. In any case the gardens were pretty spectacular and as usual pictures won’t do them justice.






Every grand estate needs an elephant and its own church.


Lady Ashcombe, the present chatelaine, is a grand lady indeed (on display in the castle was her latest Christmas card from Charles and Camilla). But she started life as Elizabeth Chipping from Lexington Kentucky (met her Prince Charming in New York in the 60s, storybook romance it was a whole thing). As Victoria and I were touring the gardens we suddenly found ourselves face to face with the Lady herself and I blurted out, “you’re from Lexington?” and told her I was from Louisville. “Practically neighbors” she replied and after another minute of conversation I recovered my manners and apologized for disturbing her. Odd, but fun.

A few last photos:





After Sudeley, we drove to the nearby town of Winchcombe for an afternoon snack before heading back to home base and exhaustion. The plan is to have a more low key day today.


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