More houses and gardens

We haven't rented a car yet so have been going to sites that are easy to get to by train.  On Saturday (our anniversary) we did Hatfield House, which at one point was owned by Henry VIII.  This is where Elizabeth I spent much of her childhood, and in fact learned of her ascension to the throne (under the oak tree where I am sitting in our photos).  The house and grounds are still quite amazing.  After seeing this, Anglesy Abbey (from the week before) seems like small change.

It was a beautiful day for a wedding just as it was 27 years ago, and we got to see the preparations and some of the guests for a wedding (you can rent out the old palace and its garden).

The weather continued to be lovely on Sunday, so we did local Cambridge gardens - the Botanical Garden, then a long walk to Leckhampton (now part of graduate housing for Corpus Christi College) which was open that day as part of the National Garden Scheme.   It had an amazing field of lupines in bloom.