Stourhead - Part II

Lovely gardens - laid out in the 18th century. Well worth a visit if you near warminster, wiltshire.

Stourhead - Part 1

Always good to look up when your taking pictures. Spied this opening in a cave whilst in the stourhead gardens.

National Trust volunteers

We visited stourhead estate last weekend. It's as National Trust trust property and is fantastic for a number of reasons. The trust took it over from the Hoare family (yep those private banker folks).

Any how. Picture the scene. We are inside the main house having a look at the grand public rooms. In each room there are fact sheets and national trust volunteers to guide and keep an eye on the light fingered! Most volunteers are retired folks.

We enter one room, i head for the fact sheet whilst J likes to talk with the volunteer (in her late 80's - prim and proper) . J notices in this room there is as small TV, copy of the radio times and a small tray with bottles of booze on it. Mmmhh not very 18th-century. What's up here ? J starts the following conversation:

J: "So does someone live in these rooms today?"
Vol: "Yes outside of visiting hours"
J: "are they descendants of the original owners?"
Vol: " Yes they are Hoares (pronounced "whores")"

(at this point i have to leave the room through bouts of school boy sniggering)

Volunteer realises what she said and adds after a short pause in a dry and serious voice "in name only".

All you can hear at this point is one seriously creased up 40yr old laughing his head off somewhere at the far end of a long corridor.

Perfect script + comedy timing made it even funnier

I have seen the future....and he has a career with a clipboard

All i can say is that the National Trust has a sinister side to it. Oh yes, very good at preserving historically important things, restoration and keeping the older generation off the streets and in voluntary jobs.

The dark side? it's introduces youngsters to the art of the clipboard. When i was proofing a set of photos all that came into my mind when i saw the attached photo are careers like - planning inspector, civil servant, health and safety. Surely our kids have better prospects? What about rocket scientist, rock star, racing driver...you know those high income bracket jobs that help their kids ensure their Dad figures out what the phrase "semi-retired" and "retired with kids" actually means!

Thank you national trust for screwing up my retirement and introducing my kids to the dark side!