Portland, England

 

On Tuesday, May 2nd, our port of call was Portland, England. It would be our last stop on the Enchanted Princess.  It was one of our favorite days of our trip.  Ken and I took an excursion to a beautiful country estate called Forde Abbey.  It was a Downton Abbey-like home.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  We first toured the inside of the home, but weren't allowed to take pictures.  The rooms reminded us so much of those shown on Downton Abbey.  The servant's bedrooms were just like in the show, as were the fancier ones like those of the owners like the Crawleys. Everything was so beautiful.

One of the highlights of seeing inside the home was seeing these beautiful, ancient tapestries on the walls.  I couldn't photograph them, but I found this picture online:

Here are some other pictures I found of the inside of the home online:

This was originally a barn, then a dining hall, and then a beautiful library.  The walls are lined with books.  The guide told us an interesting story in this room, explaining why it had been converted into a dining hall.  The monks living there centuries ago were admonished to be vegetarians.  One monk really missed meat.  He caught and cooked a local swan.  He claimed to the abbot (the head monk) that it really wasn't meat because it tasted like fish.  The abbot agreed and allowed the eating of swan meat.  About half of the monks were thrilled and enjoyed this addition to their diet.  But the other half were purists and strongly disapproved of the practice.  Arguments frequently erupted between the two groups.  It got so bad that the abbot felt the two groups must be separated for meals.  So the barn was converted into a dining hall for the meat eaters while the purists remained in the dining hall downstairs.  

I can't remember what they called this beautiful room- maybe the Conservatory or Arboretum?  It was the only room we were allowed to photograph.

It was stunningly gorgeous

It had many beautiful plants growing inside.

Beautiful marble walls

We could explore the extensive grounds as much as we liked, and we had ample time to do so.  The home, grounds and gardens were so beautiful, and the weather was perfect.

The owners of the house live in this wing of the house.  Of course it is off limits to visitors.  We actually saw the owners preparing horses to ride.

Forde Abbey claims the highest fountain in England.  It went off right at noon and was a sight to behold.

There were gorgeous flower beds everywhere.  I expect I will come to this post often just to enjoy the beautiful flowers.

I went in the tea room to have a traditional English scone with clotted cream.  It was delicious.  There is an ongoing and quite heated debate in England about whether to put the cream on first, then the jam or the other way around. Depending on what region of England you hail from, you can have quite strong feelings on this issue.  I tried both ways and was quite satisfied with both!  I was so happy to get to try this classic English treat.

Beautiful flower arrangements decorated every windowsill in the tea room.  It was beautiful.

Ken opted to skip the scone (big mistake!) and go out further on the grounds to explore and take pictures.  He got some great shots.

The fountain with a bird on it.

I love this picture.  One of my favorite from the trip.

I love this one, too.

And this one!  This place was paradise.

While Ken continued exploring, I enjoyed shopping in the gift shop.  I purchased some little gifts to give to friends at home and a few for myself as well.  It was so fun.

It was such a lovely, peaceful day.  Truly one of our favorites of the entire trip.