Day Out

I forgot to mention that yesterday I was cut up in traffic by a hearse. I was coming back on a dual carriageway when I long, shiny black coffin carrier shot out from the crematorium like it had seen a ghost, across the oncoming lane and right in front of me and I had to break sharpish. There was no deceased in it that I could see, and I guess that the driver had been hanging on for ages as the traffic was busy, but it made my day, really. I was doing the speed limit and I still got cut up by a hearse.

Today we went to Oakwell Hall. I was sort of glad that DH was driving as the road up to the Hall is quite narrow and you have to stay steady. I took some pictures before my camera ran out of charge. Here is the Great Hall.

And another view, including the seventeenth century gate to keep the dogs downstairs.

There was some beautiful panelling, and I noticed a few cupboards hidden there.

The bedchambers had been restored. It was considered unhealthy to lie flat, so beds were quite often short with lots of pillows to prop up on. I think these beds are all sixteenth or seventeenth century originals.

The bed hangings and coverings above are not original (of course) but were stitched based on the designs of the seventeenth century.

The above is a detail of the bed in the nursery, and there was a carved cradle as well!

It was very different if you were a servant. They were housed in a north facing room with no ceiling - along with some of the food cupboards!

Can you see the bottom bed that pulled out?

There was even a spinning wheel!

I got a picture of the dining room

And parlour

But I didn't have enough charge to get pics of the room where Charlotte Bronte wrote 'Shirley'. I didn't get a pic of the kitchens either.

One thing that surprised me was that the rooms were quite small. In my imagination, the kitchens and Great Halls would be vast things, but this was the big house of the village, and a respectable home. I did get a pic of bear, though, as there was a dressing up area.

And I got one of the rear of the house

It cost £8 for all of us to go in, and I would definitely want to go again.

Hugs to all.