{"id":2618,"date":"2012-10-28T11:22:16","date_gmt":"2012-10-28T11:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=2618"},"modified":"2012-10-28T11:22:16","modified_gmt":"2012-10-28T11:22:16","slug":"consuming-stourhead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2012\/10\/28\/consuming-stourhead\/","title":{"rendered":"Consuming Stourhead"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am blessed by living ~45 minutes from Stourhead and go there at irregular intervals throughout the year. \u00a0It is a place to go with friends and visitors, and, as well as the gardens and house, there are extensive \u00a0walks round about, both in the estate, and on the Downs. \u00a0Yesterday was the latest trip. \u00a0The autumn colours this year were all that the BBC's PM<\/a> programme promised they would be, and the sun was shining after days and days of hodden grey skies.<\/p>\n

We got there early when, I swear, the camera tripod legs outnumbered the human ones. \u00a0And colour there was in abundance, and structure, and texture, and form, with even a katsura<\/a> tree assailing the senses in its unique way. \u00a0We went round the garden, and then walked up to King Alfred's Tower<\/a> as the crowds began to build.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1766\"<\/a>I always have mixed feeling at Stourhead: the contrast of its artifice, against stunning vistas and the realisation of a picturesque vision. \u00a0However great you feel there, however much at temporary peace with the world, you are not at one with nature \u2013 unless it is nature at its most anthropomorphic.<\/p>\n

Returning from the Tower, we found the garden paths full of other people, toddlers and buggies, and so we headed smartly for the exit and the pub as best we could, full of that sadly superior feeling that comes of getting up, and out, early. \u00a0No time to stand and stare; just enough time, however, to catch snatches of what was being said as we passed. \u00a0It was mostly quotidian: last night's TV, irritating parents, the latest Sainsbury's experience, Boden catalogues, and so on. \u00a0We could have been anywhere. \u00a0As we left, the commerce of the nation was held in check by queues on the main road as even more people tried to arrive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am blessed by living ~45 minutes from Stourhead and go there at irregular intervals throughout the year. \u00a0It is a place to go with friends and visitors, and, as well as the gardens and house, there are extensive \u00a0walks...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2618\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}