Day Five – Packwood House, Compton Verney, and a Dining Triumph

Day five in the UK – an unbelievable (for the UK) fifth straight day of sunny skies.  This morning we headed north once again for a visit to Packwood House, yet another National Trust property, about thirty minutes away from Chipping Campden.  On the way we passed right through Stratford-upon-Avon where we will be returning later this week.

Packwood House is a 15th century timber-framed Tudor mansion noted especially for its garden of Yew trees.  It was acquired early in the 1902 by the Ash family for their then 16-year-old son Graham Baron Ash (Baron being a name, not a title).  As he got into to 20’s he made it a project to make it a very livable home.  He was quite the gentleman, and in WWI he piloted reconnaissance balloons over enemy territory.

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The famous Yew Garden containing over 100 trees was laid out in the mid-17th century by John Fetherston, the lawyer. The clipped yews are supposed to represent “The Sermon on the Mount”. Twelve great yews are known as the “Apostles” and the four big specimens in the middle are ‘The Evangelists’. A tight spiral path lined with box hedges climbs a hummock named “The Mount”. The single yew that crowns the summit is known as “The Master”. The smaller yew trees are called “The Multitude” and were planted in the 19th century to replace an orchard.  (End of Yew tree lesson)

 

 

 

Then we enjoyed our modest picnic lunch before heading back toward Campden for a stop at the Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park.  It is noted for a Naples collection, a British folk art collection, and a brilliant Chinese collection of food, wine and ritual vessels.  But the highlight was the temporary “Shakespeare in Art” exhibition, a good prelude to our planned Thursday return to Stratford-upon-Avon for an afternoon performance of a Shakespeare play.  No pictures allowed in the museum, but the link above will take you to their web site where you can the collections.

Then it was back to Campton Mews for a rest before our 7:00 PM dinner reservation at the Chef’s Dozen.  Elaine had scoped out this place which promised to be the dining highlight of the entire trip.  It was!  Owned and operated by a South African couple, the Chef’s Dozen offers a four course set price menu that we enjoyed with a bottle of Côtes du Rhône red wine after cocktails – delicious champagne for Elaine and a Sipsmith gin and tonic for me.

The meal:

First course:
Elaine:  hand-dived Orkney scallop – scallop broth
Joe:  rabbit raviolo – cooked and served in its own consomme

Second Course:
Elaine and Joe:  crisp lamb sweetbread – duck egg, watercress, anchovy mayonnaise and caviar

Third Course:
Elaine:  Halibut  – wild garlic, bone marrow sauce, braised snails, Jersey Royal bits and bobs
Joe:  Fallow buck – broccoli, ripe pear, toasted almond and Oxford Blue

Fourth Course:
Elaine:  ‘rhubarb and custard’ – duck egg custard, rosemary and Arlette pastry
Joe:  dark chocolate – toasted hazelnut, beer caramel and hazelnut ice cream

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then bed!  Cheers until tomorrow.