The really interesting thing about the National Trust houses we visited recently is how each of them was so different in terms of their collections and the way that they were presented.

Barrington Court, which was also used for filming Wolf Hall, was the second property we visited and it is significant for being the first house that the Trust bought in the 1920s.

It was in a severe state of disrepair and was saved by the Lyle family who rented it from the Trust and restored it so that Arthur Lyle could display his collection of carved wood rescued from other historic houses. It has no furniture just information about the family and their restoration.

This makes it a really interesting and very beautiful property, you can just concentrate on the fabric of the building without the distraction of anything else, a sharp contrast to some of the other places we visited last week.

This carved ceiling is amazing, wouldn’t it make a great quilt pattern? One of my, ‘on the back burner – probably for retirement’, projects is a series of blackwork, goldwork, embroidery and quilting designs based on all the historic architecture pictures I have stored.

There is going to be a display of some of the costumes used in the Wolf Hall series and we were lucky enough to be shown these by one of the volunteers who welcomed us when we went into the house, we told her what we did as a hobby and showed her some pictures of the costumes we make.

It was too dark for me to take pictures in the storeroom but I could see that there was some blackwork embroidery on the shifts.

That is the sort of detail that I love as it would not have been very visible during the series. I have found a lovely Wolf Hall costume video on the National Trust channel with details of some of the costume that was made.

This picture from the Evening Standard shows one of the dresses that we saw, worn by Anne Boleyn.

I will be back with more pictures from the rest of our visits later – meanwhile there is one of my favourite events coming up, Tatton Medieval Fayre, not only a gorgeous setting and a lovely friendly weekend but also only an hour from home! If you are in the area do come along – it will be brilliant fun.

Thanks very much for visiting.

Our first stop on the National Trust visiting holiday was Montacute House, we had wanted to visit this property last year but it was being used for filming Wolf Hall.

I love the old books in historic house libraries, the covers are so beautifully decorated.

There was not a large amount of embroidery on display but this crewelwork bedspread was one of the lovely things in the house.

Not only is the property gorgeous in mellow stone, set in a quintessentially English village of the same stone, (decorated with bunting for their upcoming Summer Festival), but also they have lots of portraits on loan from the National Portrait Gallery of Tudor and Stuart costume.

Some of the pictures didn’t have labels to say who they were but others were of suitable fame including Katherine Parr, the last wife of Henry the 8th.The detail of the fabric and embroidery is wonderful, especially the collar fabric.

There was also a portrait of a woman wearing a similar jacket to the Layton jacket that I love, apologies for fuzzy photos as it was a bit dark. I have found a Layton jacket Pinterest board of these jackets and other Elizabethan embroidery, some in a museum near here that I am intending to visit over the summer.

Am off out for a walk in a bit with Ted, my friend’s dog. It is a beautiful day here and all the rhododendrons are in bloom so we will have a lovely time, well I will, don’t think that Ted is that bothered about the beautiful flowers but there will be plenty to sniff at!

Then it is back to sewing, I have finished one pair of braies, (men’s undergarments), and have a shirt to cut out and sew this afternoon.

Hope that you are having a lovely weekend whatever you are doing and thanks for visiting.