In the week I picked up from IanVisits, a unique guide to events in and around London, that the Copped Hall Trust were going to be running one of their infrequent open days this weekend. Now I'd never heard of Copped Hall before but when I realised that it was a Georgian mansion embedded in Epping Forest with grounds to die for then I knew that we had to visit. Luckily the weather played fair this morning and so just after midday we bumped along the rough half-mile track up to the main house, which seemed a little underwhelming on first impression, and parked next to a building that has seen better (and worse) times. At least nowadays it's not being used for growing mushrooms and little else!
Through the side gate it felt like we'd stumbled across a village fete; a touch amateur, very charming and with something for everyone. With the house being open, in the most literal sense, we made a bee-line towards it to see what it was like - half-way between demolition and reconstruction - and it was amazing. The building is stripped back to its very bones with the beams and the bricks plainly visible; so we descended to the cellars, where we got to taste rose-hip ice-cream and shell peas from the kitchen garden, before returning first to the servants quarters on the ground-floor and then the state rooms on the first floor. It's hard to know where we felt most at home:
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| She sells sea-shells? | I want this room! |
From here the view of the gardens was delightful and we just had to make our way outside to enjoy everything that was on offer. Lenore had already stripped the book-stall so we took the easy option of petting the shire-horses and then moving on to the birds of prey. Just like a local fair you could pay a few pounds, pull up a seat and spend as long as you liked with an owl or a hawk or something similar. For little kids this is an experience like no other and both Joshua and Christina took full advantage of the situation:
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After this, well, what could we do but play a little ferret roulette, check out the may-pole dancing and head over to the racquet's court for some tea and cake (all home-made, delicious and served by hard-working volunteers). All of these activities proved popular although I have to admit that the ferrets scored very highly indeed on entertainment value! We still hadn't toured the gardens though and so after a spot of lunch (in a beautiful spot overlooking a wide, forested valley) we meandered off to view the archaeological digs (where the foundations of the previous Tudor house are being revealed) and other green-fingered delights:
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| Mock orange and mockery in the rockery |
The highlight, though, was definitely the four-acre, fully-walled, kitchen garden. Walking into this space from the top gate took my breath away; the sheer symmetry of the grounds, sympathetic restoration and glorious view over distant hills make it a truly special place. In common with the rest of Copped Hall we felt free to wander anywhere and investigate; in this case our wanderings took us from the ruined shells of greenhouses to the pretty central lake where Joshua somehow spotted a lost car and retrieved it from the muddy bottom:
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| Kitchen garden exploration |
After all of this excitement we were a little weary and in need of a lie-down in the warming sun:
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| Taking it easy |
Even when the open day was meant to have drawn to a close there was no rush from anyone to close-up and lock the doors. In fact the tea-ladies were still serving up slices of scrumptious chocolate cake and the man from the deli station was still selling artisan Italian cheese to an eager clientele. So we hung around and Joshua took great delight in choosing a slice of a particular hard-cheese that took his fancy; for sure he has a decent palate and you don't get this kind of experience in Tesco! A great day was had by all and we will most definitely be returning to Copped Hall for future events - there are plenty of them!