Despite Osterley Park and House being one of my closest National Trust properties, I have only just made my first visit there. I had originally planned to visit the house and gardens in March, but the lockdown meant and end to those plans and many more plans. I was finally able to visit the park and gardens on a rainy Sunday morning in the middle of July. The house is still closed to the public, but visitors can book over a week in advance in order to visit the open parks and gardens, although many are still closed.
A lot of the park is freely open to the public and is a popular place to walk and run. The National Trust owns the land behind the house and the gardens, and these are shut unless you have booked in advance. This area was much quieter. To get to this area, visitors must walk around a lake with some views over the house. The lake is popular with ducks and geese.
The house (or mansion) is a large Georgian style building. An original house occupied the spot in the mid-1500s, but the existing one dates from the 1700s. The house passed ownership many times.
The stables are located next to the house and is now the tearoom and cafe. The cafe was open for takeaway or sitting outside. I believe that the gift shop would be here too, but that was shut.
At the ticketed point, we were welcomed by an information board.
I enjoyed a scone and tea on one of the benches on the edge of the gardens.
A garden with primarily wildflowers is located at Osterley, but it hasn't been too kept up with the lockdown. The plants looked pretty regardless of this.
At one end of the garden is an orangerie.
I had a walk around the grounds, which is a circular path a little over a mile long. I had a nice brisk walk. The trail is mainly through forest. There are a couple of play trails for children here.
At the back of the house is a pasture that had cattle in it.
On the exit where the lake was, I saw the baby ducks that I saw earlier marching on top of the lilypads.
I am hoping to return when the house is opened to the public; I hope that this will be soon and that it is safe to do so.
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