28th August, 2016...Summer's end and Swarthmoor Hall!

(photo from last August end!)

When summer's end is nighing
  And skies at evening cloud,
I muse on change and fortune
  And all the feats I vowed
  When I was young and proud.

So here's an end of roaming
  On eves when autumn nighs:
The ear too fondly listens
  For summer's parting sighs,
  And then the heart replies.

I love that poem by AE Housman....it kind of sums up how we feel at the end of the summer break...all the things we vow to do all year "in the summer holidays" but when it happens, we just kick back and muse...then it's September again!! Back to work for me on Thursday, but the SteveHillman camera has had no such holiday, and after three weddings in a row, is back to another one tomorrow, then three next week, and so it goes on. So...looking for peace and tranquillity on a rare day off, we headed to Swarthmoor Hall, which is getting a pretty good reputation for being a 'gem' of a place in the Low Furness countryside......

...I like that sentiment.....

...and the place really does ooze historical presence...it's so well preserved...

...and the gardens are lovely...

...and a creepy feel to George Fox's bedroom!!!!

Cumbria County Council used to use the conference facilities at the hall for teacher courses and meetings...I remember meeting the fantastic Barry Hymer here on a philosophy course once...the place had a wonderful sense of peace and purpose, that appealed to me back then...it's well worth a visit!

Had to finish with a bit of high tea at Abbey Mill Café though...

...it has a sense of history all of it's own, doesn't it!! Some stunning venues for the SteveHillman camera this week...

he particularly liked the quirky wedding at The Wild Boar...

...but not the puncture he got in HIS beloved Landrover......the rush was on to get it fixed in between weddings and Kwikfit in Barrow were great, so thanks for that lads!! Last words to George Fox today...