Since we now have a National Trust membership, we thought we should make the most of it so this weekend we headed over to Dunham Massey. We met up with some friends when we arrived, although we were about an hour late thanks to some unexpected road works leading to the motorway.
When we left the house, it was raining so Ebony was kitted out in a puddle suit and wellies. The sun was shining by the time we got to Dunham Massey, so Ebony looked a little odd in her wellies, and I was feeling a bit ridiculous in my black tights. We managed to borrow some suncream to lather onto Ebony’s sun-hat-free head, and then we were ready to explore.
Dunham Massey has lots of grass for running about on, so Ebony spent some time running down the slopes at full speed. She also attempted a few bum slides for good measure. She enjoyed peering out at the lake, and terrifying me by trying to climb up onto the small wall by the water’s edge.
The rose garden was beautiful, and guarded by a gate with a sign warning of wild rabbits. Ebony, who speaks in a jumbled together language of words, signs and noises, stood next to the gate signing rabbit for a while. About ten minutes later, as we sat on a bench eating some snacks, we were lucky enough to see a wild rabbit. It hopped into the middle of the path and stayed there for quite some time. The good thing about Ebony saying rabbit in sign is that she doesn’t scare the animals away, no matter how vigorously she signs.
As we stood in the sunshine by the lake, with a full view of the house, Ebony crept off into some bushes. She disappeared through a small opening between the leaves. I followed after her and discovered a large area of leaves, roots and trees. Ebony was trying to climb a low lying branch, but with little idea of how to do such things she was really just hanging off it with a slightly clueless expression on her face.
We were only at Dunham Massey for a couple of hours, but Ebony seemed to get a lot of enjoyment out of it. She was certainly tired out after all her exploring, and fell asleep as soon as she heard the hum of the engine as we headed home.
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Read this post to find out more about where the idea came from, and why we’re embarking on this series of adventures.
You can keep up with mine and Ebony’s explorations here.
