Remember a few years back when some critter gnawed holes in my barn porch furniture forcing me to recover all the cushions? I blamed it on chipmunks, or mice. But the other day?
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I noticed one of the chairs had a giant hump.
And a very large hole.
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Thankfully no one was in there, but the destruction was evident.
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Big holes on the end, chewed down through the new fabric and the old.
Blithewold (meaning happy woodland) was built in 1909… originally as a summer home (of 45 rooms) and while not nearly as grand the famous Newport cottages…
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It was still quite lovely.
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The entrance hall was bright and sun filled.
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The dining room a good bit darker. Sadly most of the original furniture is gone, and the replacement table doesn’t quite fill the space.
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The butler’s pantry.
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With a funky arrow board pointing out where “servant needed”.
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The family loved their gardens and most of the china patterns reflect this.
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The daughters.
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And the naughty butler.
The kitchen was cordoned off the day we visited as it was being used to cater a wedding on the grounds that evening.
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The breakfast room also served as an indoor patio with large windows and doors that opened the house to cool breezes off the bay.
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Floral tile and pinecone lighting. These people loved their plants.
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A pillared hallway led to the billiard room.
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And the telephone room with hand painted wallpaper.
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The living room had a few scattered pieces of furniture …
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Including this rather ugly throne.
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About to head upstairs, we noted the hanging cherub lights.
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And I don’t know about you…
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But to me it looks like the little gold plated darling wants to bash someone on the head.
I kept strolling the gardens of Blithewold by myself…
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Giving my husband time to exhaust the unsuspecting strangers who’d begun chatting with him.
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I strolled.
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And strolled.
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And was tempted to check out the bamboo forest…
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But turned around and realized he would go on all day without an intervention.
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Working my way around the greenhouse…
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I flanked the group, whose women were looking around, shuffling their feet and trying to politely escape.
As I joined them, the man was telling my husband about the line of trees that was pruned like shrubs in the background of this picture.
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He said the tree was native to the Chinese mountains and had been extinct for a thousand years until a horticulturist retrieved some seeds from a fossilized specimen and brought it back to life. The man told us he had just collected some of its cones and intended to plant them on his property, suggesting we do the same.
Which my husband did.
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Steering my spouse away, we continued exploring.
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Blithewold is known for its fabulous old growth trees.
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And some of them are hella impressive.
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Sequoiadendron giganteum,
The Giant Sequoia.
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This is the tallest one on the east coast.
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But I loved these big beauties.
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Weeping European beech.
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Even the roots were awesome.
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And this next tree?
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A Dawn Redwood.
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Whose surrounding ground was littered with little cones just like the ones my husband collected.
Thousand year old extinct tree my ass.
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Turns out this was the rare specimen.
A Franklin tree.
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Extinct in the wild but cultivated and grown by gardeners.
While the husband was walking a mile plus for breakfast, I got ready for a day of exploring and stepped out on the balcony.
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Which required opening the interior sliding louvered doors before opening the exterior sliding glass doors.
I’m like a cat, always on the wrong side of the door.
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Balcony selfie in the fog.
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We headed to Bristol that day, over the seriously foggy Mt. Hope bridge.
Our destination ?
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Blithewold manor and gardens where the fog had thankfully pulled back a bit.
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Purchasing our tickets at the carriage house, we learned a little history of the property…
In 1896, Augustus Van Wickle and wife Bessie purchased the then 70-acre property now known as Blithewold as their Country Place offering them an expansive summer retreat away from the city.
The beauty and location of the site made it the perfect place to pursue the family’s love of outdoor activities and Bessie’s passion for horticulture.
Bessie oversaw the placement of almost every tree, garden, and structure on the grounds.
Blithewold’s archives contain journals, letters, and thousands of photographs that paint a detailed picture of life on the estate during the last century. Her elder daughter, Marjorie, inherited her mother’s love of gardening and grew thousands of plants for the gardens.
Marjorie Van Wickle Lyon had the foresight to bequeath Blithewold to the public for their enjoyment, education, and inspiration.
That legacy has continued to inspire the thousands who visit Blithewold each year.
We began strolling.
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Past moss covered stone walls…
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And through a moon gate.
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I tried talking the husband into building us one of these at home…
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But he said it was a little above his pay grade.
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Shame, that.
It was quite pretty.
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Walking onto the rear patio of the house…
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It was too foggy to see Narragansett Bay in the distance.
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But it was a good looking house up close.
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We visited the third week of May and though everything was lush and green, the gardens weren’t yet in full bloom.
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The fog didn’t help my photos either, everything looks muted.
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But there were touches of color…
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And one extremely low stone bench.
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Leaving the house tour for later, we headed into the woods.
River's world..... 