Burghley House Gardens

We recently visited a manor house that has been on my list of places to see...Burghley House Manor.  we found out this is one of the oldest continuously owed private home in the area.  This is also the home of Lord Andrew Lindsey of Chariot's Fire fame:)  Unfortunately I can't show you any pictures of the inside of the house but I can show you the magnificent gardens.  Most historical homes in England have wonderful gardens.  This home was no exception.

Burghley Manor House

This home had two gardens. The first one we entered was the Garden of Surprises which had lots of fun, hands on activities for the children to enjoy

What kids doesn't love the water fountains:)

Fun mirror maze to go thru

Interesting sculptures that do something when you push a button.  This one had smoke coming out of it

this one grow green strings which I think represented grass

This one had water

and this one represented wind

Large games to play-- this is one of my kids favorites, 9 Man's Morris

Next we wandered thru the Sculpture Garden

and tried to guess what the sculptures were -- this one looked like a wagon wheel  Sometimes the signs gave us a hint but sometimes that just confused us more.

Princess thought this looked like a snake on a tree

We had no idea what this was suppose to be:)

This old tree was covered in PVC pipes representing a Maze?  Sometimes modern art escapes my understanding

Tall Vase?

One I actually like:)

Horse, but it was made out of steel bands and on closer examination it had feathers in it.  We couldn't figure out why

This was was labeled Fire but was painted blue.  I might have understood it better if it was painted red!

sort of looks like a windmill, maybe

cow but made of fabric but had a ghostly appearance, my kids thought it was scary looking

Can't have a garden without a labyrinth which is very popular in England.  My kids love walking on them

This was a plastic bag recycling sculpture.  Princess thought it look like a snake that had just eaten a meal.  From a distance it looked interesting, up close it looked like plastic bags...really I don't get modern art!

I love walking thru gardens and we enjoy trying to figure out what the sculptures are but I am often perplexed with some of the designs.   Modern art just doesn't do it for me:), but I do try to understand it.    It was a pleasant day out for us all.