Shugborough HallToday we planned to visit Shugborough Hall, the residence for 450 years of the Anson family who became the Earls of Litchfield. We left Tixall Wide at 9:30, joined the Trent & Mersey Canal at Great Heywood Junction and moored up at 10:00.
Our first task was to visit the local farm shop, a favourite of ours ever since we moved to the area. There we bought a steak pie for this evening's dinner and some raspberries and cream for pud. Having dropped these at the boat, we went on t0 Shugborough Hall.
This is now owned by the National Trust, although the Litchfield family still live in a part of the Hall. The public rooms are well worth visiting containing much furniture and other pieces collected by the family over the past 250 years, although much was lost when the first Earl had to sell most of his possessions to cover gambling debts.
Two aspects of the Hall particularly impressed me. One was the guides positioned in each major room who greeted each visitor and explained in detail the key points of their room. The other was an exhibition of photographs taken by the 5th Earl (Patrick Litchfield) who died in 2005. Many of the photographs were of the swinging 60's including Mick Jagger, Oliver Reed, and a young Joanna Lumley. Other themes were racing cars and their drivers and his family (he was the Queen's cousin).
Also of interest were memorabilia of Admiral George Anson who led a 4 year round the world voyage in the 1740's in the course of which he captured a Spanish treasure ship, his share forming the basis of the family fortune. The exhibits included some "pieces of eight" from that prize.
Cannock Chase across the Trent valley from the canal
After leaving Shugborough we had lunch on the boat and travelled down the canal for an hour and moored to spend the last night of our journey out in the country.
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