A Floral Dress at Paycocke's Tudor House

Our first National Trust stop on our recent road trip in the East of England was at Paycocke's Tudor house and gardens.  It had been a long drive from Wales, about 5 hours including driving through London (my first time), and making a stop to drop off a load of stock of CDs ready for my husband's upcoming album launch.  Once we were out the other side of London (slow traffic and 31 degree heat wasn't pleasant!), we were desperately in need of fresh air and refreshment.  I longed for a pretty garden with a shady spot to enjoy a beverage, and we happened to be near Paycocke's on our road through Essex, so we made a beeline for it. Set in a pretty and quintessentially English little village, the house is mainly Tudor and backs on to the most lovely gardens.

What a beautiful place to spend an hour it turned out to be.  I was delighted to find out that it had originally been a merchant's house - selling cloth, nonetheless!  There was a reason we were drawn to it...  Inside there are a number of rooms to explore, each reflecting a certain aspect or era of the property's history.  I particularly enjoyed a bedroom that drew on a period in the 1920s when the composer Holst visited.  After our tour of the house, we ordered some coffees and found a quiet spot in the gardens to enjoy the surroundings more fully.  The gardeners obviously work incredibly hard, are knowledgeable, and friendly towards visitors (that seems to be a feature of National Trust staff - I've never yet met one who was grumpy or seemed unhappy in their job).

You've seen everything in the outfit before.  I re-wear my favourites a lot, but this is a sundress that usually only comes out on holiday somewhere hot rather than here in the UK.  I also wore my colourful wedge sandals, a tiny dragonfly brooch, and carted around a huge red 'Mary Poppins' bag of 'just in case' items.

Dress: c/o Whispering Ivy

Bag: Gift

Wedges: bought from Ooh La La Facebook group

Dragonfly brooch: Church tabletop sale when I was a child (yes, I started early with the thrift shopping!!)

After our tranquil and restorative visit, we hit the road for the last leg of our journey.  It should have taken us only an hour and half.  However, as we were leaving Paycocke's, my husband noticed an unusual repetitive noise coming from one of the back tyres.  We stopped, and I got out to investigate.  I spotted what appeared to be a small bit of grey plastic stuck on one of the tyres.  I tried to pick it off, but the rapid hissing noise alerted me to the fact that there was a long nail attached to the plastic.  Aargh!  I pressed it back into place and we drove verrrrry slowly to not one but three fairly local garages until we found one that could fit us in.  Thankfully, the nail was in the centre of the tyre and the tyre could therefore be repaired rather than needing to be replaced.  (Shout out to Trident Tyres near Colchester!!  Thank you to the incredibly helpful and nice staff who got us back on the road as quickly as they could).

The rest of our journey continued without incidence, and it was with great relief that we settled into our luxury barn and cracked open the wine!

Linking up with: #iwillwearwhatilike, Visible Monday, Passion for Fashion, Fancy Friday