Waddesdon Manor

Very close to where we are staying with my cousin, Valerie, is one of the Rothschild Houses-- Waddesdon Manor, built on ground bought from Oxford University at the end of the 18th C.

The Manor displays a staggering variety and wealth of artifacts --yet is only one of the Rothschild many Manors in the UK and abroad--unimaginable wealth. However, the Rothschilds were a serious and intensely engaged family, sponsoring many projects  and probably saved many valuable artifacts from destruction in the French revolution and elsewhere, as well as cultivating many artists and skilled trades.There are many outside exhibits, sculptures  and gardens --internal photography was totally forbidden.

One particular prostrate male sculpture attracted the attention of two of my close friends--who, typically,  made a spectacle of themselves--to the amusement of onlookers---back to the good  old student days!!

Back at Valerie's home farm at Weston Turville, my Australian barbequing skills were called into use.