Arlington Court and the National Trust Carriage Museum

A rare afternoon off so we headed to Arlington Court and the National Trust Carriage Museum. This National Trust property is around a twenty minute drive from here. Arlington Court was built between 1820 and 1823 and it houses some fascinating exhibits collected by generations of the Chichester family. There is so much to see: gorgeous silk wall hangings, pewter items, carefully preserved textiles, a varied collection of model ships and over 3000 shells. We spent a very enjoyable few hours strolling round the grounds and the carriage museum. The display includes the amazing seventeenth century gilded Speaker’s State Carriage which is the oldest and grandest of the carriages in the museum. It is on loan from the House of Commons and in order to protect the carriage, it has to be carefully housed and monitored. The beautiful grounds offer over 20 miles of footpaths and a man-made lake, no wonder our legs were tired by the end of the day!

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