I Should Have Deduced Sherlock At Tyntesfield

Before Christmas, but during the holidays, I took the boys and my dad to Tyntesfield as a trip out, making the most of our National Trust membership. We'd gone in the afternoon, as it's only up the road from us, and sadly the house tickets were all sold out, so we did the Sherlock Holmes trail which was around the grounds of the house.

At the time I thought it a bit odd to be doing a Sherlock Holmes trail at Tyntesfield, but then thinking of the era of Sherlock Holmes and the age of the house, it was probably quite fitting. The National Trust put things on during the holidays especially for kids, so it probably wasn't all that strange really.



New Years Day, like the majority of the population, I sat in front of my TV watching the much awaited new episode of Sherlock.

I realise now, Tyntesfield were giving us a clue that the house would feature in Sherlock!

I sat there, watching, thinking, I recognise that house. Having been there recently, too, and walking the outside of the house, I spied the shutters down. This is to stop the sunlight from fading and deteriorating the rooms.

In one clip, the same shutters were down. I don't want to give too much away about The Abominable Bride, in case you haven't seen it, but this glorious house does feature for part of the story. What really gave it away for me was at one point Sherlock and Watson were sat in the little aviary which is out the back, near the rose garden. I was like, "It IS Tyntesfield."

Sadly the maze featured in Sherlock is not really at Tyntesfield - which is a shame because I love mazes!

Image borrowed from Sherlock Facebook page. 

The episode is worth a watch. I loved it. Clue: It might help you appreciate it more if you've watched the previous episode about the mind palaces.

Watching this episode has made me pick up my Sherlock Holmes books, and I'm reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes now which is made up of about 12 short stories. :)

UPDATE: So, while I was putting this blog post together, conversations were happening on Twitter (I love the powers of Twitter) and Tyntesfield confirmed there are Sherlock tours at the house :) 

Mr Darcy And Me

I feel like I need to update my Heroes list. I should include Mr Darcy, but at the time of creating the post I hadn't read Pride And Prejudice.

I know! The disgrace!

Anyway, as you now know I have read Pride And Prejudice, and I am now watching the BBC adaptation of it. (I sneakily got the DVDs when The Mail was giving them away ages ago. There has to be some perks to my job. Anyway, I saved them. So glad I did).

My first introduction to Colin Firth was in Bridget Jones' Diary as Mark Darcy. (And loved him then, too). I own the DVD and enjoyed the interview with Helen Fielding saying that Mr Darcy was her inspiration for Mark Darcy, and she was thrilled that Colin Firth would be playing him too.

Well, now I know why he was so inspirational. I am loving Mr Darcy.

I've just watched episode four where Elizabeth Bennet is visiting Pemberley and has 'bumped' into Mr Darcy, and he's trying to redeem himself.

Love it. Love it. Love it! 

At first, when I started watching this series, I wasn't sure if the actress, Jennifer Ehle, was pretty enough. I had always picture Colin Firth as Mr Darcy, because that's who is is famous for playing. But she's really grown on me.

I love how this series has stuck so close to the book.

So, two more episodes to go... then I'll have to tuck them away, and watch them all over again some other time.  ::sigh::

Who'd have thought I'd be a period drama fan? Now want to find all the others... Though maybe I'll enjoy them more if I read the books first. I don't like having spoilers for books.

Bit Of A Grumble, Mr Tumble

I was curled up on the sofa this morning, reading my book, while my youngest watched Cbeebies, and Mr Tumble came on.  Well, 'Something Special'.

Usually I like this programme.  Kieran sat there miming with Justin.  It was all rather cute.  Until... A baby was having a bath.  And Justin had to go and get the baby's nappy and bed clothes. And yes, you've guessed it, he picked up a despicable disposable.

On one side, local councils are trying to discourage the use of these things - they cause so much waste in landfill, and I imagine now with all the recycling, they are a bigger part of waste now, than they ever used to be.  On the other, young children are being taught that a disposable nappy is the only option.   I noticed this at the preschool that my son goes to and provided them with a Terry's nappy and a wrap!

If you wanted to encourage less use of these sorts of things, shouldn't television programmes be 'advertising' the item that they want promoted, not the ones they want to discourage? 

Oh, but of course, disposable nappies manufacturers are the big wigs, more money than you care to mention.  They probably have more money than the Government, and fought for that right to have that nappy in that programme.

Am I the only one who sees something wrong in this?

And I'm not just talking about nappies here.  Aren't we told that the country is at its worst state of obesity ever, and in August you can find Christmas puddings, Christmas cake, mince pies and huge tins of chocolate already on the shop shelves in time for Christmas.  (This is a real bugbear of my dad's!).

Don't get me wrong, we all like to indulge at Christmas, but are we really giving out the right message?  How many people buy this food in August and actually save it for Christmas?  The mince pies will be out of day by October - unless you freeze them.

It's like do you ever find the healthy options on special... or is it just the junk food?  For example, I buy reduced salt and sugar baked beans for my kids now (not that they have them that often)... the others are always on special (BOGOF's etc) but never the 'healthier' ones.

I just don't think we're encouraged, or encouraging a change in lifestyle...

I'm feeling under the weather, maybe that's why I'm grumpy and rambling on about this.