Ultimately taking out annual membership has two advantages. Firstly it saves money on individual entry fees. You don't have to visit many properties to get your money's worth and secondly it makes it very easy to stop off on the way to other places.
And that's exactly what we did on the way to the south coast. We stopped at a place called Nyman's in West Sussex. The drive round the M25 had been absolutely horrible. Visibility in places was virtually zero due to spray and torrential rain.
It was the worst driving conditions I have encountered since an incident in the USA in Virginia when the rain on a trip to Harper's Ferry was so torrential that all the cars pulled over onto the hard shoulder. That was the day our two sons went white water rafting in a storm but didn't turn a hair.
I might be slightly wimpish but I drive very slowly in heavy rain (well relative to the HGVs which continued to thunder past of course) since an incident a few year's ago. I was coming back from a day's presentation in Peterborough and was just a few miles from home when a car shot past me in torrential rain, fishtailed, aquaplaned and came back towards me. I tried to take avoiding action by pulling onto the hard shoulder and stopping and their car came to a stop just about a yard from me. At first I thought I must have been hit but, after checking that the people in the other care were unhurt, which they were, I checked the car and found nothing amiss. The incident shook me up and ever since I have been very wary when driving in the rain.
But back to Nymans. Somewhere in the back of my mind the word Nyman rang a bell and then I realised I was thinking of Michael Nyman the composer. He wrote minimalist music including plenty for films. I loved his music for The Draftsman's Contract. It is very representative of his style.
Michael Nyman has no connection with the National Trust property. This is what the website has to say about Nyman's:
"A garden for all seasons, with rare and unusual plant collections, set around a romantic house and partial ruins. The comfortable, yet elegant, house reflects the personalities and stories of the talented Messel family. In spring see blossom, bulbs and a stunning collection of subtly fragranced magnolias. The Rose Garden, inspired by Maud Messel’s 1920s design, is scented by hints of old-fashioned roses. Dramatic shows of vibrant native tree colour in autumn precede winter’s structural form, with pockets of perfumed Daphne throughout the garden. Discover hidden corners through stone archways, walk along tree-lined avenues while surrounded by the lush countryside of the Sussex Weald. The adjoining woodland, with lake and bird hides, has plenty of opportunities to spot wildlife."
The house is of a medieval style but isn't as old as it appears. It was built around 1839 by George Harrington but is better known as the home of the Messel family.
In 1890 the property was bought by Ludwig and Annie Messel, and they set about changing their new home. Ludwig commissioned a larger Germanic looking house, adding features such as a conservatory, billiard room, and tower. Designs were drawn up by Ludwig’s brother Alfred Messel, who was already a famous architect in Germany, and work was carried out by local builders.
Ludwig’s son Leonard, who inherited Nymans upon his father’s death in 1915, could only convince his wife Maud to move to the property by promising to completely redesign the look of the house yet again. This time the style of the house was transformed into a mock medieval mansion with two different architects putting different interpretations on the work.
Most of the house was destroyed by fire in 1947, only 19 years after building finished. With rationing and restrictions on building materials still in place after the end of the Second World War, it was simply impossible for the family to rebuild. What survived of the house was made safe for the family to use as a base and Lord and Lady Rosse visited on numerous occasions which is of particular interest to us because of a family connection.
Anne Messel was the second child of Maud and Leonard Messel. She was a socialite and founder of the Victorian Society which was dedicated to encouraging and preserving art and architecture - something unfashionable at the time.
Anne Messel married Ronald Armstrong-Jones in 1925. They were divorced in 1935 but had two children, one of whom was Anthony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon, who married Princess Margaret. Anne went on to marry Michael Parsons, sixth Earl of Rosse who had extensive estates in Ireland
The Rosse family also owned and lived in Womersley Hall in West Yorkshire and my wife's grandfather George Burton was, we believe, in service there although details of this remain rather sketchy despite our attempts to find out more.
I hope you enjoy some of the photographs of Nyman's taken on our visit.