The house, now owned by the National Trust, was built in the late 17th century, and remodelled in the late 1920's by Walter Samuel who was Chairman of the Shell oil empire and son of the founder.
Along with the masterpieces of the likes of Stubbs, Hogarth and Canaletto there is a most interesting display of Shell posters some of which I remember seeing, and which now are classics in their own right. I was reminded to hunt out my copy of The Shell Country Book which also has some wonderful illustrations of the same type, some of which I think were probably also used in their posters. What a shame that advertising today often has so little artistic merit.
I seem to be becoming obsessed by cygnets just lately. The gardens at Upton are steeply terraced down to the lake where needless to say the were no less than seven of them gliding serenely in line across the water. You will have to take my word about the numbers as 2 were out of shot. There was no sign of the adults so I cannot say if they were all from the same family. Seems to be an awful lot if they were.
I am annoyed that I missed off the head of this bird's reflection which would have made a great shot
I am beginning to realise just how fortunate we are to have so many of these places to visit in this country. Since retiring fully I have had the luxury of the time to go and visit some of them, and hopefully I shall have the chance to get to see many more. The only real problem with this is that after a while it becomes hard to separate them all out in your mind. It's just as well digital photography came along to help out in this matter.
On a hot day the walk back up the stairs to the lawns at the top requires quite some effort. The terraces are home to both great herbaceous flower borders, and also some fine vegetables in the kitchen garden.
More photos from the visit are in my smugmug gallery
And more information can be found at National Trust | Upton House
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