For our August outing, Elaine arranged a trip to Breamore. She also arranged a lovely sunny day!.

Sixteen members shared cars and took an excursion to Breamore Countryside Museum and house.  On arrival, we started with a cuppa!

We also took a stroll up the lane to visit the Saxon church of St Mary’s, which has close links to the Hulse family, who have lived at Breamore House since 1748.  The site has a story going back to  Roman times, and is thought to have been part of the roman villa complex at nearby Rockbourne. 

The Country Museum was well laid out, with mock-ups of shops and workshops as they would have been after WWII, with a dairy, a village store, a saddler, bakery as well as collections of old farming equipment and machinery.  We enjoyed this very much, particularly as some of us can remember some of these items from our distant childhoods!

We enjoyed a picnic in the grounds under the shade of a beautiful Ash tree.

We had a guided tour of parts of the house, some areas being still lived in by the family.  This was an interesting building with parts dating back to Tudor times, and we were given information on the many paintings and tapestries, as well as some of the furniture which is believed came from the 12^th century priory which was formerly on the site, until the dissolution of the monasteries.

The garden was beautiful and well-tended and we enjoyed a stroll around it and seeing the beautiful flowers in the meadow.

The café served us well with coffees, sandwiches, and after our tour, tea and scones.

Many of us will be paying another visit with our families.

It was a lovely day of sunshine, friendship, laughter as well as learning about a different part of Hampshire.

Thanks go to Elaine for organising the outing, Evelyn for the write-up and Christine K for the photos.