File:Stourhead (22407949778).jpg

So what happened today? Well, in a nutshell, Matt and I got accosted by a weirdo who wanted to know if we took photographs of each other, we got ripped off by the National Trust to the tune of £15 and Matt insulted a stranger by calling her boring. Other than that, we got a few images of the rain soaked Stourhead.

Stourhead is a beautiful house and gardens situated in the middle of Wiltshire. At this time of year, the leaves range in colour from coppery brown to blood red and as you walk around the lake, you run into three-hundred year old grottos and crumbling buildings. It is a beautiful place, when it isn't raining, though sadly it has been bought by the National Trust and now requires a re-mortage simply to get in. Seriously, they charge you £15. Plus, you have to pay to park there. Personally, I don't like the National Trust. Yes, they maintain and look after these places, but the prices they charge to walk around a "park" is simply outrageous.

Anyway, we got there shortly after 9am and it was pretty empty. The view stretches out before you and the trees envelope the lake that dominates the vista. Seriously, the view you are first confronted with is so beautiful, that it wasn't until after lunch that we first made our way more than 50 yards into the gardens. The skies were leaden and slate-like, with no texture of colour anywhere to be seen. The tree's still held onto the suggestion of pigment, but it could have been so much better. Then, if the bad weather and crowds weren't bad enough, the village idiot found us. Walking around with his little point and shoot, he accosted us by the side of the lake and proceeded to quiz Matt on how much he earned from his photography and whether we took photos of each other as well as landscapes. I am not sure if he was inferring that those photographs be naked or not, but it creeped me out nonetheless. From that point on, I kept away from him and left Matt to deal with his pointless questions.