Stowe

I had to drive down to the West Country for my f-in-l's 90th birthday celebration so decided to take in Stowe on route as a recce. Astounding landscaping but not to my liking really, too full of self-aggrandisement, too contrived and manicured despite the fact it was meant to look natural. Huge swathes of countryside were manipulated in the name of art - huge swathes are now manipulated in the name of money by farmers - but is the latter any worse? I visited the follies etc which Piper sketched and have worked out a route by which, hopefully, if we attain a 4 minute mile average, we can capture all in the minimum time since the National Trust charge so much per hour and we are working on a set budget - any fees come out of Charles's pocket!
Gothic Folly illustrated above.