Our first stop this morning was Audley End house and gardens. This house started as a Benedictine Abbey and, over the time, parts have been demolished and added and the building became a house. Henry VIII gave the house to Sir Thomas Audley, Henry’s Lord Chancellor, as a thank you for helping set the law that allowed Henry to divorce Catherine of Aragon. Thomas’ grandson rebuilt the house on a massive scale between 1603 and 1614. The current interior was decorated in the Jacobean style during the 1820s. There is an impressive amount of decorative timberwork inside the house.
We also went to see the beautiful stables. They were substantially repaired by Sir Christopher Wren when they were in royal ownership in the late 17th century.
We called in to the Epping Ongar Railway. Unfortunately the next train isn’t until Wednesday, but the volunteers told us we were welcome to go onto the station and have a look. This line is the continuation of the tube service to Epping, but not used now as a public section of line.
We didn’t realise just how close to London we were. We spent a while there and just before we left, we had the offer of using their wfi to find a bed for the night. We ended up booking a guest house not far form Stansted airport. Haven’t heard any planes yet.
Kelvedon Hatch bunker tomorrow.
