I recently had my eight year hive anniversary... OMG 8 years writing, performing and creating on-chain and I'm still here.
To help celebrate this achievement I decided to write this travel post on 
The three year anniversary of my relationship with my partner, and companion in this life, my wonderful girlfriend.
This post highlights one of our favourite things to do together here in the UK - visiting historic houses.
Our Anniversary at Shugborough Estate with The National Trust
On a Sunny Sunday we woke up early and drove about one and a half hours up the M6 motorway to the regal house at Shugborough near to the town of Stafford in the UK.
Shugborough hall sits nestled in 900 acres of estate parkland in the former Royal forest of Cannock Chase, in the UK. The Cannock Chase area of natural beauty was formed during the Triassic period, and consists of a mixture of woodland, open heathland, small lakes and rural farmland.
The surrounding area of Cannock Chase is quintessential English countryside, and a great place to decompress with a walk and return to nature. But the estate parkland at Shugborough offers a more manicured version of nature, with rolling hills and sweeping vistas, peppered with monuments in the Greek revival style.
The national trust has been looking after the management of Shugborough from 2016 when they took over the site from the local council. They have been maintaining the estate ever since while hosting various community activities and making improvements to the grounds.
A Walled Garden Summer Haven
Upon entering the site, the first feature you come across is the massive walled garden. There is also a large empty house just past the entrance to the walled garden, which we joked we would happily take on as a restoration project in exchange for a 100 year lease 😂
The garden is about half the size of a football pitch, alight with Magnolia, Dahlia, Rhododendron and a vast array of other colourful seasonal vegetables, fruit and flowers.
We spent some time resting on a bench in this Technicolor wonderland, meditating amid the quiet drone of honey bees, the sound of the wind caressing the tree’s canopy, the distant chatter of children playing and the song of dancing swallows in the insect filled air above us - a peaceful place to have your lunch, or to just abide in the sunlight.
These already impressive gardens are currently only partly open, and are in development for a much larger garden and forest garden set to open next year called Arcadia. The national trust plans to add 80,000 plants to the already impressive walled garden area.
“We are in the beginning stages of developing 'Arcadia: Every Garden Counts' a new forest garden, in the historic slip gardens here at Shugborough Estate. Our team of dedicated staff and volunteers are working behind the scenes to create a beautiful and more environmentally sustainable garden. We expect to open Arcadia in spring 2026.
Arcadia is a forest garden, where each plant is significant, using symbiotic planting to create a resilient eco-system which feeds itself, waters itself and fertilises itself. The diverse range of plants reduces competition, enables plants to thrive and builds resilience to pests, disease and the effects of climate change.
Visitors will be able to wander along paths through a variety of smaller interconnecting gardens, each home to plants which demonstrate a variety of forest garden principles and ecosystems. Each aiming to inspire visitors to take action in their own green spaces, no matter how big, or how small.”
Source: National Trust Shugborough
Shugborough Parkland - Wandering through a Greek Wonderland
Part of the charm of Shugborough is its rolling parklands where you are free to explore the many follies, features and buildings. The former owner Thomas Anson commissioned most of the present-day features in Shugborough's estate parkland.
Inspired by his travels visiting places such as Rome, Naples, Alexandria and Cyprus, Thomas Anson set out to recreate architectural features that reflected the style and opulence of the things he'd seen during his travels.
Largely funded by his brother George Anson's fortune, he set about renovating the estate into one of the most outstanding Rococo landscapes in Britain.
These features include a large archway named The Triumphal Arch (modelled on the Arch of Hadrian in Greece), The Tower of the Winds, Shepherds monument and The Cat's Monument.
The tower of the winds is beautiful inside with marble walls and stained glass windows that refract the sunlight into patterns across the floor.
Apparently, in 1805, the lower two storeys of the Tower of the Winds were converted into a dairy for Lady Anson.
Something of a swanky home for cheese and yoghurt 😂
As you approach Shugborough Hall the parklands shift to flatter fields peppered with oak trees, inhabited by a herd of impressive English Longhorn cattle.
These imposing looking cows wander the fields directly in front of the main hall and former residence of the Anson family.
Shugborough Hall – An Architectural and Artists Paradise
Shugborough hall is a grandiose Georgian mansion with over 500 years of history and it is clear in the architectural façade that the various Earl’s of Lichfield were people of wealth and power.
As we entered the main building and showed our passes I was immediately impressed by the amount of art on show in the hallways and rooms of this impressive mansion.
The house seems to stretch on forever, with room after room, some of which include the State Dining Room, The Red Drawing Room, The Library, The Saloon, The Verandah Room, The Anson Room and The State Bedroom.
These paintings I have photographed are in a Renaissance style called Capriccio. This style of art incorporates imaginary or fantastical elements which are set in a real location. They caught my eye, and are of especial interest to me, as I write a lot of poems inspired by art.
Many moons ago I penned a poem inspired by a work of art that hung in my local gallery (The Walker Art gallery) called The Girandola.
These pictures reminded me very much of that painting that no longer hangs in The Walker, sending me on an impromptu trip down memory lane while stood in this room. The poem came back to me in vivid colour as I listened to one of the volunteers tell me about the painting being in the Capriccio style.
It is strange how association works, how memory can be triggered so powerfully from the smallest things like happening upon this painting which shares so many similarities with The Girandola.
I think the State Dining Room was probably my favourite room in the house…
Closely followed by the library.
This room makes me think of gothic tales of alchemists searching for the secret to thaumatology, or a wizard's study in some creaky story about the secret to eternal life.
There is so much history to Shugborough hall that it would take tens of thousands of words to tell it all.
On the first floor is a whole collection of photographs from the last earl, Patrick Lichfield, who was a leading professional photographer of his day.
During the 1960's he photographed celebrities and royalty, but unfortunately there is no photography allowed on the upper floors of the mansion so it is hard to tell his story fully without visual representation.
If you're interested in reading the deeper history of the Earls who resided at Shugborough, check out the Wiki page here.
Shugborough's Formal Gardens
Shugborough estate really is a massive site, there is so much to do and see that you could easily spend more than a day exploring it all.
But the formal gardens are a must see!
They flow down from the back of the hall with a terrace lined with topiary to a lake that blooms with water lily framed by reeds.
Statues and Greco-Roman features compliment flower beds and wooded paths in a dream of an ancient classical world.
We wandered on enjoying the late summer breeze over the water as we passed over the bridge near to The Chinese House.
It is in this area where we came across the Shepard's monument that I mentioned earlier in this blog. This seemingly innocuous sculpted relief potentially has the answer to a mystery that has eluded scholars and seekers since biblical times.
The location of the holy grail!
The Shepherd's Monument is a mirror image of Nicolas Poussin's painting the Shepherds of Arcadia, but at its base is engraved a mysterious coded inscription - O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V and D.M.
This inscription has never been deciphered and is still to this day considered one of the world's top un-cracked cipher texts.
Many theories abound about this mystery.
One such theory suggests that Nicolas Poussin was a member of the Priory of Sion (a French secret society), and that his painting the Shepherds of Arcadia contained hidden messages of esoteric significance.
This theory claims that the code is a remnant of Poussin's work that was hidden in the painting, however this theory comes from a book called The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail that Dan brown lent heavily from in creating his bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code...
So, make of that theory what you will.
Other theories are that the letters are a coded dedication by George Anson to his deceased wife, a cypher encoding the latitude and longitude of an island where Admiral George Anson, Thomas Anson's brother, stashed buried treasure and that some of the letters match the names of past residents of Shugborough.
Whatever the case may be, it is certainly a spicy mystery, and according to national trust staff they still have members of the public regularly approach them claiming they have solved the code.
Would you give it a go?
Let me know in the comments 😂
If you're visiting the UK Shugborough Estate is well worth a visit.
At £17.00 for full access to the house, park, farm and gardens, or £10 for access to the park, farm and gardens only, it is a bargain.
There is so much to do at Shugborough that we didn't manage to see the 'home farm'. The website also lists many events including guided walks, play days for kids, circus skills workshops and nature oriented activities.
To find out more check out the national trust's website.
Thank you for reading 🌿
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