Burghley House - short walk in the Park

The few days of our stay in an idyllic bolt-hole by the river Nene had been gloriously sunny but the day we left was wet which altered our plans slightly. I'd been intending to visit the gardens at Burghley House but to be honest didn't want to pay the admission charge if rain was going to curtail our visit, so, as both car parking and access to the wider parkland is free (how excellent is that?) we settled for a walk there instead. 

 At first I thought our only glimpse of the house would be through the ornate gates, but as we followed the line of the haha round towards the lake more of it came into view. 

The house stands on the top of a slight rise, so must be visible from quite a distance, especially when the sun strikes the pale stone.

This is where we were heading - to the Lion Bridge,  only a short distance from the House.

From here. under the watchful eyes of the lions, there's a view back up the lake to the house, and downstream in the opposite direction 

It hadn't been a long walk, and the rain had started to clear now, but it had been a fairly active few days for me so it was time to return to the car. We weren't heading straight home, which would have taken only an hour or so, but back to Belton where the weather promised to be fairer for a second visit in three days. Burghley is somewhere I have to go back to in better weather though, and visit the gardens at least, though there's also a lot more of parkland to be explored.