A damp visit to Belton

My daughter and her boyfriend came to see us at the beginning of June for part of her birthday celebrations. After lots of fun and food on the Saturday, they wanted to visit Belton House on the Sunday. The weather forecast wasn't brilliant but we decided to take a chance.

A slight drizzle as we arrived had us choosing to go round the house first, and we just caught the end of some of Belton's celebrations of Jane Austen's work - Pride and Prejudice in particular as the hall was used as the location for Lady Catherine de Bourgh's residence, Rosings, in the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle adaptation.

In the main downstairs room, a group of Regency dancers were performing, and in another a pianist was playing pieces of the time. Upstairs a mannequin sported Mr Darcy's clothes, and the floor was strewn with crumpled paper from his failed letters to Lizzy Bennet.

From a window at the back of the house the weather appeared to have cleared but after we'd stopped for tea and cake the rain began again and this glimpse was almost all we saw of the gardens.