At our leisure

Our homeschool picnic was cancelled today (*sob!), and we had our hearts set on an outing. So, I decided we'd go to the location anyway. I'd been to Werribee Mansion (also known as Chirnside Mansion) a few times, but my children had never been. There is also free admission until the end of this month, so why waste an opportunity on such a lovely day?

I'll warn you now, that we took LOTS of photos. I won't put them all up here, but yes, a good number are. To try and not make this post to long, I'll minimise most of the pictures. Just click on them to see the larger version.

When we arrived, the place seemed so quiet. Hardly anyone was about. The gardeners were quietly working away, hoeing the newly planted beds. So we stopped under a tree and enjoyed some sandwiches for lunch before venturing inside.

Once inside, we were given a brochure which gave an overview of the mansion's history. You can view it HERE on pdf. As the brochure contained a map, Maestro quickly adopted it and decided to guide us around.

Here is the drawing room, moving from left to right (and a silly snap of Mariposa on the sideline!):

Trophies ornamented all the doorways:

The Main Bedroom, with dressing room and a 19th Century ensuite!:

Morning Room:

Dining room:

 The Library:  

(the marbling on the books were very interesting)

If there's a ballroom (well, this was the saloon, but there were mirrors and polished floor!):

The Guest Rooms:
(by this stage both of the children were saying they'd love to live here, especially if they could have all their friends come to stay over in all the available rooms)

Victorian paper dollhouse:
(and yes, someone DID want to make this when she got home)

Lots of 1800s clothes on display:

 What a great sized kitchen!  I should have taken photos of the larder too, 

with shelves all the way up the ceiling.

In the Conservatory:

We had a lovely time, just the three of us. Then we happened to meet another homeschooling family in the cafe' who decided not to waste the opportunity either.  What a perfect way to spend the day, relaxing, learning about more local history and coming home on a buzz.