Monday, September 6, 2021

T Stands for Spontineity

 Hi everyone. Hope all you ladies who join us for T have had a nice week. And of course that applies to everyone else too who visits. If you celebrated the long Labor (or Labour) Day weekend, hope you enjoyed that also. 

My long weekend was busy with my daughter around. Not that I am required to do things with her, but it is nice to spend time with her when she is here.

Today for T I have an outing for you. This took place last Thursday, when my area was supposed to have rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida.

We did get the rain, but it came through early and over night.  By mid-morning it was starting to clear out. I was suppose to walk that day with my friend, but we thought that it might be too wet to walk. Not from rain falling on us, but the ground would be saturated from the several inches of rain that had fallen. There could be water dripping off any over hanging trees also. For a long time we texted back and forth, and finally came to the decision to to visit the Crane Estate in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

We didn't even meet until noon, but Ipswich, Massachusetts is on the north shore and not far from New Hampshire.



This is the back view of the house, which is based on an English estate. The part of the house in the front of my photo is called the casino, not because of gambling, but because (we were told) casino means little house in Italian. This is where any unmarried gentlemen would have to stay because it wouldn't be proper to keep them in the main building where unmarried young women would be staying. 

The main building was first lived in in 1929, and owned by the Crane family. They were from Chicago and made their fortune in bathroom fixtures like sinks,  tubs, toilets, etc. 

The views from the property (called Castle Hill long before the Cranes owned it) are pretty amazing.


The beach you see in this top photo is called Crane's Beach. I had been to the beach before but never to the house.


The gardens contained many of these mossy and decaying statues. I rather like their look. It must coast a lot just to maintain the main home, and so most of the  statues have been left to the environment and time.



A few have been obviously replaced. 





I thought this  1920's light was fantastic.


The green space in the center of this above photo used to be a saltwater pool for people to enjoy without having to take the trek down to the beach.

And look. They even had a Henry for Iris.


There were also a couple of gardens on the grounds.  For the sake of keeping this post from getting too long, I'll share those next week if people are interested.

Of course I must move onto T and my drink related part of my post.

Since neither my friend or I had had time for lunch, when we wrapped up our manor visit we were hungry. On the way to and from the Crane Estate, we passed an interesting business. It was an orchard/farm that was also a winery. More importantly, they sold ice cream, which seemed like the perfect afternoon snack since it was too late for lunch.

I wish they had been doing some wine tastings, because they had an interesting selection of fruit wines.
 

And they had won quite a few awards  for their fruit wines also.


They had a couple that sounded like they might be good, but at $22 a bottle and no tasting, I wasn't willing to try them.

They also had their own home baked cider donuts. A donut and a small scoop of coffee ice cream hit the spot. I enjoyed the ice cream, but sadly, the donut was only OK.



Don't forget to stop by  Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog  for T this week where we share our drink related photos or stories. 

Hope you enjoyed my post. Have a great week. And thanks so much for visiting. It is always appreciated!










20 comments:

Mae Travels said...

That is quite a palatial estate! European and English stately homes and gardens were obviously a model for the design and for the garden statues. Did you go inside?

Of course I've seen "CRANE" written on bathroom fixtures. It must have been a good business.

best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

Linda Kunsman said...

What a beautiful looking estate! Love the house, the grounds, the statues too. And the view of Crane's beach:):)
I wouldn't have bought one of those fruit wines for that price - especially without a taste either. Never had a cider donut- I bet you could make a fantastic one yourself;)
Happy T day!

Kate Yetter said...

What beautiful grounds! The mossy statues are my favorite! They would be a lot of fun to draw.
It's cider donut time again. Yum!! Not fun that they were just ok but the season has just begun. Hopefully you will get some tasty ones .
Happy Tea Day,
Kate

babYpose said...

Beautiful landscape and beach view.

Valerie-Jael said...

Crane Estate is beautiful, and really looks like an English stately home. It reminds me of Woolverstone Hall in Ipswich, England. Sorry your donut was disappointing, but hope you enjoyed the ice. They have a great selection of wines there. Happy T Day, take care, hugs, Valerie

nwilliams6 said...

That estate looks beautiful. Wow. Love the statues. So fun to go on outtings and find fun shops to stop at - one of my favorite things to do. Those wines do look awesome and so do the donuts (too bad the donuts were just ok). Fun pictures, Erika. Happy T-day!!! Hugz

R's Rue said...

Beautiful 😍

Divers and Sundry said...

What a delightful outing. I googled the Crane estate and read the Wikipedia article. It's wonderful it's been kept intact (so many acres!) maintained. It's a shame the donuts didn't meet expectations. A tasting of those wines would be interesting. Happy T Tuesday!

Jeanie said...

What a beautiful looking place and a wonderful way to spend the day. I adore that terrace and that light you like, well, I love it too. It seems like the perfect place to spend the day. (Pity about the donuts!)

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Crane Estate in Ipswich sounds like a stunning place. The house looks quite regal and the grounds are expansive. This must have been a fun afternoon for you and your friend. That Art Deco lamp was awesome. WOW, wow!! The area where the pool used to be isn't very disabled friendly looking, though. In fact, the entire garden with all those steps don't look like a place I would take a person in a wheelchair. At least, thoush of us who are fit would enjoy the visit though.

I like a nice sweet dessert wine. Most of my friends think they are too sweet for their tastes, though. I also think some of these sound good. Thanks for taking us to Crane Estate and to the ice cream place where wine is also sold. Sorry the donut wasn't good. They looked dry to me.

Let's Art Journal said...

Wow, what an amazing place! It definately reminds me of some of the grand country estates that we find here in England and I can see the Italian influence too - so stylish 😀. I so enjoyed the views out to sea and the gardens look spectacular. Hope you're having a lovely week and sending you Happy T Day wishes! Hugs, Jo x

CJ Kennedy said...

I've never been to the Crane Estate and it's been a long time since I've been to Crane's beach. The estate looks beautiful. I like your idea of lunch. Too bad the doughnuts were mediocre. I hope you're enjoying the weather today! Happy T Day

Carola Bartz said...

Yes to spontaneity! I like those spontaneous trips and visits, they're often the best. This looks like a manor house in England - I always imagine them cold inside. The views are absolutely beautiful. Coffee ice cream sounds perfect, but fruit wine not so much. I'm not a friend of them. I once had blueberry wine in Maine, it was awfully sweet.

Sharon Madson said...

Oh, yes, I hope you show us the rest next week. Who would have thought that something like this would be in the U.S. It reminds me of Mr. Darcy's Pemberly in The Pride and the Prejudice. Happy t day.

Iris Flavia said...

What a great, beautiful place and Henry just jumped for joy!!!
And he says sorry for us being late, too...
I had a looong job interview, then my Little Niece called (she can talk endlessly), called her Dad who can talk even longer.
After that I fell straight into bed...

Lisca said...

I'm sorry I'm late again in commenting. Tuesday is a day we usually are away from home and as Blogger doesn't like iPhones or iPads, I cannot do anything until I get back home to my desktop. Sometimes this is quite late, so here I am on Wednesday...
What a beautiful house! It certainly looks like an English stately home. I have heard of Americans that had houses demolished stone by stone to be re-built in the US (or the colonies as it was then).
I smiled at the idea of a little house for unmarried men. Very Puritan.But then a swimming pool must have been a luxury. Did people bathe in those days? We are talking 19th century I guess.
Yes, the lamps is exquisite!
Happy belated T-Day,
Hugs,
Lisca

DVArtist said...

Wow! This is beautiful. Wine and donuts? I can do that. Have a great day.

one irrational bean said...

I love Cranes. We will have to meet up sometime. For wine tasting around that area, I love Mill River. The wines are on the expensive side but they are delicious and the owners/staff are so nice. Love it there.

one irrational bean said...

Ps. For ice cream, Down River, Essex, just down the road, amazing ice cream, generous portions

craftytrog said...

What a lovely place! Great photos Erika!