That Time I Went to Wayne Manor -- Wollaton Hall & Gardens

Back in the beginning of September we decided to visit Wollaton Hall which is just outside the city of Nottingham. We'd talked about visiting a number of times but weren't comfortable with the bus schedules like we are now. It was a spur-of-the-moment sort of trip, the kind where you want to do something cheap and can't stand being in the house anymore. 

On arrival we had to walk through a neighbourhood in order to get to the side entrance to the park. I had cased the area before hand on Google maps so I knew where to go before we left. On arrival it began to gently rain. When we reached the side gate I was momentarily worried it was locked but my fears were assuaged right away. That particular path ran parallel to a golf course where a majority of the deer we were searching for were gathered. The peace was soon to be broken when behind us came a young mother and four rambunctious children along with their two springer spaniels, one of them off its leash. Now, the sign upon entering the park clearly says that all pets need to be leashed for their own safety as well as the deer's. Sadly this woman thought her dog was the exception.
As we were looking out over the golf course at the deer the unleashed dog ran through the fence straight at one of the does. The doe ran towards the herd up until about 10 yards and then abruptly faced the dog and began charging it. We surmised that the dog had gotten too close to the fawns in the herd and now the doe was in attack mode. She bowled over the dog once that we saw and then stopped chasing. The dog ran back to its owner and was promptly leashed. On passing us the woman mentioned that the dog had never done that before! Well, lady, had you kept your dog on a leash like you were supposed to none of that would have happened. What's worse is the kids thought the dog getting chased and run over by the deer was "cool". No, you're lucky your dog didn't die. Had the dog been a couple inches taller the deer's legs would most certainly have injured it.
At any rate, Ms. Intelligence let the dog loose once again about a quarter of a mile further down the path so any hope I had for that lady went flinging itself out the proverbial window. For those who'd like to see the video (yes, I filmed it) I can upload it. I was told it would have been in poor taste to upload it to YouTube and publicly shame her so I opted not to.

Above we have one of the deer we saw along the path. She's a female Red Deer which is one of the most pervasive species of deer in the world. The other species of deer at the park, the Fallow Deer, we did not see that particular day.

I couldn't help but photograph this little guy. I rarely see wildlife in my area so even a silly grey squirrel piques my interest.

This is an awful photo of the herd but the best I could muster. They were easily 100 yards+ away so I was happy my little camera could zoom that far.

Here we have Wayne Manor! In the film, The Dark Knight Rises, Wollaton Hall was used as the outside shot of Bruce Wayne's (Batman's) mansion.

I've only really just begun getting interested in architecture and I could easily have spent an hour photographing all the nooks and crannies of this place. The colours from mineral deposits and years of rainfall plus all the little details really made this place rather exquisite.

I'm a bit too close to my subject here but portrayed is a stone lion with a door knocker-style ring in its mouth.

This apparently was once a dining room. From what I understand one of the scenes from The Dark Knight Rises was filmed in here although I suppose it looked entirely different. I've only seen it once.

I absolutely loved these! These little critters were in a room of the converted museum. This particular room was dedicated to insects from all over the world. From what I could gather on the signage these little bugs were created by local school children. Frankly I found them amazing enough to sell in the gift shop but sadly none were to be had.

The grounds of the Hall are large and mostly park-like with meandering paths and large open grassy areas. There are dedicated gardens behind the Hall, however.

It is so hard to find actual bees here! There are so many species of hoverfly in this country that I really do get a kick out of finding a genuine honey bee! The above wasp-like fly is called Chrysotoxum festivum and is just one of many bee and wasps mimickers over here.

The back of the Hall. I swear it's difficult to tell front from back with this place.

I had just one brief moment of blue skies in between rain showers so I took the opportunity to highlight the contrast of the white sculpture. This was actually atop the greenhouses adjacent to the gardens.

I loved the contrast of the different shades of green with the reddish tint of the grasses alongside the lake.

I liked this one for a number of reasons. One, it really showed just how impressive the zoom was on my tiny little point-and-shoot Nikon and, two, because of the ominous rain clouds just behind the towers. For scale you can see below where we were sitting in relationship to the Hall and just how far away we were. You can just barely see the house above the tree line to the left and centre.

The side of the Hall. There was actually a small "village" to the side with a shop, cafe, toilets and other stuff.

Yep. Bat Toilet.

Here we go back round the front of the Hall. It's a very grand piece of architecture and I'd probably soil myself if I had to clean all those windows but I thoroughly enjoyed my time visiting the hall and the accompanying museum and gardens. We'll be back some time in the future and we will hopefully find the other species of deer.


Until next time, yeah I don't know anything cool that batman says really so here's a good one from a pretty chill Vulcan:

"Live long and prosper."