It was early afternoon by the time we arrived at the Shugborough Estate.

The Mansion House is situated on the edge of Cannock Chase, about 6 km east of Stafford and was owned by the Bishops of Lichfield until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, when it passed through several hands before being purchased in 1624 by William Anson, a local lawyer and ancestor of the Earls of Lichfield. The estate remained in the Anson family for three centuries. Following the death of the 4th Earl of Lichfield in 1960, the estate was allocated to the National Trust in lieu of death duties, and then immediately leased to Staffordshire County Council. Management of the estate was returned to the National Trust in 2016. This is a huge estate and by the time we had finished our brunch in the courtyard café on Park Farm which is part of the Shugborough Estate we had insufficient time to walk to the Mansion and look around the house. The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny and the many visitors, ourselves included where walking round in shirt sleeves! As time was against us we decided to have a good look around the stables and courtyard. There was plenty to see including the Water mill and story boards gave a good description of what life was like on the farm during the 1800’s.  It was nice to look at a small flock of pregnant ewes which had been brought in to the stables ready for lambing, in fact a couple of lambs had been born earlier in the day, much to the delight of the ladies. Since its completion in 1806 the farm has always been an integral part of the Shugborough estate. The National Trust is currently doing significant work in restoring the farm including the reintroduction of Longhorn cattle, Southdown sheep and eventually more poultry and pigs, all of which were key features on the estate in the past.