‘I am the Batman at Woollaton Hall!’
I stared with mild embarrassment at Andy who said this while prostrating his hands up in the air in front of Woollaton Hall.
Coughing to disturb him out of his reverie, worshipping his hero (he’s got batman themed hearing aids…), he soon realised that there were throngs of people milling about him, looking at his idolising with bemusement.
He protested at my glance,
‘Don’t you start, I had to put up with your modelling just minutes earlier!’
I grinned,
‘Oh yeah. That was a good photo!’
We both started laughing out loud. Before I knew it, I slapped him on the shoulder and pointed, with ogled expression at a parrot that was flying about attached to a lead. We soon made a beeline.
So, where were we amid all of this randomness?!
After a long weekend of charity work in Nottingham, both Andy and I decided to blow the cobwebs out of our heads by taking a nice country walk at Woollaton Hall close by the city.
But, Batman? Parrots? Modelling? What’s all that about? I’ll tell you, but first let me explain about why Woollaton Hall has to be visited.
Woollaton Hall showcases its Elizabethan country house roots that was built in the 1580s on a inclined hull in Woollaton Park in Nottinghamshire. This is in the East Midlands of England of the United KingThe architecture is literally stunning. It comes to no surprise that it hosts the Nottingham Natural History Museum and even the Nottingham Industrial Museum. But, in my opinion the biggest draw is definitely the surrounding parkland that can also be doubled up for outdoor events such as festivals and concerts. But the herd of deer gives the parkland a magic touch.
But many visitors come to Woollaton Hall simply because it’s known as ‘Batman’s House.’ Key scenes from the Batman movie – The Dark Night Rises – were filmed in the grounds showing Woollaton Hall as ‘Wayne Manor.’ For Andy, this meant an annual pilgrimage that I tagged along on. I also found out that just five miles away from Woollaton Hall is the town of Gotham, which is where Gotham City got its name. Very interesting, indeed!
We somehow got to talk to quite a few of the hordes of people that arrived here on this cold Sunday afternoon. One of them simply brought along his pet parrot for a fly in the country air, attached to a lead. That’s how random it was!
Andy was totally loving this, learning about the parrot’s personality and tricks that its owner has taught him. But I did feel I had to step in when I thought he got confused about ‘pulling birds’ particularly like in the picture below… (For non UK readers – ‘birds’ can be UK slang for women).
After a quick coffee in their Cafe in the Courtyard, we explored within to discover more about the Natural History of Nottingham, the architecture and the previous guests.
My particular favourite room was the dressing up room! But Andy couldn’t stop laughing while I furiously tried to put on Elizabethan outfits that were too small for me, only to discover that they were for children!
Feeling more enlightened about Nottingham, we took one more stroll in the grounds (not in a romantic couple kind of way despite the picture we got together,) Saying goodbye to the country house and the Hall, we made our way back to the car park before the sun could finally set.
But a simply case of blowing off the cobwebs?
Mission succeeded.
If you want to find out more about Woollaton Hall, why not check out this video below:
Or you can visit their website here: http://www.wollatonhall.org.uk
