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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Bloody National Trust turned us away from lovely gardens with lake because...

81 replies

LyraSilvertongue · 22/06/2008 21:21

...there was a bit of a breeze.
We turned up at Claremont Gardens in Surrey with our picnic and two hungry boys only to be greeted by a man on the gate who said the gardens were shut because it was too windy.
Their rules state that they have to close down if winds get above 40mph and the forecast said they might reach a whopping 43mph just after lunchtime.
So we had to go somewhere else and pay £17 to get in (NT membership would have got us into Claremont for nothing).
AIBU to be annoyed that this silly rule spoiled our day out?

OP posts:
Original poster
LyraSilvertongue · 22/06/2008 22:15

LIZS, I doubt they'll be rushing to refund the £17 we had to pay to go elsewhere.

OP posts:
ComeOVeneer · 22/06/2008 22:18

Policywonk/funnypeculiar are you local then?

lilolilmanchester · 22/06/2008 22:28

sorry, don't want to appear rude, but for those of us who live very close to where a little one was killed at a NT site on a windy day, could we get back to the subject of the OP?? Appreciate where Lyra's coming from, but we were one of many families saying "there for the grace to God" when a child was killed in one of our most popular - and my closest -NT site. Just want Lyra to see the other side of the story....

Original poster
LyraSilvertongue · 22/06/2008 22:28

FP said further down the thread that she's 5 mins from Claremont.

OP posts:
Lilymaid · 22/06/2008 22:30

I would have gone across the road and walked through the woods for free (I don't think Elmbridge BC has a man on the gate over there keeping you out.

Original poster
LyraSilvertongue · 22/06/2008 22:30

I do see that lilolil, but the chances of it happening again are extremely slim so I don't think they need to be so overcautious. And the forecast wind speed was 43mph, not gale conditions.

OP posts:
Original poster
LyraSilvertongue · 22/06/2008 22:31

Lilymaid, we don't know the area that well so don't know the good spots.
We ended up at Painshill Park because we found it on a map. Was very nice...

OP posts:
policywonk · 22/06/2008 22:32
auntyspan · 22/06/2008 22:32

Yes Lyra but the NT won't have picked 40mph out of the air. There will be some reason why this speed puts human life in danger.

And as another poster put - the NT will lose out financially everytime they do this so it's not in their best interests to have the limit unneccessarily low.

ComeOVeneer · 22/06/2008 22:35

Aha. I didn't realise there were quite a few MNers in this area.

funnypeculiar · 22/06/2008 22:36
policywonk · 22/06/2008 22:36

I feel a Claremont MN picnic coming on...

Really sorry for egregious ongoing hijack

Original poster
LyraSilvertongue · 22/06/2008 22:37

I guess so Auntyspan, was just a bit disappointing for the boys who specifically wanted to go to Claremont for their picnic.

OP posts:
lilolilmanchester · 22/06/2008 22:37

forecast wasn't that bad on that fateful day either Lyra. I can't really have a rational discussion on this, can't tell you how easily it could have been one of my family hurt in the Dunham Massey incident. So although yes, I can see as an outsider it seems over cautious, but not that difficult to see the logic from where I am. Perhaps you should write/speak to the NT directly?

Original poster
LyraSilvertongue · 22/06/2008 22:38

Don't worry about the hijack, I'm in the area (kind of) too.

OP posts:
funnypeculiar · 22/06/2008 22:39

and more locals here

Sorry again, Lyra... Off to bed now, so no more unnecessary address swopping from me

auntyspan · 22/06/2008 22:40

Yeah I can imagine Lyra.... I'm afraid I always turn to "fig-roll bribary" in moments like that...

wheelybug · 22/06/2008 22:42

We spend many a weekend day at Claremont - lovely place. I did my MA dissertation on the place too .

SaintGeorge · 22/06/2008 22:47

"And the forecast wind speed was 43mph, not gale conditions."

Gale force is 39-46mph

policywonk · 22/06/2008 22:53

hey wheelybug, can you enlighten me about the Ha-Ha then? a)Wtf is it and b)why is it called a Ha-Ha?

edam · 22/06/2008 22:54

Blimey, you are supposed to balance risk and benefit, not panic because it's a bit blustery.

FWIW ds, some friends of his, their mother and I had a very narrow escape from a falling tree on our way home from school last autumn. Walking down the local nature trail thingy - abandoned railway line. At one point we stopped and pondered which direction to take. Just started walking away - had taken just six steps - when a tree gave an almighty groan and fell over, hitting the ground just where we'd been stood. A cyclist screeched to a halt on the other side, so that's six people who had reason to be very grateful for the near miss. Did any of us sue Herts County Council, or even complain? No. It was an accident.

SaintGeorge · 22/06/2008 22:55

A ha-ha is a sunken fence isn't it?

edam · 22/06/2008 22:56

A ha-ha is a concealed ditch, for the purposes of making the landscape look natural and full of sheep as per Capability Brown while preventing the sheep from actually coming anywhere near the house. So yer actual aristocracy weren't treading in sheep droppings.

Original poster
LyraSilvertongue · 22/06/2008 22:56

Damn, you're right StG.
Oh well, didn't feel that windy to me.

OP posts:
edam · 22/06/2008 22:57

StG is right, there's a fence at the bottom of the ditch.

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