The Great Spring Staycation: Day 6

Today was a photoshoot day for Cygnus! But I'm going to save those pics for later... instead, I'll show you the location.

The backdrop of our session was Dundurn Castle...

Not actually my photo - we kinda forgot to take an
outside shot of the front of the main house!

 ... a beautiful country manor house built in the 1830s. Though the house isn't actually in the country any more - it's almost in downtown Hamilton! But the grounds and the buildings are a national historic site, museum and public park.

Pretty much every school child in Hamilton goes to Dundurn at some point in their school life, and the last time I was there, I was probably about nine years old.

It's still very much as I remember. The main house has 40 rooms, though only a few are as large at this parlour (though almost every bedroom has it's own sitting room).

Because so much of the furniture and fabrics are original, you can't use a flash on your camera - so my pictures are limited to the rooms with decent lighting...

...and even then I had to play with them - thank goodness for photoshop!

All the tours are guided by costumed interpreters, which is pretty cool (and makes me a little envious! I want that job! Well... really -  I just want the dress!)

There are several buildings on the grounds, and also a very large Kitchen Garden

Very large! I can't imagine weeding that thing!

There were also these beautiful white irises, with just a touch of pale blue (Mom wouldn't let me steal any for my garden.... spoil-sport!)

While we explored the grounds, we did our photos for Cygnus

 ... and goofed around quite a bit... but more on that on another day. Vacation is slipping away and I don't want to waste a minute of it!