Princess Diana's memorial (Althorp)

Member Name: gailsmith

Product:	Althorp
Date:	22/08/00 (949 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy to get to, nice place to visit

Disadvantages: bit pricy, although all proceeds go to prinecess diana's memorial fund

After visiting Althorp house, the family home of princess Diana, I'd like to say what a moving experience it was.It's been 3 years now since the death of Diana, part of Althorp house has been turned into a shrine.
What were once stables housing 100 horses is now an exhibition centre celebrating the life of Diana.
It consists of 5 rooms which displays several of her outfits including her wedding dress and 2 of her bridemaids dresses.
There are also displays of her school reports and letters she'd written as a child to her parents plus old toys and other personal belongings.
In one of the rooms there are a lot of the flowers which people laid when she died, which have been dried out, the smell from them hits you as you walk in the room, it's really lovely.
In another room there are 100's of books of condolences which people had signed after her death, from all over the country and various other countrys, one from china in chinese!!!
You can then walk round the house itself, really beautiful, 100's of huge oil paintings of kings, queens, dukes and duchesess from 16th century onwards, most from the Spencer family, you can see the likeness in them, they've all got the same look about them, the Earl Spencer look!! this house is where Earl spencer still lives,
you can tell people still live there, it's very different to other stately homes, amongst the C.D collection I noticed an All Saints C.d, I couldn't quite see what the others were.
They are huge rooms, one room consisted of a snooker table and a mini bar.
After going round the house we then made our way to the burial place, on an island in the middle of a lake.
you can't go onto the island, but can see it quite clearly, the lake is nowhere near as big as I thought.
There is a monument on the island marking the place where Diana is buried.
At the far end there is a Temple which has been restored in memory of Diana, where visitors
can lay flowers, which is really lovely.
The price to visit the house and gardens is £11 plus an extra £2.50 if you want to go upstairs in the house, which I did but I don't really think it was worth it as you only get to see 4 bedrooms and you don't know who they belong to!!! you have to arrive before 12 noon if you want to see upstairs.
There is a cafe which do light snacks and drinks and a picnic area, you can bring your own food if you wish, it would be cheaper if you did this.
There is also a gift shop, but all the items they sell are very expensive the cheapest item being about £20.
Although they really are lovely things, from crystal vases to china mugs, all commemorating Diana, princess of Wales.
There are also nice clean loos!!! the parking is free with a free bus service to take you up to the house as it is quite a way to walk.It took just over 2 hours to go all round, not a bad day out, well worth the visit!!! It is very easy to get to,M1 junction 18 going south or junction 16 going north, Althorp house is very well sign posted from M1

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