Looks like a good fellow but was he married to his nuts and bolts?

This is my second blog on my use of National Trust membership. My visit took me to Nuffield Place, by no means glamorous and is well hidden but these observations did not detract from my fascination with the place. Walking along the pathway to see the house it did not grab my attention as some of the larger, more glamorous properties do. My immediate thought was that I had wasted a visit but it only proves the adage that we should not judge a book by its cover.

The house was like a time warp and, though I can’t be sure, seemed that everything was set in the 1930s. The owner died in 1963. There were no lavish surroundings, just simple living space.

My knowledge of this William Morris (I am informed there is another famous person by that name whose wallpapers feature in many a National Trust property; indeed one can visit his house somewhere down Kent way) started at zero so that this visit was educational. The family name Morris did not ring any bells with me having neither little interest in cars and none in wallpapers. Those in the know associate Morris with Morris motor cars. I was born too late to see Morris motor cars on every corner of every road in the land. 

Lord Nuffield was one of Britain’s greatest philanthropists. How refreshing to hear of someone with so much wealth being so generous. It left me thinking of a world where money seems to rule everything, and confirms to my heart that money doesn’t buy happiness. Perhaps this man was happy. It is clear that he achieved a lot with the years allotted to him.

Apparently Lord Nuffield was one of the richest men in the world during his time but you would never have guessed this from a visit to his house. These days the iron lung, of which he became a principle donor, is confined to a shed in the garden. He was a successful business man, clearly a practical man (I mean, who has a workshop in their bedroom?!!?). It would appear from the house that Lord Nuffield did not do frippery. The house almost seems like it has been thrown together and suggests that the person who lived there was married to his work with nuts and bolts. I left the property with an inquisitive mind. In endowing part of his considerable fortune to Nuffield College in Oxford I feel it is high time I went to visit this place ahead of the other colleges in that wonderful city.

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