Stan Hywet is
always a fun place to go. It is a beautiful house, and the grounds are
extensive and well maintained. Mer and I see Shakespeare at Stan Hywet
every summer, and there are other things that go on there as well.

This
last Saturday was Ohio Mart, a fundrasier where craftsmen set up booths
on the grounds and sell their wares. Stan Hywet gets part of the
proceeds to help maintain the grounds. Mer and I got free tickets, so we
decided to go. We pictured a few booths scattered around the grounds
with a few people milling around looking  at handmade dresses and
stained glass.

Boy, were we wrong. Our first clue that maybe Ohio
Mart was a bigger deal than we thought was that the parking at Stan Hywet,
which is ample, was full. We were directed to Firestone High School to
park, a 1.3 mile walk. We could have waited for a shuttlebus, but the
line was enormous and it was a perfect day, so we walked.

Once we
got on the grounds, we saw that there were lots of people, and there
were several huge tents for the vendors. There were people everywhere.
We decided we would take things mellow, and we wandered around the
grounds, heading toward the back of the property. We found a small road
that took us to the back of the grounds, where we had never been. It
was wonderful. There were no people back there, and it was really
pretty. Here are (many) pictures of the back side of the property. I
recommend checking it out if you get to Stan Hywet sometime.

 

 

 

 

A perfect day!

 

 

 

 

The grounds have a Japanese-influenced garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We
did poke around in the vendor tents, and the stuff was nice. There was
a cool exhibit of quilts in the house itself. Still, the real show was
the grounds. We stayed for two hours or so, then walked
back to the car. A very nice afternoon.