Category: Stately Homes

Have Yourself a Stately Home Christmas

Each year, at the beginning of November, I start checking the mailbox for my invitation to spend Christmas at Stratfield Saye. Each year, I’m disappointed in this hope. All is not lost, however, as I’ve still been fortunate enough to spend a few Christmas’s, and a New Year’s Eve or two, in England anyways. Recently, Victoria and I were mulling over our choices for future holiday stays and we both thought it would be grand to really splash out and spend the hols at a stately home or three – even if none of them are Stratfield Saye.

Victoria suggested Castle Howard, above, in Yorkshire, which will be decorated and receiving visitors until 22 December. From their website: “Beautifully decked out each Christmas by the Hon.Simon and Mrs Howard, a visit to Castle Howard fills the festive season with sparkle and cheer. Approach the magnificent 18th-century house along the Christmas tree-lined drive.

“Inside, discover breathtaking interiors lit by candle and firelight, dressed with magnificent trees, a stunning display of traditional Howard family ‘twigs’, winter garlands and floral arrangements. Christmas at Castle Howard includes live music performances daily, audiences with Father Christmas and delicious seasonal menus in the restaurant and cafés. Remember to leave enough time to visit the gift shops, Farm Shop and Garden Centre where you can pick up that special Christmas gift.”

Victoria also suggested Wiltshire’s Bowood House, above, for which she harbors a soft spot in her heart, not least because it’s home to the current Marquis and Marchioness of Lansdowne. Speaking of whom, here’s the invitation to visitors from the Lady of the House: “For the second year the Marchioness of Lansdowne invites you to Bowood House Christmas Extravaganza.  See Bowood House decorated for a family Christmas and indulge in a fantastic shopping experience.  Come and see stunning stalls filled with handmade toys, Christmas food, antiques, evening clothes, indulgences, shoes, books, silk flowers, handbags, furs, puzzles, table decorations, candles, book signing by famous food writers and much much more.” The Extravaganza has become a seasonal favorite – last year, the Duchess of Cornwall paid a visit.

While Bowood House itself closes to the public before Christmas proper, the Bowood Hotel, Spa and Golf Resort.offers a two night Christmas Break, which includes a Christmas Eve visit to Lord and Lady Lansdowne –

Two Night Christmas Break – Get away for two nights with dinner, bed and breakfast, as well as full use of our spa facilities. What the break includes:

Christmas Eve
Arrive in time for a Champagne High Tea, served between 3pm and 4pm, before heading down to Bowood House to join Lord and Lady Lansdowne for carols in the private family chapel, followed by mulled wine and mince pies in the Orangery. Return to the hotel for a delicious three course dinner. If you wish to attend midnight mass in the village church, transport will be available. Then it’s time to relax. Enjoy a nightcap or a complimentary hot chocolate before you head up to bed and remember to put your Christmas stocking on your door before you go to sleep.
Christmas Day
Start the day with a full Wiltshire Breakfast. Spend the morning relaxing or work up an appetite with a walk in the beautiful Bowood Grounds. Santa will arrive with gifts for all. Lunch will be a gourmet experience offering traditional Christmas fayre, with a menu designed and cooked by our Executive Chef. The afternoon is a time for a nap or to watch the Queen’s speech and if you’re peckish, you’ll be able to help yourself to a delicious rolling buffet in the evening.
Boxing Day
Enjoy a full Wiltshire Breakfast and then make use of the luxurious Spa facilities before you leave. If you want to postpone your departure, add an extra night bed and breakfast from only £170 per room.
From only £450 per adult, £200 per child. Prices are based on two people sharing a twin or double room, single supplement applies, upgrades are available at a supplement. Price per child is based on sharing with two adults. If two or more children, an adjoining room will be offered for £375 per child, subject to availability. For more information or to make a reservation please call Bowood Hotel Reception on 01249 822228.

Personally, I’d love to see Chatsworth House at the holidays. The Duke and Duchess of Devonshire first opened the House to visitors at Christmas as a way of making up revenues after a year of poor visitor attendance due in part to hoof and mouth disease in the local area. Now, decades on, the Chatsworth Christmas displays are a well loved tradition for visitors from near and far.

This year, from November 9 to December 23, Chatsworth offers Christmas displays on the lower
floors of the house. The theme for Christmas 2013 is ‘The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe at Chatsworth.’ In addition, each year the House hosts Christmas Market Weekends, seasonal floral workshops and twilight evenings.

The Cavendish family also own Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire and its there that you can enjoy a magical walk and discover the 12 scenes from the traditional carol come to life. Explore Strid Wood to find the 12 scenes – see 7 swans a-swimming, 3 real french hens and have a go on the drums. Nearby, the Devonshire Arms Country House Hotel and Spa offers its own fabulous Christmas Package. From their website:

With its signature puddings and wild moors, Yorkshire is a marvellously English place to spend Christmas. One of the county’s finest properties is the 30,000-acre Bolton Abbey Estate in the Dales, owned by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire; and, on it, the Devonshire Arms Country House Hotel and Spa is offering two- and three-night Christmas packages. A Champagne reception and dinner in the Michelin-starred Burlington Restaurant will warm guests up for some carol-singing,

Christmas Eve –

Champagne Afternoon Tea, this will be served in the lounges and will include a variety of delights
19.00 Drinks Reception in the Cocktail lounge
19.30 Seated for a set menu dinner The Burlington Restaurant. We respectfully advise that the dress code for this evening is Jacket and Tie
22.30 The Choir will leave to take their place in The Priory for Midnight Mass. We invite you to board the 1920’s Charabanc to chauffeur you to The Priory from 10.45 pm
23.30 Celebrate the First Mass of Christmas
00.30 Once safely back at the Hotel, and if you can fit it in, enjoy hot chocolate, marshmallows, brandy, mulled wine and mince pies as a bed time treat.

Christmas Day
Breakfast is served in the Burlington Restaurant.
10.00 Morning mass at the Bolton Priory for those wishing to attend, The Priory is approximately 1 mile along the river or road. Reception has information on other Church services.
12.30 Champagne reception in the cocktail lounge.
13.30 The Traditional Christmas Luncheon, served in the Burlington Restaurant.
16.30 Games or walk
19.00-20.00 A Christmas buffet will be served in the Burlington. Help yourself to as much as you can eat.
20.30 Christmas Pub quiz to be held in the Brasserie.


Boxing Day

8.00-10.00 Traditional Breakfast will be served in the Burlington Restaurant.
12.00 noon Join the Airedale Beagles in the Devonshire’s front car park on their traditional Boxing Day hunt. Mulled wine & mince pies will be available to keep you warm!
12.00 noon For those of you who have chosen to go on the guided walk with Eddie, please meet in Reception at 12.00 noon, to see the Beagles & returning at approx 3.30pm to 4.00pm.Packed Lunch will be provided.
12.30–14.00 For those not attending the walk, a Boxing Day lunch is served in The Burlington Restaurant.
19.00-00.00 Champagne Reception prior to Boxing Night Black Tie Dinner with wine package and Jazz Band in the Cavendish Room, this is when the prizes will be given to those who have won the competitions.


Three-night packages from £1,645 per room. Devonshire Arms Country House Hotel and Spa, Bolton Abbey, Skipton, North Yorkshire (01756 710441; www.thedevonshirearms.co.uk)

Visit Basildon Park with Kristine and Victoria…September 2014

We are busy investigating every aspect and all the details of our upcoming tour — which we hope YOU will join!  The details are here.
 
 
 
Victoria here, remembering her previous visit to Basildon Park and reprising a blog post from December, 2010 . . . And while you read it, think about how it will feel as you approach the great house…enter the halls and view the sumptuous rooms.  You will love every moment of it…and especially the fascinating story of the couple who turned it from a sad wreck of a place into a brilliant National Trust stately home.

from Sunday, December 26, 2010:

Basildon Park Rebirths

Basildon Park is in Berkshire overlooking the lovely Thames Valley, built in the 1770’s in the strict Palladian style by architect John Carr of York.

Basildon Park was abandoned about 1910 and stripped of its furnishings even including flooring, fireplace surrounds and woodwork. It was used to house troops or prisoners in both world wars. Some rooms were removed and reconstructed in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City (ballroom, below).

Basildon Park stood mostly empty and deteriorating until 1952 when Lord and Lady Iliffe, a newspaper tycoon and his wife, rescued the house. Lady Iliffe writes, “To say it was derelict is hardly good enough: no window was left intact, and most were repaired with cardboard or plywood; there was a large puddle on the Library floor, coming from the bedroom above, where a fire had just been stopped in time; walls were covered with signatures and graffiti from various occupants….It was appallingly cold and damp. And yet, there was still an atmosphere of former elegance, and a feeling of great solidity. Carr’s house was still there, damaged but basically unchanged.”

Views of the outside show the Bath stone construction. The Palladian window in the Garden Front  is in the Octagon Room.

The Iliffes were fortunate enough to find genuine Carr fireplaces and woodwork removed from other houses, mostly in Yorkshire. Carr employed meticulous craftsmen and used standard measurements so that the pieces were virtually interchangeable.

Again, Lady Iliffe: “Carr was such a precise architect that his mahogany doors from Panton (in Lincolnshire) fitted exactly in the sockets of the missing Basildon ones.” Thus Basildon is both authentic and a recreation in one.

Lady Iliffe collaborated with leading designers of the English Country House style of decorating to fit out the house with a combination of antiques and

contemporary pieces, including the inevitable floral chintzes that simply drip with that country house charm. Right, the Octagon Room interior.

Upstairs the generously sized rooms were adapted to alternating bedrooms and huge bathrooms. It is a bit of a shock to see one of the perfectly proportioned rooms with its decorative plaster ceiling and elaborate woodwork and marble fireplace decked out with nothing more than the finest 1950’s plumbing fixtures.

Basildon Park was built between 1776 and 1782 by Sir Francis Sykes, created a baronet in 1781. His roots were in Yorkshire and he chose Carr of York to build his house, a classical Palladian villa with a main block of rooms joined to pavilions on either side. The Sykes fortune was made during his service in India. Right is the view of the countryside.

In 1838, the Sykes family sold the house to James Morrison (d. 1857), a Liberal MP who had turned his London haberdashery business into an international concern. By the way, when he was a shopman at Todd and Co., he married his employer’s daughter, and eventually took over the firm. Morrison engaged architect John Papworth to design handkerchiefs for his company and later to remodel Basildon. Morrison had acquired a fine collection of paintings and was one of the founding fathers of the National Gallery in London. Papworth worked at Basildon from 1837 to 1842, making some changes to the Octagon Room and other interior designs, all in keeping with the original spirit of Carr’s house. Morrison’s daughter Miss Ellen Morrison was the last resident before Basildon Park fell into disuse.

Basildon Park was used to house soldiers during World War II, as were many country houses, and certainly suffered occasional, if not constant, abuse.
The Iliffes were collectors of the work of the distinguished English artist Graham Sutherland, whose gigantic tapestry adorns the modernist reconstruction of the Coventry Cathedral. (The 14th century cathedral was destroyed in 1940 by German bombs; a modern cathedral was built and filled

with works of contemporary art.) A number of Sutherland’s paintings and many studies for the tapestry he designed hang at Basildon. The Iliffe family  presented the house to the National Trust in 1978.

Basildon Park has often served as a set for costume dramas for the BBC and other producers. Here is a scene from the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, where Basildon enacted the role of Netherfield Park.
This picture shows how carefully designed temporary baseboards can hide 21th century electrical outlets or cable connections.

To Basildon Park in Berkshire now in the capable hands of the National Trust, we wish as many more rebirths as necessary to keep out the damp and bring in the tourists.

 Remember, Gentle Reader, you can join Kristine and Victoria and experience this fabulous mansion yourself.  Please check out all the details at THE WELLINGTON TOUR website.

 
 
 
More detailed reports on Tour Sites to come soon…
 

The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire

Victoria, here, lately reading several memoirs by Deborah Mitford Cavendish, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire.  I find them delightful. When I put the book down to attend to other matters, I feel like I’ve been chatting with a friend.

Now, most of my friends are not quite duchesses (more like countesses and baronesses, don’t cha know?), but Debo’s breezy style just feels like an old pal has been telling me about her very long and full life.  Don’t all of your friends cavort with Prince Charles, care for many of the Chatsworth Estate affairs, and feed their chickens?  Actually, I really do have a few friends who feed their chickens, come to think of it.  And Kristine waved at Prince Charles once as he passed her in his limo.

All in One Basket (immediately above) combines two of the Duchess’s previous memoirs into one volume.  They were entitled Counting My Chickens and Home to Roost, collections of stories and essays she wrote earlier.  Wait For Me (top picture) is a memoir of her childhood and marriage to nearly the present. 

The dowager Duchess speaking to Charlie Rose

At the age of 92, she is living near Chatsworth in a house she redecorated — with a few spare pieces from the Chatsworth attics — after the death of her husband, the 11th Duke of Devonshire, in 2004, Chatsworth became the home of her son Peregrine Cavendish, known as Stoker, 12th Duke of Devonshire. and his wife Amanda, the Duchess.

 

The excellent website for Chatsworth is here.  We’ve written about Chatsworth on this blog, as have many others.  It is a favorite target of tourists and residents of the British Isles as well.  The first time I visited Chatsworth, quite a few years ago, I was amazed to be greeted by flocks of chickens wandering the parking area.

These were not just ordinary chickens, but lovely exotic feathered works of art — which walked around and seemed hungry.  My suspicion is that the visitors frequently bring treats for the hens and roosters.  When we entered the main house, the doorkeeper cautioned us not to let the creatures inside. “The Duchess,” he said, “does not like her chickens in the house.”

I have visited Chatsworth several times and I would love to go again. And again.  It is the quintessential English Country House and has been in the forefront of developing the Stately Home Industry, if I dare to call it that.  Debo would not approve. However, she has been an inspiration and a guiding force for the movement.

Deborah and Andrew at their wedding in 1941

Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford was the youngest of the seven children of Lord Redesdale, thus one of the famous Mitford Sisters, of whom so much has been written.  Nancy, eldest of the seven, wrote several novels which are very popular and have been turned into films or tv series; some of these have autobiographical overtones of the sisters’ lives.

Jessica, is famous for her book The American Way of Death, criticising the funeral business. Two other sisters developed fascist sympathies, with Unity trying to shoot herself over the British declaration of war against Germany.  Diana married the head of the British fascist party, Sir Oswald Moseley.  Through it all, Debo ignored politics and remained devoted to each sister in her own way.

Marquess of Hartingdon and bride Kathleen Kennedy in 1944
Joe Kennedy jr. stands behind his sister

When Debo married Lord Andrew Cavendish in 1941, he was not expected to inherit the dukedom. But only four months after his elder brother William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartingdon married Kathleen Kennedy in May, 1944, the Marquess was killed in action  in WWII. Kathleen, sister of future U. S. President John F. Kennedy, died in 1948 in a plane crash.

Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire 1920-2004
Picture: BBC
Thus Andrew and Debo had to prepare for their eventual roles as Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, along with all the responsibilities of many properties, tenants and enterprises. Andrew’s father, the 10th Duke died in 1950.  Though she writes with the advantage of hindsight, the reader of Debo’s accounts can easily see what difficulties the family had with death duties and the establishment of Chatsworth as a profitable business capable of sustaining the house, its contents and activities for the public. Though she pooh-poohs the idea, Debo is largely responsible for Chatsworth’s success.  Thanks, Debo!

For a review of Wait For Me from the Telegraph, click here.

Kenwood House: Traveling Treasures

Early Spring at Kenwood House

Victoria here, recalling several visits to Kenwood House, a beautiful white mansion sitting atop Hampstead Heath just outside of central London.  Originally built in the early 17th century, it was remodeled by Robert Adam 1764-1779 in the neoclassic style with Adam’s distinctive and oft-copied interiors.

1st Earl of Mansfield (1705-1793)

At the time, it was owned by William Murray, who was named Baron Mansfield, later 1st Earl of Mansfield.  He was the Lord Chief Justice from 1756 to 1788 and is credited with  major contributions to the development of English law as well as measures to end slavery in the British Isles.

Elevations of Kenwood House, 1764

The famous Library

In 1925, Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh (1847-1927) and heir to a brewery fortune, bought the house from the Mansfield heirs as the home for his magnificent collection of art. At Iveagh’s death in 1927, he left both the house and the art collection to the nation.  It is also known as the Iveagh Bequest.

Now managed by English Heritage, Kenwood House is undergoing extensive renovations and improvements, returning many rooms to their appearance after Robert Adam decorated them, probably to match the library, which has been long admired by visitors.

In 2012-13 an exhibition of works from the collection Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London   is touring museums in the United States while Kenwood House is closed. Many of the works have never before been outside Britain.  The treasured Rembrandt Self-Portrait was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art briefly in spring before the whole exhibition opened at the Fine Arts Museum of Houston, Texas, where it can been seen until September 3, 2012.

Self Portrait, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1661

I am particularly excited because the collection will next travel to the Milwaukee Art Museum (practically in my front yard) from October 12, 2012 through January 13, 2013.  After Milwaukee, the collection will be shown in Seattle and later yet at the Arkansas Art Center.

The other artists celebrated in the title of this traveling exhibition include Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) who painted numerous portraits of English royalty and aristocrats.

Princess Henrietta of Lorraine attended by a Page, 1634

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) is renowned for his exquisite portraits, and this one is among his best.

Mary, Countess of Howe, c. 1764
Many other masterworks are included in the nearly fifty paintings in the exhibition by artists such as Canaletto,  Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Thomas Lawrence,  Sir Edwin Landseer, and…

Portrait of Pieter van der Broecke, by Frans Hals, 1633
Joseph Mallord William Turner, A Coast Scene
 with Fisherman Hauling a Boat Ashore, c. 1803-04
George Romney, Emma Hart as The Spinstress, c. 1783-84
The exhibition Rembrandt, van Dyck and Gainsborough: Treasures from Kenwood House is organized by The American Federation of Art and English Heritage.

SAVE Britain's Heritage

An organization called SAVE Britain’s Heritage has been campaigning for historic buildings since its formation in 1975 by a group of architects, journalists and planners. Its Dare to Care: Buildings at Risk 2012-13 report, published June 1, contains almost one hundred homes in need of restoration, from castles to cottages.

Buildings featured in the 2012 report, Dare to Care, range from enchanting cottages, such as Shellards Cottage above, farmhouses and town houses to forlorn country piles, deserted chapels and crumbling mills – all crying out for restoration. These neglected treasures, ripe for sensitive repair, often lie in idyllic locations, surrounded by fields or in country villages or beside rivers and canals.

SAVE’s latest report contains almost 100 new cases, resulting from a major consultation with local authorities in England. It also features up-to-date case histories of buildings rescued since appearing in earlier SAVE reports. Finally, the report highlights the scandalous waste of several historic buildings over the past twelve months. These include the demolition of a 19th-century brewer’s villa in Hungerford, Berkshire, and the imminent destruction of Charles Barry’s elegant Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

A must read for anyone interested in Britain’s heritage and an essential tool for prospective restorers, SAVE’s reports play a critical role in the conservation of Britain’s historic buildings. Some two-thirds of the country houses included in SAVE’s first report, published in 1977, had found new owners or uses within three or four years and good news has continued ever since. Marcus Binney, SAVE’s President says, ‘This is the 23rd of SAVE’s annual reports on buildings at risk, each one illustrating a remarkable selection of endangered properties in varying states of repair, but all candidates for immediate action.’


Here are some highlights from the 2012 report:

Milton Damerell House, Devon: this treasure trove of architectural detail and history is currently on the market for £495,000. Dating back to 1500, this handsome Grade II listed house is an amalgamation of four centuries of architecture. Thought to have been a vicarage at one time, and located within beautiful countryside, this building boasts extraordinary surviving features and the promise of a mysterious hidden tunnel.

Shellards Cottage, (above) Essex: This historical gem, a charming thatched cottage built around 1500, is situated at the end of a country lane and would make a delightful home or rural bolt hole.

Ivy Cottage in County Durham: When this idyllic house – which dates back to the 17th century – was listed in 1987 the Inspector recorded that it was already empty and derelict. Two decades later, this picturesque sandstone building, in a small rural village, continues to cry out for a new owner and a new life.

The Georgian Toll Cottage at Marple, near Stockport: stands in a picturesque position next to a hump bridge at the junction of the Peak Forest and Macclesfield Canals. Pathetically boarded up, it cries out for some TLC.

Overstone Hall, (above) on the outskirts of Northampton: is a majestic Italianate mansion in a 40 acre walled park but poses a considerable challenge. It was built in 1866 to the designs of W M Teulon, younger brother of the great Victorian ‘rogue’ architect S S Teulon. After suffering a fire it was put up for sale two years ago. It would make for a magnificent hotel, offices, or could be adapted sensitively for multiple residential use.

For further information, visit the Save Britain’s Heritage website.