Parks & Gardens – Page 7 – My Days Out Blog

Houghton Hall, Norfolk

Private
Houghton Hall is one of the grand houses of Norfolk, and was built for Sir Robert Walpole, successful 18th century politician, and known as the 1st British Prime Minister. It seems that no expense was spared in fitting out the house, and it appears in lists of the 10 grandest houses in England. The decor and contents are largely original, though the original paintings were sold off by one of Walpole’s descendants.

The state rooms are the only rooms on display, and it doesn’t take long to go round (about 1 1/4 hours), leaving the visitor to eke out the rest of his/her half-day visit by looking at the walled gardens, the modern art installations in the grounds, the model soldiers and other exhibits in the stable block, or going around the state rooms again. The state rooms are very ornate and impressive (sorry, no interior photos here).

Modern visitors enter by the tradesmen’s entrance at the back. The original grand entrance stairs at front and back were removed by an eccentric owner, the one now on the west side being a modern replacement. The award-winning walled garden is well worth a visit.

If you are wondering what is or was in the wings, the one nearer the stables was originally the kitchens and is now estate offices, and the other one was an orangery and art gallery and now is mostly used for storage.

Practical notes: As usual, ignore your post-code sat-nav while in the vicinity of the estate. Mine told me to turn right when I could see the entrance gates dead ahead. On leaving the car park later, it took me in a circle around the grounds. The real exit route is not as clearly marked as it might be…

Houghton Revisited
I visited the house again in Oct 2013 for the once in a lifetime exhibition. As well as the fine pictures from the Hermitage, I was able to see the Library (part of the exhibition but not part of the 2012 tour) the Church, and the Palladian Water Tower. The Water Tower is accessible, but is a long hike along an avenue of trees.

Fire and water art — Yes that fountain is on fire!

Greys Court, Oxfordshire

National Trust
Greys Court is a former family home and estate, in a rural Chilterns setting. The 16th century house and the gardens were home to the Brunner family until recent years. Following the death of the last resident, the National Trust carried out major repairs and refurbishment. Some of the buildings face a central green. There are also a series of walled gardens, some medieval towers, and an old well house enclosing a Tudor donkey wheel.
Most of the rooms are presented as they would have been when the Brunners lived there.
The house interior is worth a visit, and the various buildings in the grounds are also of interest. Younger visitors may be disappointed to discover that the medieval towers are not accessible. Out in the grounds is an ice-house which has a thatched roof instead of the usual vault. The walled gardens will be of interest to garden admirers. Walks are possible in the wider estate.
Practical details: For the final approach, follow the brown signs and ignore your Sat-Nav, otherwise you will probably find yourself on a long narrow twisty single track country lane.
A visit here can be paired with a morning visit to nearby Nuffield Place.

Greys Court Dower House (private) — Dower House (private)

Greys Court North-east Tower — North-east Tower

Greys Court South-West Tower — South-West Tower

Kew Gardens

The famous Royal Botanical Gardens have lots of things for visitors to look at, and are also a centre for botanical research and plant conservation. They are also of historical interest. Major attractions include the two huge Victorian glass-houses and their contents, several other conservatories, a number of buildings and follies including the famous Pagoda, two or three art galleries, a treetop walkway, a lake, plus the inevitable cafes and shop, set in 326 acres (132ha) of gardens. Kew Palace and Queen Charlotte’s Cottage (curated by Historic Royal Palaces) are also within the gardens.

On the whole, the exotic indoor plants (in the conservatories) are more interesting than the outdoor, and the more notable types are highlighted by display panels. Both the Palm House and the Temperate House have an internal gallery which the energetic can climb to walk around the palm-tree-tops, and enjoy views over the Gardens.

Update from Dec. 2021 visit: The visiting hours are now rather restricted, but I got in straight away without having to book or queue. Various installations were in place for “Kew at Christmas” opening a few days later, with some illuminations and installations already lit up during the day as a preview of what one would see on paying the stiff fee for the evening show. Not really my cup of tea except for some very pretty “birds”.

Some buildings were closed, but I visited some features not seen before – the treetop walkway (a stiff climb with the lift not in service), the Minka House, and some giant redwoods. By the lake, I was accosted by a pair of exotic ducks.

Practical details: The Gardens are within walking distance of two railway stations. There is limited parking in Ferry Lane (chargeable). An all-day stay in the Ferry Lane car park will cost several pounds. The gardens are over a mile long, so a visit to diverse parts of the gardens will involve a walk of several miles. For the less fit, there is a ‘Land Train’ which stops at seven points around the gardens. The big glass-houses however are within 500 metres of the Victoria Gate. You are advised to make an all-day visit, as the admission charges are quite steep, and even if you are there all day you are unlikely to be able to see everything. There is a small discount for repeat visits. In summer, the gardens close at 6.30pm or later.

Princess of Wales Conservatory — Princes of Wales Cons.

Secluded Garden Cons. , Kew — Secluded Garden Cons.

Waterlilies, P.O.W. Cons. , Kew — Waterlilies, P.O.W. Cons.

Treetop view — View from Treetop Walkway

Hampton Court Palace

This is one of the Royal Palaces, with the present buildings started by Cardinal Wolsey, extended for Henry VIII, and with a baroque Palace added on for William and Mary, and some further development for the Hanoverians. George II was the last monarch to occupy the Palace, which thereafter was used to provide grace-and favour residences for deserving persons. The residents were typically gentlewomen or widows of men who had provided some distinguished service to the State. The 1000+ rooms available were partitioned up to provide over 50 multi-room apartments.
In the 20th century the phasing out of the grace-and-favour apartments took place for a number of reasons, the foremost being the impracticality of bringing the often crudely adapted apartments up to 20th century standards of heating, plumbing and convenience. Today, large areas have been reclaimed for public access, and the unseen rooms are used for storage, offices and staff accommodation.

The Palace is big; more of a brick village than a building. The two principal phases of development can be best seen if one stands in the Privy Gardens near the river, where the squarish Baroque block is in front of you and a forest of Tudor chimneys is to your left. The gardens are big too; the best views of the formal gardens can be had by peeking out of windows as you tour the Palace. A canal separates the gardens from the Home Park, but it’s possible to access the Park, where the Long Water stretches off into the far distance, if you have time to tramp around with a map.

Inside, there is a lot to see, and nearly all of it is worth a look. The highlights are Henry VIII’s Great Hall, with its highly carved hammer-beam roof, and the Chapel Royal with its intricate blue and gold ceiling. After that there are the Tudor Kitchens, which have been restored and kitted out to show visitors their original functioning, and the Young Henry VIII exhibition. Then there’s the William III apartments, the Georgian Apartments and other attractions.

Outside, the Privy Garden and Great Fountain Garden should be seen. Then there are the Pond Gardens, Banqueting House and the Great Vine on the river side. On the other side is a large area with the 20th Century Garden, Wilderness, Maze, etc. This latter area is perhaps best taken in as you make your way back to the exit, car park etc at the end of your visit.

Practical Details: There is some car parking (chargeable); an all-day stay will cost several pounds. The Palace is well served by public transport, and if you arrive by rail at Hampton Court station (terminus), finding the nearby Palace is a no-brainer. The HRP website suggests a minimum three-hour visit, but I stayed for about six hours and still did not manage to see everything inside and out.
The only eatery is the Tiltyard Cafe in the grounds. Photography seems to be generally permitted except where they say you can’t, i.e. in the Chapel Royal and the entrances to the few remaining grace-and-favour apartments. Tickets can be pre-booked online, which could save you money and avoid wasting scarce visit time stuck in a lengthy queue in the ticket office.
There is a no-extra-cost tour of the Grace-and-Favour apartments, which is worth catching if you have an hour, as it gets you into one or two spaces not normally open to visitors.

Privy Gardens from the Palace — Privy Gardens

Later Palace, from gardens — Later Palace

Cliveden

National Trust
The house, built in 1850-1, is the third on the site, the two previous ones having burnt down. It is now a hotel, which you can visit at any time as a guest if you are wealthy. Otherwise, visiting is restricted to three rooms for 2 1/2 hours twice a week.
The extensive and spectacular gardens and grounds are open daily to NT visitors. Notable features are the large Parterre, which offers the best view of the house, the Fountain of Love, the steep drop to the Thames which borders the gardens to the north, and the Water Garden. If your legs are tired, check out the cinema next to the main car park for an interesting film about the house and its occupants.
In March 2012 some works were being carried out below the house terrace to improve drainage. (visited March 2012)

Holkham Hall, North Norfolk

Holkham Hall and estate are essentially the creation of one man, Thomas Coke, who built it in 1734-1759. It is said to be one of the 10 best houses in England. The house is built of buff-coloured brick from brickworks on the estate. First impression is that it’s big, and rather austere-looking. (think of Whitehall or the Bank of England parked in the Norfolk countryside). The central core is quite big, and then there are four symmetrically placed wings, plus the service courtyard. It seems that the house is meant to be viewed from the south. However today’s visitor approaches from the north-east past the service courtyard, and can only see the south front after a trek around the inner park.

The house opening hours are quite restricted, and it can take 2 hours to go around the interior, so it’s as well not to be distracted by any outside exhibits, walks, tea-rooms etc. On entering, the visitor’s reaction is likely to be Gosh!! Look at that!! rather than “nice room”. This is said to be the most impressive hall in England, with alabaster walls, Roman columns, a double staircase, coffered cieling, semicircular vaults, bas-reliefs, side balconies, plasterwork, and lots and lots of gold-leaf. Several of the other rooms carry on the same theme, such as the sculpture gallery (with ancient Roman sculpture), the libraries (with Birds of America and scores of huge volumes of the Cosmographica, a medaeval world atlas, on the shelves), and the Drawing Room, Saloon and South Dining room all built and furnished to impress.
If you stand in the right spot in the saloon you can see an enfilade right from one end of the house to the other, and at 90 degrees to that, a monument out in the parkland to the north, and another to the south, both on the axis you’re standing on. Paintings are well represented, and some are by famous artists, and some are big (or both). The tour ends in the Old Kitchen, in one of the wings – a room big enough to swallow the whole of my house, and probably some of yours as well.
Unusually, the hall has never suffered major alterations, or sales of contents, and still belongs to the Cokes, descendants of the builder.

Outside, there’s the the park and the estate, which stretches to the sea, a walled garden (which I didn’t see), and outbuildings, and some private gardens. Around the service courtyard are the ticket office, tea-rooms and some exhibitions. The Bygones exhibition (a chargeable extra) containing various artefacts and vehicles, is interesting, but could be skipped if you’ve seen that sort of thing elsewhere or are short of time. The history of farming exhibition (free) is quite interesting. It’s worth asking what discounts are available, as with parking (£2.50), guidebook (£6) etc a visit can become quite expensive.
I arrived arround mid-day, but Holkham is a suitable destination for an all-day visit.

Felbrigg Hall, North Norfolk

National Trust.
Felbrigg is an old Jacobean house with a later extension, and attached service buildings built around a service courtyard. It is noticeable that the older wing is built of a patchwork of brick, flint and limestone, with a largely weathered coating of plaster, while the newer Classical wing around the corner is in immaculate brick with sash windows. The Jacobean wing has a parapet pierced with the giant-sized lettering GLORIA DEO IN EXCELSIS. Inside, many of the principal rooms have fine plasterwork by Edward Gouge.

A tour of the interior starts with the grand rooms on the ground floor and proceeds upstairs to the principal bedrooms and the Chinese Room, passing the bathroom and descending by the back stairs to the service areas and a corridor with taxidermy collection. The tour continues along one side of the square of service buildings to exit near the reception. There are a number of attractive rooms and interesting contents.

Outside, I had a look at gardens near the house and the Orangery, before making my way through a mini woodland behind the house towards the walled garden. The large walled garden (next to the car park) is worth seeing. There are several walled sections, some mainly grassed and some highly planted, and a Dove-house here. An un-documented feature is that the grassed section nearest the gate shows the ghost of a previous formal planting on the aerial view.
Parking is free (for NT members).

It’s possible to visit Blickling Hall and the nearby Felbrigg in one day. If so doing, it’s advisable to start with the Blickling gardens at around 10am, and to devote more time to Blickling, which is larger and has more to look at.

Blickling Hall and Estate, North Norfolk

National Trust.
There was a house here in the 15th century, but the current Blickling Hall was built on the ruins of the old Boleyn property in the reign of James I, by Sir Henry Hobart. It is a large Jacobean red-brick house with two internal courtyards. The library at Blickling Hall contained and still contains historically significant collections of manuscripts and books.
Outside, there is a formal parterre to the east, and elsewhere a Wilderness garden, a Secret garden, lawns, a kitchen garden, and a large yew hedge on the approach to the house. The wider Park comprises 450 acres of parkland, and beyond that is an estate of 3500 acres of farmlands.

Unusually the service wings, attractively constructed in red brick, are in front of the house, and to either side of the large front lawn. It looks quite impressive, and there is a lot to see inside, with about 18 rooms open to visitors, and quite a lot of interesting contents and impressive plaster ceilings. The Long Gallery is 123 ft long. Outside, I explored the large informal gardens with trees and an Orangery etc, and the formal garden. The large park was big enough to completely lose the preparations for an open-air concert scheduled for the evening of the day I visited. I didn’t see the RAF exhibition. Parking is free (for NT members).

Shugborough Estate, Staffordshire

National Trust.
On a trip to Wales I could not resist temptation to follow the National Trust sign to Shugborough. Not such a great idea – it’s really an all-day destination, and too far from the M6 for a coffee stop. £3 fee for parking. 2 hours later, rejoined the M6.
There’s plenty to see and do – I just had a coffee and walked around the grounds. I managed to see almost all the Grade 1 listed garden monuments. The Hall has a columned portico, which looks impressive. There is also a courtyard with museums, and a walled garden. The size of the park is such that a shuttle service is laid on to transport visitors from the vicinity of the reception to the house.
Visitors should note that the estate is managed by Staffordshire County Council. Only the house and gardens are free to NT members.
In June 2013 I made a second visit – this time to the house only. The central section of the mansion was built in 1694 with the wings added in 1748. Further extensions were made in 1790-1806. The ground floor contains some fine interiors, also a number of interesting artefacts from China and elsewhere. The State Dining Room is one of the most impressive Rococo rooms in England, with a set of wall paintings of ruins, and an elaborate plasterwork ceiling. The Blue Drawing Room contains some significant china collected by George Anson, including a pair of very fine barrel seats, intended to be filled with pot-pourri. The Red Drawing Room contains fine furnishings including large mirrors and pier glasses.
Upstairs a number of rooms are being refitted to commemorate the connection of Lord Lichfield (Patrick Lichfield), the famous society photographer. Many examples of his photographs are on show as is some of his equipment.

Barrel seat, Blue Drawing Room — Barrel seat

Kenwood, London

English Heritage.
Kenwood was remodelled by Robert Adam between 1764 and 1779 into a majestic villa for the judge, Lord Mansfield. In 1927 Lord Iveagh bequested Kenwood to the nation, along with a collection of pictures. The Iveagh Bequest includes important paintings by many great artists, including Rembrandt, Vermeer, Turner, Reynolds and Gainsborough. Upstairs is the Suffolk Collection of portraits, notable for the costumes depicted. The Kenwood interiors are also worthy of note.

I didn’t have a lot of time to enjoy Kenwood before it shut but I did manage to look at the pictures, which include some famous and impressive works. Surrounding the house is some pleasant leafy parkland.

Admission to Kenwood is free to all.
Bus 210 stops near Kenwood.
If you are planning a 3-in-1 day visiting Fenton House, 2 Willow Road, and Kenwood, don’t try walking across the Heath – it takes too long for the purpose and it is too difficult to find one’s way. A taxi might be quickest. Or use Bus 210.