{"id":227,"date":"2011-09-15T11:52:14","date_gmt":"2011-09-15T11:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/?p=227"},"modified":"2017-08-07T16:04:57","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T16:04:57","slug":"hardwick-hall-derbyshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/?p=227","title":{"rendered":"Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Hardwick_9777.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2836\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Hardwick_9777.jpg\" alt=\"Frontage\" width=\"600\" height=\"451\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2836\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Hardwick_9777.jpg 600w, http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Hardwick_9777-300x226.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a> <em>National Trust.<\/em><br \/>\nHardwick Hall is one of the best-known of the NT houses.  This Elizabethan house stands on a hilltop, looking big, smart, symmetrical and impressive. The tag \u201cHardwick Hall, more window than wall\u201d was coined to describe it, and indeed it seems to have a window\/wall ratio rather greater than that of my Victorian house and more typical of a public building. The design looks timeless owing to this particular look being copied in later centuries. Everything about the place seems calculated to impress by its size and grandeur.  There are at least two big stone staircases, and on ascending one of them, one enters the High Great Chamber on the second floor. This is a very big and very high room and lavishly decorated, the Elizabethan decorations being largely unchanged.  There is also a long gallery which is quite high and very long, and crammed with 80 portraits.<br \/>\nIn the Dining Room the Sea-dog table is supported by four superbly carved chimeras and four tortoises.<br \/>\nThe first floor rooms are now all open to visitors. The house has six towers incorporated in the structure, and atop the towers are the initials of the house\u2019s first owner, Elizabeth Shrewsbury, in letters at least six feet high.<br \/>\nClose by are the ruins of Harwick Old Hall (English Heritage), which is in fact little older than the new Hall, but was allowed to fall into disrepair in more recent years.<br \/>\nDon\u2019t miss a chance to visit. A visit to both Halls and their grounds will occupy several hours. Nearby on the Hardwick estate is Stainsby Mill (NT), a water-mill in working order. (revisited July 2017)<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2837\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2837\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Hardwick_9775.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2837\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Hardwick_9775-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Outbuildings\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-2837\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2837\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Outbuildings<\/figcaption><\/figure> <figure id=\"attachment_2838\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2838\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Hardwick_9778.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2838\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Hardwick_9778-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"High Great Chamber\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-2838\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2838\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">High Great Chamber<\/figcaption><\/figure> <figure id=\"attachment_2839\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2839\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Hardwick_9779.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2839\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Hardwick_9779-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Fireplace\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-2839\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2839\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fireplace<\/figcaption><\/figure> <figure id=\"attachment_2840\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2840\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Hardwick_9781.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2840\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Hardwick_9781-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Cabinet\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-2840\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2840\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cabinet<\/figcaption><\/figure> <figure id=\"attachment_2842\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2842\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/384119.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2842\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/384119-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Sea-dog Table\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-2842\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2842\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sea-dog Table<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National Trust. Hardwick Hall is one of the best-known of the NT houses. This Elizabethan house stands on a hilltop, looking big, smart, symmetrical and impressive. The tag \u201cHardwick Hall, more window than wall\u201d was coined to describe it, and indeed it seems to have a window\/wall ratio rather greater than that of my Victorian &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/?p=227\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,12,3,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=227"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2843,"href":"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions\/2843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.daysoutblog.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}