Yesterday's day out to visit a Stately home and Gardens

[hollydolly]

Pity the weather was against us, and it was overcast and windy.. so the pictures of the gardens would look much more beautiful in the sun.

there's huge landscape.. and gardens.

The descendants of the original 15th century Burghley family still live in the property, so only 18 Stately rooms and some hallways are open to the public for viewing, as well as much of the gardens.

The house originally belonged to the Principal Secretary and Lord Treasurer for Queen Elizabeth I

There are 35 major rooms, 80 smaller rooms & corridors, and general service areas..

The art is beyond anything I've ever seen even in our major London Art Galleries.. or in any other Stately home.. it includes almost every ceiling painted as well and major paintings on the walls
Much of the art was created by Louis Laguerre for the 5th Earl an his wife in the 17th century....the collection of Italian Old Masters at Burghley continues to be one of the finest in private hands.

 

[hollydolly]

This was one of many astonishingly intricately painted ceilings...

 

[hollydolly]

This bedroom had one of the larger beds but in todays' style would be classed as a small double. Note the steps either side to climb into the bed which was not very high .. but back in the 15th century onwards .. people were very small, around 5 feet for men and shorter for women. Queen Victoria for example as late as even 120 years ago was only 4.9'' tall.. The upholstery is mainly pure silk... as are the carpets..

 

[hollydolly]

This is a stunning Solid Silver Wine Cooler.. which at 220 pounds in weight is the heaviest wine cooler in the world , dates from 1710

You'll notice also that the Murals and art on the walls dating from the 16th -18th centuries are almost 3D

 

[hollydolly]

Here in one of the many state rooms is a huge desk...surrounded by painting of many Historical figures including Queen Elizabeth 1 Henry the Vlll who would doubtless have been a visitor..

Pictures on the desk show the current family .. and their ancestors...

 

[hollydolly]

This was the bedroom for the sole use of Queen Elizabeth 1st....

 

[Pepper]

Gorgeous!

 

[hollydolly]

The Billiard Room contains a table made in the 1850s from timber recovered from HMS Royal George which sank in 1782. The walls contain a number of paintings particularly of a famous drinking club (The Little Bedlam Club) which used to frequent the house in the 17th century. Members were not identified by name, but by an animal, e.g. stag, wolf etc. The pictures include these animals in the background, hence new members could identify who the other members were.


The room is HUGE.... the billiard table full size....

 

[hollydolly]

The man in the corner waiting to help if anyone neds it..is one of the many voluntary Museum curators...

 

[hollydolly]

Each of these rooms opens directly into another room.... so if you lived there all those years ago, and wanted to go from one great room to another part of the house you would have to walk through several other rooms to get there...

 

[hollydolly]

Another view of the earlier Pagoda room....just one of these pieces of art, or pieces of furniture would keep me in comfort for the rest of my life..

More pictures later.....

 

[Blessed]

Love it!! Never knew about the height thing. That explains why the furniture looks like it could for a doll house. If I had to sit on one of those items I would need help to stand up these days!

 

[Georgiagranny]

Absolutely beautiful! Thank you for sharing these with us.

Many years ago when I was in the UK, we visited many pubs (of course!), and I was told that the reason the doorways were so low is because people weren't nearly as tall as now. Lack of height was attributed to the lack of light. No kidding. People started getting taller with the advent of electric lights? Reckon?

 

[hollydolly]

Love it!! Never knew about the height thing. That explains why the furniture looks like it could for a doll house. If I had to sit on one of those items I would need help to stand up these days!

also the reason the furniture looks small is because the rooms are literally HUGE.... one room in that stately home is almost as big as my whole house... they are rally massive... but yes altho' sofas etc are all proper sizes the beds are all very small...

Look at this bed for example, which we at first thought belonged to a child... actually belonged to William lV and was used by Queen Victoria as a travelling bed...

 

[hollydolly]

Absolutely beautiful! Thank you for sharing these with us.

Many years ago when I was in the UK, we visited many pubs (of course!), and I was told that the reason the doorways were so low is because people weren't nearly as tall as now. Lack of height was attributed to the lack of light. No kidding. People started getting taller with the advent of electric lights? Reckon?

I've not heard that before but I suppose it's plausible.. however it doesn't explain how Scandinavians who live half their life in the dark...are giants

 

[Georgiagranny]

I've not heard that before but I suppose it's plausible.. however it doesn't explain how Scandinavians who live half their life in the dark...are giants

I just Googled the question. According to Mr. Google, know-er of all things, poor diet and health were the culprits. I guess Scandinavians ate better and enjoyed better health so grew taller.

 

[Georgiagranny]

Yanno what? I wouldn't like to be on the cleaning staff there. That's a lot of dusting...

 

[hollydolly]

I just Googled the question. According to Mr. Google, know-er of all things, poor diet and health were the culprits. I guess Scandinavians ate better and enjoyed better health so grew taller.

yes this is what we've always been told, that it's poverty and lack of sustenance which kept people from developing as they should...atlho' again in the days of our Kings and Aristocracy .. they had no lack of good food, organic all of it.. but still underdeveloped

 

[hollydolly]

Yanno what? I wouldn't like to be on the cleaning staff there. That's a lot of dusting...

funnily enough I said the same thing to my DD , I was wondering how many cleaners they employ... this place is HUGE really huge, bigger than any I've visited, and of course includes miles of corridors, and attached restaurants and coffee shops, and toilets, and bathrooms... we didn't get to see any of the bathrooms attached to the house..the only bathroom were for the use of us visitors....

 

[Lewkat]

Wow, Holly, I love those paintings.
The one that looks almost like a 3-D mural is outstanding.

 

[Sliverfox]

Thanks , Holly for the tour.

 

[hollydolly]

Wow, Holly, I love those paintings.
The one that looks almost like a 3-D mural is outstanding.

Exactly Lois, and so many looked the same..like 500 year old 3D painting.. just astonishing.. and you had to be there to see the Vastness of it too...

The other mural that took our breath away was on the ceiling and walls of the ''Hell staircase''... this picture is the one I took of the enormous ceiling... which is the landing on the Hell Stairs outside of the heaven room.... and shows all the evil in the world...and debauchery

It was painted Antonio Verrio around 1686-1707... and depicts the entrance to hell as a cats Mouth .

 

[hollydolly]

Thanks , Holly for the tour.

you're welcome there's more to come for those of you who enjoy this type of thing...

 

[hollydolly]

My daughter asked a pertinent question yesterday when she said to me..I wonder what they use to keep this ream carpet clean ... which is the carpet which every room bar the stairs & kitchens are carpeted... and she was right it's spotless despite having thousands of visitors every year

This is the Blue silk dressing room, and you can see the cream carpet here which is throughout the whole of the public rooms and areas

 

[hollydolly]

in the above picture... the walls are amade from Marble... and ...

"In the blue silk bedroom the 18th Century State bed is covered in fine English crewel work. The suite of marquetry furniture, made in 1665 by Pierre Gole, chief furniture maker to King Louis XIV of France, was bought by the 5th Earl from the Gobelins workshops in Paris and is a very rare example of early French floral marquetry.​