Visit to Cragside – 19 May 2013

Since we ended up as far north in England as possible, this Northumberland holiday led us to visit Cragside. The home of the 19thC industrialist and inventor William Armstrong. The location is definitely in line with ideas of the sublime creating ideal conditions for an impressive residence. The 900 acres of grounds are the home to a gorgeous iron bridge and three lakes that provided hydroelectric power to the house from the late 1860s. It would make a great backdrop for a peripatetic production of Lucia di Lammermoor.
Enjoy the slideshow.

Visit to NT Ickworth / 1 April 2013

On Monday visited for the first time Ickworth, as stately as a Georgian pile gets. Unfortunately I only had a compact camera with me, so apologies for the lack of sharpness in quite a few images but hope you will enjoy them regardless. Unusually for a National Trust property it has a number of really good quality artworks, including by Velasquez, Batoni, Gainsborough, Zoffany, Reynolds and Titian. The most impressive has to be John Flaxman’s The Fury of Athamas (1790-94) a great example of his monumental figure groups that he was so admired for. The Italianate gardens are also beautiful and possibly the earliest survivor of its type in Britain, they frame the Rotunda in the most exquisite fashion.

More information on the house: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ickworth/

Mother’s Day at Wimpole Hall

A return visit to Wimpole Hall was fun and due to the relaxation of the archaic rules on photography, I can now bore everyone with the shots I took inside and out 😉

You can click here for the slideshow of the whole set