Exploring the house at Ickworth

You'll already know that we spent a good few hours wandering around grounds at Ickworth - see the parks and gardens at Ickworth House - and that I've teased you with a couple of black and white pictures of the staircase and landing already - see Black & White photos #6: A sneak peek into Ickworth House - well here's the last of my posts from our visit to Ickworth House.

It really is a lovely place to visit.

The rotunda - which took 37 years to complete - is the eye catcher of the house and rightly so, it was designed to impress and to hold the Earl-Bishop's art collection "in a way which would be instructive to his visitors" but there is so much more to see.

The tour of the house starts downstairs and alongside the stairs that down you below stairs are some fantastic quotes from both family members and servants alike. 

My favourites were from Mary MacRae, Lord and Lady Bristol's granddaughter who said "... the men all shot and they had a lovely time, grumbling if they didn't get as many birds as they expected to" and "Lunch was generally, in the big shoots, taken out to one of the keeper's cottages, silver an' all"

Both of these quotes immediately set the scene of a very busy house both upstairs and below.  We've all seen Downton Abbey and other period dramas so know that the real busy-ness happens below stairs, not that those above stairs would ever really admit to it!

Downstairs at Ickworth is set out to give you an understanding of how the house works, and it's really effective.  This is the finishing kitchen which is under the main rotunda and was converted as part of a modernisation project in the early 20th-century.

It was only used when the family were entertaining on a grand scale and using the dining room in the Rotunda rather than their family dining room in the east wing.  Food was prepared in the main kitchen and then brought here for finishing before being served; it sounds odd to us but this ensured the food was served hot - something that was quite unusual and that the family were proud of as often at large gatherings this often didn't happen!

The basement is set up as it would be in the mid-1930s and you are encouraged to explore it, opening drawers or using the 1930s typewriter to bash out a note.

As you wander around the basement you hear clips which bring each room to life, these are the result of many hours of interviews with surviving servants, family members and friends who used to live and work at Ickworth during the 1900s and they're fascinating.  The volunteers too below stairs (and upstairs) are there to share more about the rooms and the people that used them on a daily basis.

Back upstairs we headed towards the Pompeian room with its rare neo-classical frescoes.  The room was completed in 1879 and has recently been the object of preservation following water damage from the corridor roof, but the colours are amazing and we spent some time in here just simply in awe.

The other thing we noticed is the curved corridors.  The floorboards also curve and match the curvature of the walls, how much detail?

As well as noticing floors, I often notice and am quite taken with ceilings (remember the one from my earlier post of the church on the estate) so here's another painted ceiling I saw as we wandered through the house.

Upstairs we found ourselves in the Lady of the house's bathroom.  And it was quite literally that - a room with a bath - there was no toilet as we'd expect today, there were still servants for that sort of thing! 

But just look at the tiles, aren't they gorgeous?

In her bedroom there was a lovely coloured chandelier - sorry the picture is not so good - but the colours, they really were good.

And then all too quickly, we'd completed the tour.  We returned to the landing with the impressive roof, which we learned was originally meant to be left open but was enclosed for practical heating reasons and that up until relatively recently the Marquess of Bristol would insist on giving local children personal tours to the top of the rotunda!

So if you're ever in Suffolk, don't forget to pop into Ickworth.

Black & White photo #6: A peek into Ickworth House

My photos this week follow my current Ickworth theme.  I've already shared photos from our visit to the gardens - see The park and gardens at Ickworth House - and in a few days I'll share more from our trip around the house. But I couldn't resist sharing these two ahead of that. 

The first picture was one I planned for a black and white image and I'm pleased it's worked out so well.  So perhaps I'm starting to see shots in black and white as well as colour. 

I like the way the circular "window" frames the view of the landing above.

I did spend a fair bit of time faffing about to get the shot I wanted though which involved trying it from several different steps and angles, thankfully the staircase wasn't busy or I'd've been one of those annoying arty-farty people...

My second photo is the staircase that I spent some time faffing about on, which is beautiful in its own right. What I like here are the patterns the light casts onto the ceiling. 

I'd like to claim I planned this in black and white too, but I can't! It just turned out that way when I was editing my photos, but it's still one I'm happy with. 

I've linked this post to Charly's Black and White photo project over on PODCast, so pop over there then for more black and white shots. 

The park and gardens at Ickworth House

We arrived at Ickworth House relatively early (for us) and after a family weekend at Elvedon Forest Centre Parcs. We'd had a great weekend with my family celebrating my Dad's 80th birthday - he celebrated by doing the zip wire (yes, you read that right it was his 80th birthday), I celebrated with my feet firmly on the ground and my camera in my hands!

So when we arrived at Ickworth the thing we were both relishing was some freedom - not from my family you understand, but from having the Centre Parcs boundaries enforced on us (and it wasn't that bad really).  We were looking forward to roam around some parkland so Ickworth was a great choice for that. We'd been to Ickworth many years before with MOH's family and although we remembered some of the house, neither of us had any recollections of the gardens, or the park.

So after sorting out a misbehaving contact lens, we set off to explore... and immediately ducked into the Albana walk among the ancient oaks and yew avenues.

Partway around this circular walk we saw the Trim Trail so started to follow that.  I'd love to share some pictures from this "woodland route with exercise stations" but I was giggling so much at MOH's attempts at the stations I didn't even take my camera out.  In his defence he couldn't do any of them properly as they were all a bit wet (there'd been a huge downpour and storm overnight) and neither of us wanted him getting mucky.  But it was funny, and a great idea.

This trail took us down to the River Linnet which runs through the estate, we crossed it and joined the Red walk and walked along the river bank.  It's this river that has been partially dammed at the bottom of the walled garden to create the "Canal Lake" before it heads on its way towards Bury St Edmunds.

Once we got to the multi-spotted signpost we consulted the map as although the Grand Tour looked interesting, 7 miles was a little more freedom than we wanted with the sky turning blacker.  We briefly joined the Blue Rotunda walk which took us towards the Canal Lake and the Walled Garden.

The Earl's Summerhouse with St Mary's Church in the background and the Canal Lake in the foreground. 

We went through the gate and explored the Walled Garden in which the National Trust are restoring the historic fruit and vegetable collections.

The gorgeous meadow which featured as my M in the Alphabet Photo Project

Next we wandered past the school allotments and up to St Mary's Church.  The church isn't owned by the National Trust but it's open to visitors and clearly donations to its upkeep are welcomed.

And then as we moved on, through the trees we got our first glimpse of the house.

Through the archway above is the Italianate garden - which is thought to be the earliest Italian-influenced garden in the country.  It has bold shapes and contrasting textures which creates an elegant setting for any family.

There's a croquet lawn, a bat hibernaculum (with 13 underground vaults - but thankfully not open to the public), a spring garden, temple garden and area for magnolias and a stumpery.  On the map you're given when you enter it also helpfully marks (with an x - what else?) the best spot to get a picture of the house.  The x marks the axial symmetry - and it seems to work:

But back to the garden. And into the stumpery.

As we headed indoors and lunch a look back over our shoulder revealed this view.  What a view to entice you around the garden.  Perhaps if cake hadn't been promised I might have had another tour around the garden... no you're right, there was cake involved - what was I thinking!

But there was still time to admire the many pots of magnificently beautiful agapanthus on the terrace.

And then as the rain started we headed in for lunch and a cake, and later to explore the house.  I'll share my photos from in the house in another post.