The bedrooms at Belton

It’s been a wee while since I shared details of my last visit to Belton where I saw their new exhibition, crafting a new narrative, and finally got to revisit the orangery, and I promised to share more from inside the house. So today let’s take a virtual wander around the bedrooms at Belton.

I didn’t remember these from our previous visit, and that’s because I hadn’t seen them. The whole of the upstairs was closed off as we visited soon after the Covid restrictions were starting to be lifted and understandably things were not able to go back to before’s normal straightaway.

The Blue Bedroom was originally designed as a family bedroom, but the information in the room said that the scale and quality of the bed implies it was not made for this room but for a more luxurious state bedroom. It was re-upholstered which covered an original crimson damask.

During the 2002 room’s restoration and conservation of the bed, it was decided to remain sympathetic to its clearly faded colours. The once bright blue silks were reproduced in this paler hue, with the wallpaper reproduced in keeping with the bed, which is why this blue bedroom is a bit paler, and not blue at first glance.

The Chinese Bedroom was one of my favourite rooms. The wallpaper was hand painted in China and intended for export. It’s pink background is now faded and the figures were stylish adaptations to appeal to European consumers. It was hung, unbelievably, in 1830 but probably made much earlier.

What always surprises me by these older wallpapers is how modern and relevant to today’s decor they are. While I’m not sure many of us would have hand painted wallpaper at such cost, or at such scale as here in Belton, but wouldn’t it be nice if we did?

The Queen’s Bedroom has a central position in the house, and was defined as the ‘Best Chamber’ in the 1688 inventory. It was the most lavishly furnished bedroom in the house at that time and would have been offered to only the most prestigious guests. Some of the fabrics have been replaced, but the braids, fringing and tassels are all original.

Another of my favourite rooms is the Boudoir, and while it may seem a strange inclusion here it was originally furnished as a bedroom but then entirely remodelled to create a dressing room for Lady Brownlow. The room has changed over the years, but some of James Wyatt’s design from 1776-7 remains, most noticably the ceiling and the cornice.

The ceiling is amazing and has so much detail, but directly underneath it is a beautiful rug. Isn’t it gorgeous?

The information in the room said that the National Trust have some of Wyatt’s original plans, many of which were never realised. One of those was his design for a carpet to mirror the ceiling, I’m sure that would have been as amazing, but I’m glad it didn’t happen!

Just as we were about to leave the room I spotted these fabulous elephant book ends, now they would definitely be welcome in my house, even more so than the rug.

It was great to see the bedrooms, and I’m sure we’ll be back to see more of the house at some point. Like many places, I think the more you go to a place, the more you get the feeling for it and the more you see, and I know there’s so many more layers to discover and explore.

Quilts at The Workhouse

Over Easter we visited The Workhouse, a National Trust property in near to us Southwell. It was our first visit to our nearest National Trust property, and it turned out to be a hugely educational visit too. It was unlike other properties that we’d visited owned by the trust, and as you’d expect that was largely down to the original nature of the property.

I may share more about the property and its original use in a future post, and it’s a topic that deserves sharing, but for today I’m sharing some pictures and information about some of the quilts on display.

They too have a story, and are part of a community project highlighting the impact of domestic violence.

The information sheet alongside this first cushion quilt above says that ‘each square commemorates a women who was killed by a current or former partner’ and that there are two further quilts and cushion as part of this project.

That any quilt like this needs to exist is wrong, but it’s not the first commemorative quilt that I’ve seen either, sadly. Each square has been sewn with love and I’m sure fierce determination that these women won’t be forgotten, and the hope that no further quilts are needed.

I am questioning though if this would be more correctly categorised as gender based violence, which is also completely unacceptable. While I don’t know of each case represented in these quilts, I do have some knowledge of Sabina Nessa, who was murdered in Greenwich close to where we used to live. Sabina was killed by a man unknown to her, rather than a current or former partner, who is now serving a life sentence for her murder.

The Leighann Wightman quilt above is a tribute to her by her stepmother who wanted to use her time during lockdown to create a quilt as a tribute to women who lost their lives to domestic violence from 2016-2020.

The two cushions on display, made later, represent the women who lost their lives between 2020 and 2022.

The quilt below - The Women’s Quilt - pieces together five hundred and ninety-eight women each of whom were connected by a single thread. Every name is included, along with stars, birds, moons and hearts; their names are stitched in the colours of their eyes, the embroidered loops and waves in the hues of their hair. The poignancy in this detail was hard to miss.

All of the exhibits on show were humbling, and a sober reminder of the world we live in today, and as one of the exhibition boards said ‘the most beautiful project that shouldn’t exist’.

Revisiting the Orangery at Belton

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to get inside the orangery which is the gem at the heart of the Italian gardens on the Belton Estate - four years in fact. And in that time we’ve moved house, and closer to it, which in theory should make visiting easier, and more often. And we have visited Belton more than we have done previously, but up until now the conservatory has been closed - yes, I’ve been the one with my nose pressed up against the glass to catch a glimpse of what’s inside!

But the wait is no more; our latest visit coincided by chance with the Spring Equinox, and more importantly a lovely warm and sunny day - and the conservatory was open - yay! And it was so good to be greeted by the lush new growth of the camellias, and a few flowers too.

Like us the camellias were enjoying the warmth of the sun - these flower earlier than their outdoor plants, mainly because of the warmth - when we visited the thermostats were reading a toasty 22.5 C - and it was lovely to enjoy the shadows and dappled sun on the walkways around the main planting.

You may have noticed that I’ve been using the terms orangery and conservatory interchangeably in this post, and that’s partly because the structure now seems to be very much billed as a conservatory at Belton, and I’m sure they would know - but an orangery, sounds so much more romantic doesn’t it, even though there are no oranges growing in this one, which was their original purpose.

The camellias weren’t the only ones enjoying the warmth, the pelargoniums also had lush new growth with almost appeared to be stretching for the best view.

The corners were festooned with pots - and it seemed much fuller than our previous visit which I’m not complaining about - a favourite of mine was this large money plant - and I couldn’t help but give it a little rub, just in case.

What works so well in this space is there’s plants at every height, of every size - from the gorgeous and glossy monstera leaves to the hand sized aeoniums right at ground level, to the tree ferns and bananas reaching for the glass roof.

But anyway, this conservatory was built in 1830 for the first Earl Brownlow by Sir Jeffry Wyatville and stands on the site of an older Belton Manor which was demolished in 1688. It’s a revolutionary cast iron and glass structure, finished in local Ancaster stone and was the first domestic conservatory to be built this way.

My favourite part of this favourite building is towards the back - it’s a cooler spot, slightly less densely planted but with glorious visitas - from the plants climbing up over the door and onto the ceiling, the sculptures and the many alcoves - all filled with plants.

It really is a special space - and these two vistas and photos of them (above and below) are the ones that have made heart sing from this visit, and reminded me of the feeling I had when we first walked into Huntes Garden in Barbados, and reoccurs each time I look at those photos. Even now.

In the 1990s the conservatory closed for repairs after the iron cramps and ties used to hold the stone in place rusted and expanded causing structural damage. These and the already replaced roof was also repaired.

Amazingly at one point in its more recent history this had been used as a cafe - a fine setting for some tea and cake I’m sure, but oh so much better with plants in. On this visit I couldn’t fail to notice a couple of red flowering plants, I think the one below is a Callianthe, and below that are the more recognisable Amaryllis, also flowering.

It really is a joyous place, and still my favourite part of the gardens at Belton so I’m hoping there’ll be plenty more visits, and chances to have several more looks inside.