Notice the parapet

The architectural trust sometimes arranges visits to places in the county that are normally hard to get into. As these visits are often on a weekday I don’t usually go to them. But recently one house study came up that was to a place so impenetrable I felt I had to drop everything and go along, as the chance might not come again.

On the day not many people turned up, which was good, as you virtually had the place to yourself. As with other “strictly private, no admittance” estates, the countryside was incredibly beautiful (but in a ravished sort of way - drenched by the July rain, reanimated by the August heat, the final result was dark green foliage, intense blue skies, large impossibly deep-hued flowers). We went round in a little group listening to the architectural lecture, then wandered about on our own.



Above: Ionic columns at the door, and a grand staircase that goes up over the “area” (the basement well that runs along the front). Venetian windows. Obelisk chimneys. Notice the parapet. In 1733 a pet monkey grabbed a baby boy from its cradle in the house and ran up onto the roof, pursued by the rest of the family. Frightened, the monkey dropped the baby over the parapet. The baby was killed, and being the last male heir, the family died out and the house was sold.



Above: the gardens were laid out in 1912, and were comprised of herbaceous borders laid out very formally, like a gigantic parterre.



Above: at the end of a gravel walk, by ornate gates that just seem to lead into a field, someone had placed these very comfortable chairs - just sitting there in the drowsy warm afternoon, I felt completely at peace.



Above: in the kitchen garden “fragilis rubra of the bramble flower” - blackberries are aggregate fruits (the berry is made up of many smaller cells). The leaves are trifoliate. The very long stems of the bramble arch upwards and have recurved thorns that dig into you (brambles are popularly known as lawyer-bushes as once you fall into their clutches it is extremely difficult to get out again).

Kim Blacha's Song of the Day: On the verge by Darren Hayes.