Tuesday – Another Day, Another Manor House

So Tuesday was overcast with high clouds but dry and warmer.  We had a single destination for the day – Kedleston Hall – for a walk and a visit to the house.  It’s only a 30 minute drive away.  The grounds open at 10:30, the house opens at 12:00.  So we had a leisurely morning at home before setting off at about 10:00 am.  Sometimes you think “what, another country house to visit, maybe we should just skip it”.  But every one is different and magnificent in its own way.

Kedleston Hall, administered by the ever present National Trust, is another English country house and the seat of the Curzon family.  The current house was commissioned in 1759 by Sir Nathaniel Curzon (Baron Scarsdale).  He put a relatively unknown architect, Robert Adams, in charge of the construction.  Adams eventually became one of the most successful and fashionable architects in England and created the “Adam Style“.  He designed the outside, inside , and the extensive grounds and gardens which are still referred to as the Pleasure Grounds.  The gardens and grounds today, over two hundred years later, remain mostly unaltered.  Interestingly, parts of the estate are designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, primarily because of the “rich and diverse deadwood invertebrate fauna inhabiting its ancient trees”.  Ah, OK.  Also in the garden is a hermitage – originally  a hermitage was a small hut lived in by a religious man or woman. It was usually built away from other people’s houses. But in the 18th century, a hermitage was one of many small buildings landowners added to their parks and gardens.  Like the other garden buildings, a hermitage was used for entertainment or as space to get away from society. A landowner might also advertise for a hermit to come and live in the hermitage as an attraction for visitors.

As usual, click on pictures for an enlarged version in a separate window or tab

Kedleston Hall played an interesting role in WWII.  In 1939, it was offered by Richard Curzon, 2nd Viscount Scarsdale, for use by the UK War Department.  Kedleston Hall provided various facilities during the period 1939–45 including its use as a mustering point and army training camp. It also formed one of the Y-stations used to gather Signals Intelligence via radio transmissions which, if encrypted, were subsequently passed to the codebreakers at Bletchley Park for decryption.  There’s your WWII history lesson for the day.

Before touring the impressive house, we did a 3.2 mile walk around the Pleasure Grounds.  The walk was easy and nice and level – no climbing!  We stopped by the artificial lake near the end of the walk to eat the picnic lunch we had brought along.  The Pleasure Grounds are a popular picnic spot.

Then we did a self tour of the house, an impressive edifice with a beautiful interior.  Some of the collections inside are quite amazing.  Two highlights come immediately to mind:

• An impressive Tiger rug (that would be (or maybe is) very politically incorrect today, but it is impressive none the less displayed right in front an equally impressive Howdah (elephant saddle).  Not many places to see a tiger rug or an elephant saddle at all, let alone right beside each other.

• The Peacock Gown worn by Lady Mary Curzon (who was from Chicago) was assembled in India from panels of chiffon that had been embroidered and embellished by Delhi and Agra craftsmen using the gold wire weaving method. It was shipped to Paris where the dress was styled with a long train edged with white chiffon roses. The panels were overlapping peacock feathers that each had a blue/green beetle wing at the center. Over time, the metal thread in the dress has tarnished but the beetle wings have not lost their luster.  The ill-fated Lady Curzon (she died at 36) wore the dress to celebrate the 1902 coronation of King Edward VII at the second Delhi Durbar in 1903.  The Delhi Durbar was held to celebrate the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India.  That, of course, would also be the King or Queen of England.

Some pictures from the rest of the impressive Kedleston Hall:

After the house we did a quick visit to the All Saints Church on the grounds (Yes, the same as the church at Sudbury Hall that we saw yesterday.)  Then it was back to Pierre Peugeot for the ride home for a late afternoon at leisure.  Cocktails were outside on the lawn.  Our landlord, Roger, joined us for a glass of wine and invited us to join him and his wife tomorrow night for cocktails.

Dinner tonight was at the Bowling Green Inn in Ashbourne.  Elaine picked off TripAdvisor, a site we use often and contribute reviews to regularly.  It is noted for its steaks, something I usually avoid in the UK because they don’t live up to US standards.  It was very good.  I started with sweet and spicy chorizo while Elaine enjoyed smoked salmon with asparagus.  I went with a steak – a 9 oz. fillet, ordered medium rare, and it was very good and cooked perfectly.  Elaine had sea bass with more asparagus.  The portions were large and we skipped dessert.  Instead we had dark chocolate coated ginger cookies at home before calling it a day.