Ah ... the other half ...

So, in a similar vein to the opulence of The Ritz, here is a taste of the landed gentry or the life of the aristocracy as it once was - Blickling Estate. That link will allow you to explore a lot more than we have had the chance to do yet. We only had time to quickly tour Blickling Hall; our intention is to return and explore the garden and estate walks when spring has sprung some more.

In an earlier post you saw Deb, Ruth & Sean wandering up the entrance showing the main hall and the various outbuildings or wings either side of the entrance. Above left is the view of the Hall without the wings and above right the actual Hall entrance through the front central arch above, across a small courtyard and behind the facade. 

Even on a dull afternoon it looks grand!

The following is an extract from the National Trust website for the estate offering a very brief idea of the ownership of the Estate:

The manor of Blickling is recorded in the Domesday Book. Its owners have included Sir John Fastolf and Geoffrey Boleyn, grandfather of Anne Boleyn, the ill-fated wife of Henry VIII. ["perhaps she was born here"]. The present red-brick mansion was built 1616-24 by Robert Lyminge (the architect of Hatfield) for Sir Henry Hobart, 1st Baronet, Lord Chief Justice to James I. Little is known about the long tenure of Lady Caroline Suffield and her husband. Despite inheriting Blickling in 1793, it wasn't until the late 1820s that she made her mark on the house.

The more recent history is around Lord Lothian who was a strong influence on Churchill's links with the Americans in WW2 and responsible for much of what you see below. In addition he is also credited with being instrumental in developing the scheme for such estates to avoid estate taxes so the funds could be used for restoration and maintenance of the estates. 

The three shots below show the grand dining room - royalty as well as the aristocracy have warmed the seats - and a dining room is only as grand as the kitchen and servants supporting it ... and as in the images, the kitchen is literally on the floor below the dining room. You need to imagine the two middle images as either end of the same long (kitchen) room. I have many more pictures of seating plans, menus, a dedicated corner in the kitchen for cleaning silver (actually it is bottom image below!) and fascinating utensils as they once were ... makes you appreciate the ease of our modern and convenient lifestyles :). Mind you, the (white) AGA is a more modern addition, but you can see the earlier (black) version at the other end of the kitchen.

After a feast in a room like that, you need somewhere to relax before retiring for the night. The drawing room below shows the middle third of the room and the picture was taken from a large bay window space that had a large table and two chairs to overlook the garden (view below). Nearby, through the Library and adjacent to the Royal Suite (shown below) there was also a very light pink and peach decorated music parlour with views across more estate meadows and a corner of the lake.

As you might imagine by now the bedrooms were all very spacious and very well equipped, and most had their own ensuites, though surprisingly not the Royal Suite (which no Royalty has actually enjoyed ... but just in case they had dropped in, this was what awaited them for their evening sleepover:

Here are a couple of less ostentatious bedrooms and one of the ensuites with a wide range of earlier versions of our modern bathroom amenities. In the very bottom left of the bathroom photo you can only just see the corner of the bathroom scales chair ... can't resist adding it ... many anecdotes come to mind but here is one ... no doubt having to polish those scales was the butt of much mirth in the polishing corner of the kitchen.  I imagine you would want danger money as the servant in the ensuite too - very easy for the aristocrat to "throw" the weight around if they did not like what the scales showed ... OK, enough! Just grateful to be able to stand on a plate of glass and have the digits disappear after a couple of flashes these days :).

Then there was a fantastic Library ... one wall entirely leather bound books, the other the same except for the double windows looking out across the formal gardens and lawns. Now, that was a place to curl up and read :).

 And while we intend to return to explore the grounds, it is worth concluding this post with view from the terrace across the formal gardens to the back of the Hall. Wouldn't it be something to see on a sunny spring day under a clear blue sky with the garden beds & trees in full bloom and the fountains at full spray? Fingers crossed.