Felbrigg Hall

Time for some catch up posts before I cover the rest of our time in the south west. There were a few worthwhile events not covered before our week based in Bristol. It is wise to make sure they are covered before I forget what they were about ... not quite 60 but close enough to realise my looming limitations! But we did make it back to Norwich unscathed today.

The two places visited that I need to cover are Felbrigg Hall (this post) and Sheringham Park (next post). Both are National Trust properties. They add to the excellent value we are receiving from the investment of joining the Australian equivalent before we left to take advantage of the reciprocal rights.

As it turned out the Saturday we had chosen to visit Felbrigg Hall was their annual Friends fete and fair, there were lots of people in the surrounding yard, the BBC outside radio broadcast van was blaring ... and it was windy, cloudy and very cold (again)! We opted for a warm-up cuppa in their garden cafe and the Hall exploration because it was way too cold to be wandering around the open fields and woods and rain threatened and fell a few times too. The first picture below shows what I mean; the second one a taken a few minutes later and looking a different direction shows how the weather pattern just scuds across the sky and dumps whatever it feels like on its journey :). But it was nice inside (and outside later)!

As with several of the estates we have visited, this is not a "grand house", but another excellent example of the generous means of the wealthy land owner (but definately not aristocracy). As with most of this sort of property we got to explore several wings and see a range of rooms as shown below. Like others, these "working" estates provide some really interesting glimpses of a privileged life well looked after by teams of servants.

First up was the "Great Hall", though certainly not as large or grandiose as other reception halls we have seen, it did offer magnificent panoramas across the sprawling estate through the front left windows as you look at the building pictured above. The desk below, at the left hand end of the picture with the lounge chairs and fire place, had examples of personal journals and implements of several of the three main (family) owners who have built the estate to what it is today.

 

We moved on to a range of other "living" rooms and spaces. Examples offered below show the dining room - complete with sample (example) meals on the table (at the most visible end is a platter of roasted pheasants). Second is the red themed Drawing Room resplendent with the cut glass chandelier and ornate marble fireplace. Finally in this group is the Library. I included it to show the "modern technology" that is the reading chair centre right of the picture ... a close up is also included for the detail ... it reclines, the foot rest slides out, the dual arms cater to a reading lectern and a writing platform ... reading in luxury! On the chair note the positioning of the acorn - these were on nearly all displayed chairs as a deterrent to the temptation of visitors to try them out :).

 

 

Next photos are of four bedrooms. Included really just to highlight these are not nearly as grand as earlier ones we have shown you, and definately none claiming to be in case royalty just happened to drop by! The fourth one (the China room) was most fascinating because of the range of furniture, ornaments as especially wall paper that was imported from China around 1750 - just goes to show what goes around comes around as we are ALL importing things from China again!

 

 

The next three pictures show two close-ups of the China room wall paper - all hand painted and the detail is amazing (1750 remember) ... compare it to some of the pictures of mallards and pheasants I have included in earlier posts and the artists had a fine eye for details! The third picture below is a example of the fine bone porcelein washing and chamber ware each of the bedrooms exhibited (each style and colour in tune with the respective decoration).

Next some views from downstairs ... the servant perspectives. First an example of the call bells spaced around various sections of the downstairs domains - each one labelled with a location, of course (ingenious). Next some views of a very well appointed kitchen. No doubt seldom as clean and sparkling as the display conveys :). Loved the copper utensils and tea servers and the big cast iron platters above the fuel stove.

 

And finally, downstairs a very interesting workshop with many things to inspect and guess their purpose/use. Each one had a label to turn over to see how accurate you were (not very, though Deb fared much better as you might imagine!). Mod cons certainly make things a lot easier ... and ironically (perhaps) no servants to benefit!

After another warm up cuppa and a recognition that that wind was still too cold, if the sky a lot clearer, we checked out the splendid walled garden on our way back to the car park. In addition to the walls and arches and dove-house, there was a delightful range of vegetables, herbs, flowers and shrubs.

And a magnificent rooster in full crow seeing us on our way out to quite the late afternoon scenic car park with the spring flush on the trees, ploughed paddock, verdant fields and clearing blue sky ... still bloody cold though!

We also purchased four different types of pork pie from one of the remaining stalls for our dinner. Unlike (English) tradition we heated them up (because it was a bloody cold day) and had a half of each type with fresh vegetables for dinner - all very nice! Types ... from what I can remember, traditional pork; pork with garlic and chorizo; pork with sweet chilli & basil ... and that is as far as my memory has survived - but I know there was none left!

If you want to know a bit more about the origins and family connections at Felbrigg Hall, check out their website.