Harewood House,Leeds...7/7/2010

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This is still the Family home of Lord and Lady Harewood,..pronounced Harwood,unlike their House,which for some reason,is pronounced as the spelling..I will try to give you an idea of our wonderful day there,but unfortunately,forgot to pick up my camera,all ready and waiting,on the kitchen table…still annoyed about that…so here goes.
We arrived at 10am,to be served with morning coffee and biscuits..homemade shortbread,.mmm,in the lovely open air courtyard,and meeting up with new and old faces at one of our many outings provided by our former Employers,at a hugely discounted rate..and very hard they work too,on a voluntary basis,to find new places to visit.
We then divided into groups of 16..(a lot of us) and began an escorted tour of the State rooms on the ground floor.Stunning is the only word to describe it,as we entered via The Great Hall.The house was created by the architect,John Carr,and designer,Robert Adam,Furnished by master cabinet maker,Thomas Chippendale,.Every room had the beautiful Adam’s fireplaces,and mostly all the ceilings too,such intricate works of art,and the original colours of the period.What skills they had. There were lots of Turner paintings,two of which,only cost £17 each at the time.!..as a favour to a friend…The highlight for most of us,was the East bedroom,which was decorated with hand painted Chinese wallpaper.Originally ,it was taken off an upstairs bedroom and was only rediscovered many years later,in an old outhouse,wrapped in paper and muslin,under a pile of rubble…,intact ! It depicts China through the ages of their traditional Industries,etc..
The Victorians made some changes,some of them,not for the better.They had one of the lovely ceilings removed,and had it replastered with a horrid plain one.!!
Many of the original carpets remain,and were designed to pick out the designs in the ceilings.The Music room was very interesting,again with mostly Chippendale,with the exception of one modern piece in the centre of the room,which was made by Lord Linley,who is also an expert Cabinet maker,.a lovely square table, with intricate Marquetry of different woods,which opened up into a chess table…and surprisingly,fitted into the
room very well.
The State dining room was lovely and the Victorians altered this too,by making it smaller,and creating a passage for the servants to remain unseen,as they delivered their meals.Apparently they didn’t want to see the servants at all….After seeing the rest of the rooms,we were allowed to go at leisure"below stairs"to see all the rooms used by the staff.It was surprisingly very light and airy,with big windows,which I didn’t expect.I could go on and on,but it would take all day,so out on to the lovely terrace and to admire the far reaching views,and the lovely big Herbaceous borders,which were at their best,with all the traditonal planting you would expect….and then for a wonderful lunch in the courtyard dining room.
The Grounds….Designed by Capability Brown….Far reaching views of these,with many lovely trees as you would expect from the “Master”
Many things to see here,and a delight for children,as well as us..
Firstly,there is a penguin house,.just missed feeding time,,,A well kept spacious Bird garden,housing many endangered species,Flamingo’s at the waters edge.a lovely walk through the Rhododendrons,now finished of course,and down to the lake,where you can walk all the way round,given the time.An adventure playground,in keeping with thr surroundings,and new this year,The Domes,.fun for children whatever the weather,and available to suit all children with varying degrees of ability,which is great.I think I have just about summed up our visit,but so much more to do and see.I can honestly say,it is one of the best we have visited,and hope you don’t get too bored reading all this…just so much to try and remember…and condense down..Will definitely go again.There is a website,if anyone is interested in visiting.,or to find out more …www.harewood.org

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• 12 Jul, 2010
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