Ickworth House and Gardens Pt.1

For the second day of our visit to Suffolk we are at
 Ickworth House 

As we walk up the drive we have our first glimpse of the Rotunda, the centre of the house

The first thing we do on arrival is go to the Refectory for lunch 

refreshed and replenished (it is very hot today) we make our way first to the restored basement where the servants of old lived and worked

passing a ladies travel case

before entering the kitchens

and a servants bedroom

the House Keeper's room

with sitting room

and the bed of a young houseboy in the corridor 

and the Servant's Hall

then making our way towards the back stairs that will take us into the main part of the house 

an old Sudan chair

and upstairs into the hallway

before entering the dining room

Note the reflection of the chandelier in this beautiful table piece

we will continue through the house in my next post

I do love it when the houses allow photographs and I notice more and more are beginning to

Kentwell Hall & Gardens Pt. 6

Finishing Kentwell Hall postings with a look at the gardens

It is a moated house 

The Ice House

Walled Gardens

Note the Topiary - we will go and take a closer look from inside the moat

The ancient Stocks

There is quite a bit more of interest on this estate but I have shown you all that I managed to photograph so hope you enjoyed it

As the family said, "We hope that visitors will feel more like guests in a private home, rather than visitors to a public institution"

There are lots of activities throughout the year and I imagine that for me the Dickensian Christmas would be the most appealing 

Kentwell Hall & Gardens Pt. 5 (plus)

Before continuing I would like to thank all those who responded to my request for help with the sizing resolution on my dashboard, settings, template and comments pages.
Vee kindly suggested that I try pressing 'Ctrl' and plus or minus keys
I did press 'Ctrl' and used the right arrow key (could have used the mouse wheel too) and this enabled me to solve the problem 
Mentioning it here for anybody else who does not realise that sizing on pages can be altered that way
I obviously must have pressed the 'Ctrl' key inadvertently some time 

Back to Kentwell Hall

Here we are touring the original service buildings from 1500

and begin with the Bakehouse

then on to the Brewhouse

and Solar with it's amazing and original wall paintings

The Apothecary obviously worked and slept here

Have had a full and busy 3 days with Oliver and Rebekah (Grandchildren) staying but will finish this very interesting visit to Kentwell Hall with the gardens in my next post

I do wish I had taken a photograph of  3 year old Bekah when I got up at 7.30 am yesterday

There she was fully dressed with Cath Kidston backpack and shoulder bag on her back and and pushing her doll's buggy telling me she had just been to London

One of the moments that made the hard work worth while

plus the kisses of course!