Monday 21 September 2015

In the House

Something I really like about many of the grand houses I've been to in England is that you can often walk around on your own and do not have to take a guided tour as part of a group, which sometimes moves either too fast or too slow for my liking. 

Castle Howard is like that; ropes and signs clearly show you where you can and where you can't go, but otherwise, you can spend as much or little time as you want in each room. There are information sheets ready for you placed in some of the rooms, and a kind person to keep an eye on things and offer more detail and some interesting stories if you want to know more. 


He has the best place of all, I think:
 







A little light reading to take on the plane tomorrow, maybe?
 

The chapel was designed by William Morris. It was rather dark, but I think I still managed to give you an impression of its general atmosphere:



Castle Howard is great inside, but to be honest, what I enjoyed most while in the house were the views from the windows across the grounds. Apart from one or two of the bedrooms, it just didn't feel like a place where I would like to live; too grand for me in all its Baroque opulence.


It was now time to explore the grounds, where there was so much to see we didn't even get around to look at everything, but it was still more than what I'll fit into one post

12 comments:

  1. Looks like a grand place indeed, thanks for sharing!

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  2. What a sense of history this castle gives one. Almost overwhelming.

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    1. It also gives one a sense of how much wealth one single family was able to accumulate...

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  3. It looks grand and opulent indeed! A place like that would make me feel very small and humble. I enjoyed taking the tour from the comfort of my cozy living room!

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    1. It must have been a nightmare to keep warm in winter...! The bedrooms were a lot smaller, so I suppose they wouldn't have been as cold.

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  4. Oh yes, I like the views the most!

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  5. The light that day has made this set of photos especially eye-catching - you really have captured the essence of Castle Howard.

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    1. Thank you very much for this compliment, Neil!

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  6. The splendid opulence is overwhelming. It's definitely the sort of place to be looked at and admired for the workmanship and so on. Comfortable on the other hand? Definitely not.

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    1. Exactly my feelings, Graham. I did very much like the chairs in the two bedrooms I photographed at the beginning of our visit.

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