Hanbury Hall and Gardens Part IV: Our Apartments

Our visit to Hanbury Hall and Gardens was quite long since we rented the upstairs holiday suite for a long weekend. Many of the National Trust properties include a place that people can rent and stay self-catered style (which means it has a kitchen for the guests to use). The fun of pretending we were guests of the Vernon family was only part of the appeal (though to be honest, where we stayed would have been the servants' quarters). Running around the property after hours is the sort of forbidden treat that appeals to us too.

Our holiday suite is on the third floor. The two bedrooms are nice and spacious. 

Our bedroom (that's Jacob in the bed)

The sitting room is comfy and a decent kitchen is included. The dining room is big enough to accommodate the four of us plus two aunts for our meals. We did occasionally go down to the tea shop for snacks as well.

Sitting Room

Dining Room

Narrow Kitchen (but gets the job done!)

The bathroom is a little tricky. The bathtub has a showerhead attachment but it was not easy to get hot water to come out. I mean, you could either have just hot water, as in boiling hot, or mix in cold water, which gave a fairly icy stream of water. There's no shower curtain or such to keep the water in. Standing up in the tub is not so easy since the wall angles in. So you couldn't shower anyway. Otherwise the room is spacious.

Tricky bathroom

The stairs down from our flat

It was great to be on the property after closing time and to have the grounds to ourselves. We had a lovely time.

Hanbury Hall and Gardens Part III: The Gardens

The gardens at Hanbury Hall are divided into three parts. First is the Formal Garden which is in the immediate vicinity of the house. Second is the Later Gardens which are farther out and are more focused on practical planting, producing the fruit and veg needed to support a large house like Hanbury Hall. Third is the Park which is more of a rough land where the flora and fauna is free to grow. Several paths and avenues had been set up in the the early 18th century by George London, a famous garden designer hired by the Vernon family when they acquired the house around 1700. Thomas Vernon was a successful lawyer who put his money into making a fabulous home for himself.

The most striking garden is the Sunken Parterre. It is closely trimmed and very symmetric, featuring a variety of colors and sizes that are quite delightful to the eye.

Jacob looks on the Sunken Parterre

Centrepiece #1

Centrepiece #2

Centrepiece #3

Centrepiece #4

Daddy is sunk

Another part that we enjoyed is the Bowling Green. Bowling was quite popular back in the day since King Charles II loved to gamble on the sport. Maintaining a proper bowling green was rather expensive but it did provide entertainment for guests and show off wealth. We tried it out though we didn't know any of the rules.

The Bowling Green

Lucy tries it out without reading the rules

A later edition to the garden (in 1745!) was the Orangery. Growing citrus fruit in England's climate is quite a challenge. Installing a building dedicated to providing the proper heat and shelter showed the wealth of the Vernon family. The windows face south to take full advantage of what sunlight is available.

The Orangery

Inside the Orangery

Pineapples too!

A dog left is mark...at least it was only his foot

Lemons at the Orangery?!?

Behind the Orangery is the Mushroom House, where they would raise mushrooms to eat. The household would do as much as it could to raise what it needed. The National Trust is adopting that attitude again, growing as much as they can and serving it in the tea shop.

Jacob fearlessly leads the way

The door into the Mushroom House

Children of the Mushroom

A fruit garden is also found next to the house with a pond backing on it.

Pond

The same pond

The Later Gardens include the restored Long Walk and the Lime Tree Walk, originally planned by London for the delight of people staying at the house. The Walled Garden was originally connected to the house by a "Snobs Tunnel," preventing the upper-crusty types from seeing the gardeners at work.

Walkway to the ice house

Snobs Tunnel

Nice view of misty fields

Another part of the Later Gardens is the Orchard, which is full of apple trees of many varieties.

Jacob shows some sass

More of the orchard

The Long Walk and the Lime Tree Walk extend out into the Park, which was originally part of the forest where the king and his nobles hunted deer. Now the land seems to be overrun with sheep, which is also a pleasant sight to see, though maybe not so challenging to hunt.

Deer Park

Hey, those aren't deer!

A new vegetable garden has been planted by the front of the house, yielding a rather nice picture.

New garden and the old homestead

Now that we've seen the house and gardens, let's take a peek into the accommodations available at the house for visitors who want to spend the night. That's in the next post.

Hanbury Hall and Gardens Part II: The Playground

The playground at Hanbury Hall is craftily tucked away in a back corner of the back buildings on the property. Since we were staying in the guest rooms, we were able to explore after hours and have the playground to ourselves.

The wide shot of the playground

The playground slopes down a bit toward the back. The designers took good advantage of this fact to have a network of rope bridges lead back to some nice climbing down equipment, like a cargo net, a slide, and a fireman pole.

The beginning of the bridges

Jacob goes down the cargo net

Lucy at the crossroads bridges

Jacob comes out of the tube!

The children enjoyed the various swings. Lucy stuck to the more traditional swing set. She had all the adults push her on the swing, though I think Daddy was the favorite because I push her the most. I asked her if she was in outer space and she readily agreed. She tried to get Mommy to push her so high that she'd be in outer space, with mixed results.

Lucy gets some air

Mommy can't watch how high she is going!!

Jacob favored the less traditional swing.

Swinging sideways

Later, he did try out the more traditional swing, BUT he did fly as high as he could.

Mommy, look at me going into outer space!

Jacob tries to loop the swing

Jacob also convinced his aunties to try out the obstacle course on the playground. He had already practiced several times and had a head start, so here he is showing them how it's done.

A long way to go

The playground is quite fun and made the visit even better for us. Our next blog will go through the extensive gardens.

Hanbury Hall and Gardens Part I: The Hall

Hanbury Hall and Gardens was built in the late 17th century by Thomas Vernon. He was a successful lawyer and used his money to get a little house in the country. Three different designs were submitted to him. William Rudhall's design is the closest to what we see now, which is a classic example of the William and Mary style. The date 1701 is over the front doorway but that was added in the 19th century. No one is sure why the date is there.

The Hall

Another unexplained feature that I noticed was some fake windows on the outside of the building on the east face. At one point, there was a tax on windows, so maybe this is an example of the classic way to dodge the tax.

The middle windows are fake; I guess I should have checked from inside!

Going inside, the first room on the left, the Sitting Room, was originally two rooms. It was "My Lady's Parlour" and the withdrawing room. The parlour part would be used to entertain guests. The smaller withdrawing room would be for entertaining more intimate acquaintances. It also provided a discreet route for the lady of the house to leave off entertaining since a door led out to the garden. The rooms were turned into one around 1800 by Emma Vernon and Henry Cecil, presumably to have more space for entertaining, though there is no written evidence explaining the change. Another notable fact about the room is the 1721 inventory which listed 102 paintings in the room! The docent in this room gave us a quick and thorough history of the ups and downs of the Vernon family's fortunes. A thrifty Vernon was often followed by a spendthrift one who wiped out the family savings. Also, many romantic intrigues and kerfuffles pepper their history.

Sitting Room with docent

The Main Hall is dark and welcoming. The fireplace is a later addition. The bust over it is Thomas Vernon in his lawyerly wig and robes. Underneath is a small sign "VER_NON SEMPER VIRET," which means "Vernon is always green," as in very prosperous. The underscore allows another interpretation: "Spring is not always green." This refers to the varying fortunes of the Vernon family. Paintings of various family members surround the fireplace.

Main Fireplace

Behind the main hall is the Smoking Room, where the men of the house had offices for conducting business. They could also keep an eye on the back courtyard where the servants worked. It was used to store the guns for hunting.

Desk for doing business

A small hallway connects the Smoking Room to the Dining Room. In it are two death notice signs from bygone eras. The signs were hung outside wealthy houses and showed the combined family crests of husband and wife, though if the deceased was single there was a single crescent. For a couple, if the left side of the sign was black, the husband died. If the right side, then the wife.

Two crests, one widow ("Rest in Heaven" is the translation)

A dead bachelor (same inscription)

The Dining Room is quite ornate and has an extensive collection of paintings of the Vernon family. Like the Sitting Room, it was originally two rooms, the lobby and a withdrawing room. The lobby was the everyday entrance to the house. The withdrawing room was an antechamber to one of the bed chambers. Again, it was a place to invite closer friends. The chimney piece is from the 1760s.

Dining Room

Over the fireplace

Connecting the Dining Room to the Main Hall is the Drawing Room, where the ladies would withdraw after dinner to let the men enjoy their port and cigars. It is now furnished as a sitting room with a rather delicate carpet.

Drawing Room

See, I was right!

The Great Staircase is perhaps the greatest thing to see at Hanbury Hall. Thomas Vernon commissioned Sir James Thornhill to paint the staircase. Thornhill had done several other large scale projects, though his most famous work was to come in 1716 when he painted the cupola of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. He is a quality artist. The theme of the staircase is Achilles, appropriately mythological and grandiose. Covering the walls and ceiling, it is awe inspiring.

Nice staircase decorations

Interesting facts (click to enlarge)

At the top of the stairs is the Blue Bedroom, which has been painted blue throughout the history of the house.

Blue Bedroom with floating canopy

The upstairs corridors are called the Gothick Corridors for the wallpaper, though the current wallpaper was put up in the 1990s. The pattern imitates the previous paper. Also, the hall contains the original three designs submitted for the house.

Wallpaper with Victorian house model

The three original designs

The Nursery and Day Room is where the governess would have cared for and instructed the children. The Day Room would have been a little retreat for the governess to relax without the children.

Governess's room (the cradle wouldn't have been there back in the day)

The Cedar Bedroom was used by the last lady of the house, Lady Georgina. Sir Harry Vernon and Georgina were married in 1861 and he received a baronetcy in 1885. They performed extensive charitable works in the local town. On their golden wedding anniversary, over 400 Hanbury villagers attended the celebration. One of the guides told us that they have about 300 thank you notes sent from the villagers to Harry and Georgina, a rather unprecedented show of affection between the Lord and the locals.

Wedding Anniversary invitation

The Cedar Room bed

A charming fireplace

Georgina's fabulous hair!

The Hercules Bedroom, Closet, and Dressing Room were the suite for the master of the house. They are furnished in 18th century style. The Dressing Room has a corner fireplace with a small statue of Hercules at the top, hence the name.

Hercules Bedroom (n.b.: Hercules never slept here)

Hercules statue (if it had one eye, I'd swear it was a Cyclopes)

Hercules clock

Outside is the final room, the Long Gallery. It is unclear whether it was ever attached to the house, but surely it was in regular use. For Thomas Vernon, it served as a gentleman's study. The walls were hung with maps, two globes sat on tables, some chairs and some books filled it out. Think of it as a 17th century "man cave." Later it was used as a picture gallery and an exercise space (though some stories persist that it was used to race the dogs when it was too wet outside). The family arms found over the fireplace are similar to that of Vernon-sur-Seine in Normandy, France, where the family originally came from.

Long Hall

Inside the Long Hall

Fireplace

The family seal

Our other favorite object outside the house was the horse mounting block by the front door. Four steps lead up to a small platform from which a person could easily mount a horse.

We're ready to ride!

The steps up to the horse mount

Speaking of horses, the nearby stables are now used for a tea shop, a gift store, a second hand book shop, a plant shop, toilets, and occasionally an ice cream cart is parked there too.

The Stables

The favorite part of the grounds for the children was the playground, of course. That will be in the next blog post.