A week at Madingley Hall

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Madingley Hall is a Jacobean and Elizabethan mansion located about four miles from the centre of Cambridge. I have often cycled past it and marvelled at the beautiful house. So when I found out I was going to stay there for one whole week - I was naturally jumping with joy!

The house dates back to 1543 and passed through several hands until sold to Colonel T. Walter Harding in 1905. Colonel Harding was an industrialist who had succeeded his father in the textile industry in Leeds and became the first Lord Mayor of Leeds (1898-1899). He found the hall in a poor condition but decided to renovate it - in 1906 work started on a large-scale restoration and reconstruction to designs by the architect John Alfred Gotch. Later ownership passed to Colonel Harding’s heirs who sold the Hall and its 300 acres of surrounding park and farmland to the University of Cambridge in 1948.

Colonel Harding

The University runs its Institute for Continuing Education at Madingley Hall and I took a short course there, which is how I ended up spending a week at the grade I listed house. Although the course was quite intensive, the house provided a very relaxed setting and there were many opportunities to wander off, soak up the Sun and photograph the house and gardens.

The impressive entrance 




View from my room

Walking up the avenue in the formal gardens 



Peeping out from the classroom windows



The Grade I listed gardens designed by 'Capability' Brown



Louis Vuitton at Wimpole Hall!

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My tour of English Stately homes continues, with the latest being Wimpole Hall near Cambridge. It is a stunning mansion dating back to 1640 and as usual had a succession of beautiful rooms, but what I found fascinating was the basement. The below stairs offered a glimpse of the labor required to run such great houses. I could imagine the hustle and bustle downstairs with staff scurrying around the corridors, with the senior staff directing from their offices - the Housekeeper’s room and the Butler’s pantry. Most fascinating of all was the Steward’s Room, where I found a stack of gorgeous Louis Vuitton trunks! These were brought down and looked after by the steward who then loaded these onto waiting carriages.

The trunks look like they have travelled the world. Notice all the different Cunard first class stickers, specially the one at bottom left for the Blue Star Line ship “Avila the Star”. Imagine the stories these trunks would tell if they could only speak. My imagination is running riot at the thought of it!   

Apethorpe Hall

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As part of my course at the University, I recently visited Apethorpe Hall in Northamptonshire. A Grade I listed building of exceptional importance which is currently undergoing renovation. Dating from the 15^th century the stately home has entertained Tudor and Stuart royalty, notably Elizabeth I and James I. The house contains one of the last remaining Jacobean interiors in England.

The estate is accessed through the village of Apethorpe, a quaint little village of thatch roofed cottages which is England at it’s very best. 

It was a surprisingly hot day for this time of the year and beautiful spring flowers were in bloom everywhere. We decided to walk through the gardens first which comprise of seven acres of meandering pathways leading through archways into formal lawns with topiary and lotus ponds, walled herb gardens, enchanted trees and sweeping meadows.

The gardens form a perfect setting for the breathtakingly grand mansion. Built in the late 15^th century for Sir Guy Wolfston, who served as constable of the nearby royal castle at Fotheringey, Esquire of the body to Edward IV and sheriff as well as MP for Northamptonshire. In 1551, Sir Walter Mildmay who was to become Chancellor of the Exchequer acquired the property. He rebuilt the South Range to provide the state rooms where Queen Elizabeth I was entertained in 1566. Sir Francis Fane who married Mildmay’s  granddaughter, remodeled the state rooms and added a long gallery in fine Jacobean style in 1622-25 at the orders of King James I for his ‘more commodious entertainment and princely recreation’, The king provided Oak trees for the purpose from Rockingham forest. The house was clearly a favorite of the early Stuart Monarchs. There were at least thirteen royal visits between 1566 and 1636 – more than any other house in the county. There was also a hint of a scandal as it is said that it was at Apethorpe that James met George Villiers, his favorite and later to become Duke of Buckingham.