The Billiard Room...

Just off the foyer one can retreat to the billiard room for a post supper dram and a gently competitive game of pool, snooker or billiards.

The green silk walls complement the green of the table, and the leather club chairs. Elsewhere the mahogany paneling provides a masculine club ambiance. The architrave to the left of the mantelpiece, which balances that of the door on the right (the entrance to the Gold Drawing Room) will serve as a frame for a cue rack and accessory hooks.

On the south wall between the two windows hangs an oil painting of galleons at sea. Below this is a little bookcase with pewter stags on top. We have some splendid coffee table type books for the case so guests can flick through them if they wish to retreat into the room for a cup of tea or coffee and some quiet time.

The space on the wall above the painting is reserved for a stag's head, but only one that I have shot myself and not one off the shelf as it were. I have a policy (vermin aside), that I won't kill an animal unless I am going to eat it. So, unless I shoot the stag myself and fill the freezer up with venison (thus rendering the head nothing more than a byproduct) the space will have to stay empty.

For a change of scenery, tomorrow we are going to venture outside and take a look at the portico, front door and the loggia. We look forward to seeing you then.