The Great Country Estates of Britain Series. Part Eight: Althorp....

The Althorp estate has been the ancestral home of the Spencer family since the 16th century. Their fortune derived from its earliest known ancestor, Sir John Spencer of Wormleighton, Warwickshire, who bought Althorp in 1522 with the huge profits from his sheep-rearing business.

The house was originally a red brick Tudor building but its appearance was radically altered in the 18th century when the famous architect Henry Holland (under whom Sir John Soane studied) was commissioned to make extensive changes.

Above: Althorp in the 1820s
Below: Althorp in the 1920s

The interior decor of the house is generally considered its best asset, as the Spencer family has amassed an impressive collection of portraiture, including several van Dycks.

The 9th Earl Spencer in recent years has auctioned some of Althorp's 'best assets', realising £21.1m at Christie’s alone. The two major paintings sold were Rubens’s Portrait of a Com­mander (1614), which had been in the family since before 1802., which went for £9m; and Guercino’s King David (1651), acquired for Spencer House in 1768 but which went to Althorp in 1924, which sold for £5.2m.

Above: Rubens’s Portrait of a Com­mander

Above: 'War and Peace' - A double portrait of George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol and William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford. 1637. Oil on canvas by Anthony van Dyck.

A further sale at Christie’s of lesser items, including 19th century carriages raised a further £2m.

In his 1998 book on Althorp, The 9th Earl criticised his father for selling off family art treasures. He revealed that "dozens of paintings had gone to London art dealers in laundry baskets from Althorp’s back door". However, it is clear that he has been forced to do the same. In September 2009, Lord Spencer started a major restoration project repairing the roof, stonework and the tiles which clad Althorp. The up-keep on historic family estates remains steep and not all of the money can be made by 'opening your house to the public once a year on Queen Alexandra's day'. As Blackadder would say "needs must when the devil vomits into your kettle".

For a good in-depth post of the Christies Sales read Manner of Man Magazine's article.

Above: The Blue Drawing Room

Below: The Dining Room

Above: The Wooton Hall

Below: The Private Library

The stable block (below) has been converted into an exhibition devoted to the memory of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Diana is interred on a small island in the middle of the lake on the estate.

Above: The 'Temple of Diana' Memorial beside the lake

Below: An urn marking the site of her grave on the island in the lake

Above: A portrait of Diana

Althorp has extensive grounds and gardens, and even had its own railway station called Althorp Park on the Northampton Loop line until 1960. (c.f. my dream of Willowbrook Halt)

The estate was first opened to the public in 1953, by the 7th Earl Spencer, to mitigate against taxation, the 9th Earl, in order to maintain Althorp must continue to do the same.

Above: Charles Edward Maurice Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer

For the official Althorp website click here

Dining Room... and Damask Wallpaper

Above: The dining room at Chatsworth, laid for Christmas.

I think that red is the perfect colour for a dining room. The colour red heightens the senses and evokes feelings of desire and craving, of passion and heat: an ideal way to enhance one's gustatory experience. Just as the flavours of food are immensely enhanced by its appearance, colour and aroma, one's surroundings should enhance the experience of one's dining companions as well.

I love the three examples below. The gilded picture frames on the red silk background are stunning (and red and gold is my favourite colour combination).

Above: The dining room at Buck House

Below: The dining room at Chatsworth

Below: The dining room at Althorp

Below: Red silk damask wall covering.

One would think that finding a red damask wallpaper would be fairly straight-forward, but no!

The closest one we could find was the Trefoil pattern from The Royal Collection, but although the green version comes in green on green, the red version doesn't, it comes as red on gold, which when one is planning to hang many gold-framed pictures on the wall becomes too much of a good thing...

Above: Mulberry Trefoil

Below: Emerald Trefoil

Above 3 photos from The Royal Collection Website

After Min's very useful comment about a wallpaper supplier called Tapetorama we found the hummingbird wallpaper from Cole and Son for the Blenheim Suite. Then after a visit to Icon textiles and wallpaper in Auckland - which was thoroughly unsuccessful in finding a red damask wallpaper- the very helpful people there suggested we contact Cole and Son and have them make us bespoke wallpaper. One of the staff had just returned from a visit to their factory outside London and saw them making all the wallpaper. So, we have been given a selection of damask patterns, from which we may choose, then we decide what background and foreground colour we would like, and which we would like flocked, and then they hand-make it from their original blocks, which date back about a century. As long as one orders a minimum of 100 metres, then there are no problems.

Damask is a reversible fabric made out of silk, cotton, linen or other synthetic fibres, woven with differing warp and weft threads (sometimes actual gold or silver threads) to create the reversible and often iridescent patterns. The word Damask is derived from the city of Damascus, which was once a large city trading in fabrics, textiles and furnishing. It was preeminent in the Byzantine and Islamic world for its weaving. By the fourteenth century Damasks were being woven on drawn looms in Italy. Today, however, most are made on computerised Jacquard looms.

Above: Examples of 14th Century Italian Silk Damask

Below: Gold on Gold- Too much of a good thing?

We have also started looking ahead to how we can turn the ballroom around for dinners for weddings. These pictures capture the style and ambiance we wish to recreate at these times...

The 3 above photos are of the Hotel Du Pont, Delaware