The 'Big Reveal'...

Above: The courtyard with the pond, awaiting placement of the fountain in the centre and some goldfish.

Well, the first Wedding was a huge success with a very happy bride and groom and family. Everyone seemed to have a great night, and it was Peter's and my pleasure to host such a wonderful event. So, with our first event behind us we can now start to share all the progress over the past few months. Because I'm a bit of a tease I'm going to reveal a little bit more everyday until you have seen everything, so for the next fortnight please stop by for your daily dose of dazzling beauty as we unveil Willowbrook Park.

 Day One: The Foyer

Welcome inside the front doors to the foyer. Trevor is busy arranging flowers ahead of the wedding...

What a wonderful job. The flowers were from the gardens at Willowbrook, as well as from my Grandmother's garden. In the background you can see the 2 framed etchings I bought in Dubbo of classical urns. They are paired with a display case flanking either side of the front door, and a bronze and ormolu winged urn continuing the classical motifs. I am going to use the cases to display our intaglio collection, which is too large to frame, and will look quite dramatic on the backdrop of the red felt which is lining the bottom of the display cases.

Above: View towards The China Room and the hallway towards The Dining Room. You can just catch a glimpse of the chandelier above.

Below: Another arrangement on a little gilt wood table in the spiral nook of the staircase. In time this is where our replica of the rape of the Sabines will stand.

 Below: A view of the foyer from the entrance to the Salon.

Below: A view down into the foyer from the staircase.

Time for lights out. Sleep well. Come back tomorrow to see more of the chandelier and how they raised the 6 foot crystal colossus up into the dome.

Shades of Grey - How Hard Are You?

We encountered an unexpected requirement when it came to choosing the stone for our benchtops in the kitchen. We had our hearts set on having Carrara marble for the benchtops, but were strongly advised against this. Why? - I have seen hundred of beautiful counter tops in Carrara in interior design magazines, most in very well spec'd homes where they looked oh so glamorous. 

It transpires that marble is just not hard enough for kitchens. You can't put hot pans down on it or it might crack, if you spill your red wine on it it will stain, even if treated to prevent fluid uptake, and it will inevitably develop a pitted surface over time loosing its sheen becoming drab. 

What's a boy to do? It was time to get scientific. After some research I found a universal scale called Moh's Scale, used to grade how hard various stones are. We needed a stone which was much harder than marble, but still gave us that timeless Carrara look.

Moh's Scale:

For a kitchen surface to be usable it really should score a 6 or above. In term of absolute hardness Talc scores a 1, Calcite (most marbles) a 9, while Quartz scores a 100 (10 x harder than marble). Diamond scores a 1500! In practical terms you can easily scratch marble with a copper coin, but not quartz.

So, not wanting a granite top (our hearts really set on a particular look) we found some quartzite stones that resembled Carrara marble. We settled on this top stone, with its undulating waves of grey coursing through an off white stone (paler than it appears in this photo)...

Other choices included this stone, which had a whiter background colour, but the seams of grey, although completely natural, seemed to look like a man-made Corian top with an almost printed look...

Then there was this one, which was completely white with no grey to it, which almost had a milky appearance. Not marblesque enough...

So, now having settled on the stone, we have sent the templates for our bench tops and centre island off to the quarry in Greece where they will LASER-cut the stone to the exact shape required, including the nosing profile...

The Great Country Estates of Britain Series: Holkham Hall Revisited 2 of 5

After taking in the park and external architecture we ventured inside, to be welcomed by the vast marble hall (actually made of Derbyshire alabaster)...

Above and Below: The amazing coffered ceiling.

The alabaster had dramatic red seams running through it which gave it a warmer atmosphere than a pure austere white marble would have. In the niches are plaster replicas of Greek statues.

Next is an assortment of photos of the statues from the statue gallery. This gallery boast having the most complete collection of authentic classical statues of any private house in Britain (many houses having sold off their originals when the fell on hard times, and replaced them with plaster copies). On the day we went there there was a display of dresses in the gallery, so one had to manoeuver oneself carefully to find shots without couture in them...

The gilded coffered apse at one end, with and without the chandelier...

Details from the marble fireplace in the statue gallery...

Other marble pieces from around the hall...

The North Dining Room...

I love the chair upholstery, being a very similar fabric to that which we have chosen for our dining room Chippendale styled chairs, and also the stunning savonnerie carpet.

The table is also amazing, using a very ingenious mechanism designed in 1830 by Robert Jupe, to enlarge or reduce the table top area as required...

and example of how the mechanism works can be seen in this video of a dining table on a yatch below:

Above: Panorama of the dining room...

The other clever feature of this room which I like is the apse, which when viewed from all but the most acute angles looks like a straightforward archway, but if you get the angle correct, you can see the hidden servants entrances on either side of the apse...

In previous centuries they would have lead down to an old kitchen like this...

Above: A collection of copper pans and fish broilers

Below: Juice jars, churns, butter patty makers and a marmalade slicer

Above: A large knife sharpener (as pointed out by Don of The Lothians)

Below: A large open over with mechanized spit roaster

Below: A close up of the cute marmalade slicer. One puts orange pieces in the forcer at the rear and then rocks the knife back and forwards as one forces the fruit up the chute...

Bathroom Waterworks 1: Baths and Basins...

One of the more fun jobs recently has been to start to choose tap fittings for WBP. We have been looking at Perrin and Rowe, and English plumbing firm, based in Mayfair, London. Their taps come in a variety of finishes. We have chosen chrome for the kitchen and gold for most of the bathrooms.

We are having these taps in the bath rooms, but with levers...

The levers will be easier to clean, and easier to use if we get arthritis in our dotage!

I do like the wall mounted option too...

Above and Below: The sort of 'Vanity-Tap-Mirror-Sconce' ensemble we have planned for the guest bathrooms and public loos.

In doing our research about P&R we were amazed at the number of hotels around the world which have recently refurbished their bathrooms with Perrin and Rowe...

For the master bath we had a hard time deciding between the aesthetics of a simple wall spout...

which would come out of a marble splash back, such as in this bathroom...

 or the traditional telephone set up...

Above and below: Options for master bath plumbing (but in gold).

as in these bathrooms...

For the guest bathrooms we are going to have baths with over head showers (to cover for both preferences). We have chosen the 'telephone and trombone' sets below (gold for the Brideshead and Chatsworth suites, and silver for the Blenheim Suite)...

They also have a lovely range of heated towel rails in a variety of finishes to match the taps.

We also looked at  Devon and Devon and LeFroy Brooks. They are both English companies whose classic fittings have a 'steam-punk' edge...

 

as well as Sherle Wagner, purveyors of ornate bathroom fittings. If I had to describe their style I would say they were very 'Norma Desmond'...

P.E. Geurin excels when it comes to hand crafted fittings. You can really tell the difference between their made to order fittings vs mass manufactured, moulded fittings...

 The Parisian firm THG has a Baroque Line too...

  

Parting shot: some more glorious and OTT bathrooms...