The Great Country Estates of Britain: Holkham Hall Revisited 1 of 5

Having studied and blogged about Holkham Hall previously, I was pleased to have the chance to visit it last year on our country house tour. Over the next two weeks I shall share some of the photos I took of Holkham. 

We arrived at the estate by the north gate, having stayed the night at Wells-next-the-sea (that was another story in itself, having arrived there to find no accommodation available we almost had to stay on a fishing boat over night!)

Above: The North Gate

Below: Detail of the wrought iron work in the gate

We drove through the deer park, parked the car and arrived at the visitors centre.

Above: Small side gate and gate houses.

Below: One of the lead rainheads. Peter was quite under-whelmed by the brown brick, expecting the hall to have been fashioned from large slabs of stone like Chatsworth or Castle Howard.

The visitors centre which housed a cafe and gift shop...

As it was a lovely day we decided to see the park and gardens first. We departed by a gate to the right in the above picture and strolled around the hall anticlockwise... 

We came across two large bronze lions...

and the Leicester monument...

before coming to a small weir on the estate lake. 

From here we looked back towards the hall to notice a terrace with a large fountain....

Looking over the balustrades of the raised terrace lawn we could see the remains of a neoclassical orangery...

Unfortunately it appears it was necessary to place signage requesting people not to 'jump the fence'...

It was quite an attractive wall actually...

with the occasional self sown beauty...

Here are some photos of the large fountain, which unfortunately was not in operation...

To the right of the orangery there was a small classical belvedere...

We then walked back towards the lake and on to the walled garden.

on the way we passed the old ice house...

and fields of free-ranging pigs...

To be honest the walled gardens were very disappointing. Having just seen the fabulous gardens at Houghton the day before, the gardens at Holkham were looking very much under-loved...

There were parts where they had started to tidy them up...

In the next post we will venture inside the hall to see the marble hall, statues, dining room and kitchen.

Kenneth, Our Highland Bull has Arrived...

We have successfully stuck to our plan and sold three of our Highland calves, and used the proceeds to purchase a pedigree bull to service our remaining 3 pedigree cows. We have named him Kenneth in memory of a dear friend no longer with us, who always took a keen interest in Willowbrook and the Rare Breeds Farm.

He is a lovely tame creature, who although only at WBP for 3 days, has settled into the Highland fold already.

My cousin James is looking after him and all the other animals on the farm for the next week as Peter is coming over to join me for a holiday. In fact, he is due to touch down any minute at the airport, so I'm off to collect him.

Baby Baby Baby...

We are thrilled that our first highland calf has been born, and it is a boy - Douglas.

True to Willowbrook form, cow #1 gave birth first. Two more to go.

She chose a good break in the weather to give birth too.

Our Hairy Coos Have Arrived...

Our Highland Cattle arrived after work today. Light was fading quickly on a mid-winter's day, but still managed to get a few pics. Now we just have to think of nine Scottish names. Any suggestions...

The Willowbrook Highland Cattle Fold...

We have finally settled on the type of cattle we are going to breed at Willowbrook. It was a close competition between Highland Cattle and Belted Galloways, but in the end the large horns and the extra long shaggy coats of the Highlands tipped them into pole position. This will bring to a close our stocking of the rare breeds farm, as we will then be at full capacity and will have only rare breeds on site, having sold on our Herefords.

Highland cattle or kyloe are a Scottish breed of beef cattle with long horns and long wavy coats. The can be coloured black, brindled (red and brown tiger striping), red, yellow or dun (a warm nut-brown). We are getting three pregnant dun coloured cows, and shall get a bull next year to run with them. If we get a yellow bull we should end up with a mixture of duns and yellows. The yellow colour is more of a warm caramel - see below...

The breed was developed in the Scottish Highlands and Western Isles. The breed was developed from two sets of stock,one originally black, and the other reddish. Breeding stock have been exported to the rest of the world, and once an 'extremely rare' breed, they are now only considered 'rare'.

Highlands are known as a hardy breed due to the rugged nature of their native Scottish Highlands, with high rainfall and strong winds.Highland cattle have been successfully established in many temperate countries and indeed in countries where winters are substantially colder than Scotland's such as central Europe and Canada. Their hair provides protection during the cold winters and their skill in browsing for food enables them to survive in steep mountain areas. They both graze and browse and eat plants which many other cattle avoid. The meat tends to be leaner than most beef because Highlands get most of their insulation from their thick shaggy hair rather than subcutaneous fat. The coat makes them a good breed for cold northern climates and they are able to thrive in outdoor conditions that would defeat most other breeds of domestic beef cattle. As such, Highland cattle are able to produce beef at a reasonable gross margin from inhospitable land that would otherwise normally be incapable of rendering a profit agriculturally.Whilst the UK domestic and worldwide popularity of Highland cattle has made trade in pedigree beasts occasionally the most lucrative - mainly on account of their handsome appearance - they are at their best agriculturally when used to produce beef in a cold climate from poor pasture and forage.

Whilst the beef produced by pure-bred Highland cattle is exceptionally tender and of high flavour, modern butchery and shopping trends tend to demand a carcass and a cut of meat of a different character. In order to address this market, Highland beef producers commonly run commercial Highland suckler cows with a 'terminal' sire such as a Shorthorn or Limousin bull. This allows the hardy Highland cow, grazed upon the rough hillsides of her natural environment, to produce across-bred beef calf featuring the tender beef of its mother on a more modern carcass of high commercial value at slaughter, thus rendering a gross margin from her grazing that would have been impossible from other breeds in that environment. There is also a healthy demand from fellow producers of outdoor-reared beef who farm on more forgiving terrain, for Highland cross-bred bulling heifers: most often Highland cows crossed with the Shorthorn bull, for use as suckler cows. These cross-bred beef suckler cows inherit the hardiness,thrift and mothering capabilities of their Highland dams and the improved carcass configuration or their sires. Such cross-bred sucklers, further crossed with a modern beef bull such as a Limousin or Charolaisto produce the finest quality beef are one of the mainstays of Scottish commercial beef production. It is this ability to pass on thrift and gross margin down the beef-breeding cascade that has secured this breed's place as a modern commercial beef breed.

The Highland cattle registry ("herd book") was established in 1885. Although groups of cattle are generally called herds, a group of Highlands is known as a fold. They were also known as kyloes.

There are many international societies for Highland cattle. The British Highland Cattle Society, whose patron is Her Majesty, The Queen, is a registered charity. There are at least two Highland Societies in New Zealand. We shall join the New Zealand Highland Cattle Society.

The hairy calves are adorable...

Below: A prize Highland at Dumfries House...

I designed the Willowbrook Highland Cattle Logo using our highland tartan as the backdrop...