WBP Update...

 These are the first pictures of the manor house with the roof on....

South Elevation looking from end of drive over courtyard to front entrance. We are glad we chose to have four chimneys, instead of just two. It does give the house a better roof line....

One of the pressing jobs before winter sets in will be getting the driveway finished, with proper edging and top course of stone.

View of south west corner with left over lengths of foundation piles...

You may notice from the photos that we have been in a drought for the past 4 months in the Waikato. We are lucky that we have enough hay left over from our last harvest to see the animals through, but many of the trees and plants have browned off at the tips.

The East Elevation...

The West Elevation...

The North Elevation looking over the raised cocktail lawn towards the terrace.

Above: View towards manor from Urn en flambeau

Inside the foyer - looking up towards an internal balcony...

The Drawing Room, looking out onto the West Terrace... 

The view from the Music Room towards the Billiard Room... 

The view down the Salon towards the Music Room...

The view down the Salon towards the Kitchen... 

The view out of the kitchen window...  

The view from the kitchen towards the formal dining room (central door) with the Scullery on the left, and the Butler's Pantry on the right... 

View from the Dining Room back towards the kitchen, with the doors to east terrace on the right...

The wooden boxing for the start of the staircase in the foyer...

Update on stairs (15/03/14):

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The upstairs landing, with lift shaft ahead, and to the left of the lift shaft where the staircase will arrive...

 Above: The ceiling batons in the foyer

Below: The view from the landing towards the long gallery and the 'secret' door into my study...

Below: The view through my study wall into the master bedroom...

View from French doors of master bedroom northwards to 'headboard' wall of bedroom. Through this wall into the dressing room, and through the next wall into the master ensuite, then out onto the northern upper balcony...

View from the Blenheim Suite through the back-to-back ensuites towards the Chatsworth Suite...

 View of Chatsworth Suite towards the Potager garden...

Some parts of the garden are doing well. The Nymphaeum is looking good, the garden in the middle needs some manicuring...

 Even though Rawdon is no longer with us it is nice to have horses at WBP still. Our friends are grazing their horses (Ginger and Gandalf) on the farm....

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

This is the last post in the Holkham Hall Revisited pictorial series, and I think we have saved the best for last. These rooms are simply stunning. We start with the drawing room.

The Drawing Room

This gorgeous state room forms part of the enfilade of the piano nobile. It contains various works of art including eleven paintings and several busts of classical figures in history, such as Pythagorus, Zino, Faustina (Marcus Aurelius'wife) and Carneades (above the doors in the over mantels).

One can see the following in the photo above: On the centre of the east wall (left) there is a portrait of Thomas  Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester, in the robes of the order of Bath, painted by Jonathan Richardson. On the centre of the west wall (right) there is a portrait of the Sir Edward Coke (founder of the family's fortunes) painted by Marcus Geerhaerts the younger. Above the four doors are landscapes by van Bloeman...

The focal point of the room is Pietro da Pietri's Madonna in gloria...

The busts on the chimney-piece are copies of Marcus Aurelius and Caracalla.

On the lower left of the fireplace is Gaspard Poussin's The Storm, Whilst on the right side of the fireplace is Claude Lorraine's Apollo flaying Marsyas...

In enfilade style we move to the South Dining Room, which again contains 11 paintings and busts in each over-mantel. 

The centrepiece is Thomas Gainsborough's portrait of Coke of Norfolk.

Beautiful chairs upholstered en suite to match the walls.

Below: Naked Venus in the style of Titian (left upper wall). Hondecoeter's bird painting (right upper wall). Below each of these is a stormy landscape by Gaspard Poussin.

I am not sure of the painting above, which is different from the one listed in sources. Maybe someone out there knows?

Below: A panorama of the room. The painting on the centre of the wall on the right is Reni's Joseph and Potiphar's Wife (Ca 1730).

The details around the room were simply beautiful. Below: A brass servant's bell. You can see the red marble on the wall, with the original silk brocade trimming.

Below: An ornate pier glass above a gilded marble console.

Next we have The Saloon, popularly thought to be the grandest of the rooms at Holkham. The crimson wall hangings are made from caffoy, a fabric blended from wool, linen and silk.

Above: Peter Paul Reuben's famous depiction of the return of the holy family from Egypt.

Below:Anthony van Dyck's portrait of the Duke of Arenburg.

Above: Close up of the Reubens

Below: Detail of the marble urn on the table below

Below: Detail of the table top

Below: Detail of the carved table legs

Below: Panorama of the saloon

Above: The paintings above each of the fireplaces were commissioned in Rome by Coke when he was on his grand tour. They are Andrea Procaccini's Tarquin raping Lucretia (left) and Giussepi Bartolomeo Chiari's Perseus and Andromeda (right).

Below: Details of the Fireplace below the Chiari.

Above: Central door into Saloon, with large over-mantel containing a bust of Hera/Juno, 2 large torchieres and 2 large Chinese porcelain jars with Little dogs on top...

We finish this series' tour with The Landscape Room...

The room is upholstered in vibrant red damask and contains 22 old masters, 7 of them by Claude Lorraine and 5 by Gaspard Poussin (Nicolas Poussin's brother in law). Claude Lorraine is one of my favourite artists. I love the ancient capricios he painted, the follies, the gardens and the mythological subjects. I was lucky to find a relatively good copy of a Lorraine when I was visiting my mother in Nelson (picture here). It will hang above the sideboard in the formal dining room at WBP (which also has red damask walls).

Apart from Giordano's St Johnthe Baptist Preaching (below), all the rest are landscapes.

Well, that concludes our tour of the gardens and interiors of Hokham Hall. We will be back this weekend with a brief update of what's happening back at WBP.