Website Launch...

This Easter we officially launched our new website:

www.willowbrookpark.co.nz

We shall of course, continue blogging at willowbrookpark.blogspot.com; but are now open for bookings and enquiries through our shiny new portal.

Thank you for all our loyal reader who have followed the progress over the years. We will not dispoint you - we will still share the best of our daily exploits with you here on the blog; but please spread the word far and wide that we are open and ready for you!

David and Peter.

Happy Easter!

Glad Easter tidings from Willowbrook Park.

Noli me tangere (Do not cling to me). Antonio Correggio, 1525.

Jesus appears to Mary. Alexander Ivanov, 1835.

The Clocks of Willowbrook, Part 1...

This is the first in a series of posts exhibiting our collection of clocks, and we are going to start with the long case clock which stands inside the foyer. 

The clock was purchased in 1990 from Colin Bent of Albion Clocks in London, but dates back to 1740, coincidentally the same year the Royal London Hospital was opened.

It is a 'Country' long case clock, meaning that it only has an hour hand and only strikes the hours. This is because it was intended for listening to, rather than looking at. It was made in 1740 by Humphrey White of Fairford in Gloucestershire. 

From what we can tell from a variety of historical sources and registers, Humphrey White was the son of Thomas White (born 1677 - 1748). Thomas White had been an apprentice of Thomas Tompion, who is considered the father of English clock-making (famous amongst other things for creating the two very long pendulum clocks for the royal observatory for Charles II, which only required winding once a year and were accurate enough for performing astronomical calculations). 

Humphrey must have started working in the family business as he grew up, taking over it before 1740 (8 years before his father passed away). The Whites, along with another clock-maker Richard Honeybone, provided clocks to most of the Cotswold area. Fairford clocks are still very sought after today in the Cotswolds. There is an auction of one of Thomas White's clocks this month. How wonderful it would be to reunite father and son's work after all this time!

Above: The restrained style of the Georgian Country Clock standing in the foyer.

Below: A close up of the face showing the manufacturer's name.

Below: The full clock face with single iron hour hand and wonderful brass spandrels.

Below: The weights and pendulum.

It has a wonderful sonorous bell...

The next post of the series will exhibit the long-case clock on the landing upstairs. Join us then.

Lakeside Folly - The Finished Result...

Today we are staying outside with our tour and catching up with the progress made on the folly since the first post. Here is the finished product that Peter and Dirk worked so hard on...

Above: The Folly as it was before the wedding.

Below: The roof being hoisted into position back in November.

Below: The view as it was later that day once the roof had been bolted to the side walls.

There was a brief hiatus in progress just before Christmas, but that didn't stop family enjoying it on Christmas day...

Then Peter and Dirk finished the external walls, and plastered and painted it and fitted the columns ready for it to be enjoyed by our wedding couple. The photographers realized it made for some great photos...

Later that night (2 am), after we had done most of the tidying up, I crept out to see what it looked like with the landscape lighting we had installed, and was thrilled to find this marvelous reflection in the lake...

Above: The folly reflected in the lake.

Below: The statue of Bacchus also lit up. 

The lighting works well, because you can see the folly very clearly from the manor. When I crept over there I surprised a number of frogs that were ribbiting away, which could almost be heard from the back lawn, as well as a few rabbits I think. There was the sound of splash splash, and then silence. In time we hope to light up the jetty, as well as install the lake fountain, which will be lit up at night too.

The Portico and Loggia...

The more observant readers will have noticed that last weekend the artist's impression in the left side bar changed to an actual photo of the manor. It is so nice to have a photo of the whole project sans construction equipment and scaffolding!

Today we are going to look at the entrance and the loggia. As one pulls up at the foot of the steps they are greeted by this sight...

I think another pair of urns, planted up with a well manicured selection of flowers and ivy would look good between the door frame and the inner columns under the lights.

By night guests are greeted with this sight...

We are very happy with how the doors turned out. The execution of our design, the final colour of the stain, and the placement of the knockers we brought back from London all came together nicely. The wood is yellow cedar, which is a lot harder than the more common red cedar. They had to stain it repeatedly to get it to darken up (compared to the carriage house doors, which are red cedar, and only required the standard 3 coats of stain before they turned a warm dark brown).

The view of all the column capitals and the hanging lantern from the front doors...

By night the lantern shines leaving a wonderful pattern of light across the plaster...

whilst the carriage lights on either side of the door provide additional illumination...

The columns at night...

Around on the northern side of the manor, we have used the same components in the loggia...

We will have to take some more photos at night to show you how wonderful this looks from the cocktail lawn. I will do that next month when I am home again. Please stop by again tomorrow when we share photos of the lakeside folly which Peter and our friend Dirk built.