Walled garden

Whilst Castle Howard's grounds are mostly sweeping parkland, lakes and woodland, there is also an extensive walled garden, beautifully laid out and immaculately tended. At this time of year the stand-out stars are the roses, festooning walls and borders, lending a light fragrance to the air as you walk past. 

The gardens were presided over by an imposing 'larger than life' statue of George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle (1802-1864), who had an illustrious career as an MP and, later, Member of the House of Lords. For a few years he held the role of Chief Commissioner for Woods and Forests, and was apparently an enthusiastic champion of Kew Gardens and instrumental in securing funds for a significant plant-hunting expedition to the Himalayas by Sir Jospeh Hooker. 

Tony Cragg sculptures

This summer at Castle Howard there is an exhibition of sculptures by internationally renowned artist Sir Tony Cragg, who is British but now lives in Germany. I think I've seen pieces by him before, perhaps at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. They are monumental works, made of a variety of materials: steel, bronze, glass, wood, fibreglass, plastic. His work pushes the boundaries of the materials and contains echoes of his interest in geology, palaeontology and biology as well as the human form.  

I can't honestly say I warm to them... To me they are 'interesting' but not 'beautiful'. They did, however, look commanding in the landscape around Castle Howard and in parts of its interior too, and the pieces were carefully chosen for their locations (though not created as 'site specific').

In the 'Temple of the Four Winds' - an elaborate summerhouse, designed by Vanbrugh in the 18th century as a place where the Howard family could have refreshments (prepared by servants in a kitchen beneath the structure), and sit and chat or read - there was an elaborate Cragg artwork made of sand-blasted glass vessels. There were two stewards keeping an eye on it, who seemed keen to chat as there were few visitors braving the rain to walk out to the Temple. 

The amazing stucco work by Francesco Vassalli that decorates the Temple dates back to 1738. 

Of all the Tony Cragg pieces I noticed, I most liked this one (below), for its sinuous shape and the interesting way it incorporated its surroundings through the twists and bumps in the glass. 

Castle Howard's lakes

Castle Howard's grounds are extensive and contain several lakes. On such an overcast and stormy day, there were some dramatic scenes to be captured. 

In common with many of our stately homes, the grounds contain numerous follies and focal points in the landscape. In the distance (below) you can see the Mausoleum, where generations of the Howard family are buried. In front of it is the New River Bridge. In the last photo you can just about see some of the statues that line the path to the 'Temple of the Four Winds'. 

Unfortunately the heavy rain rather spoiled our walk. Can you see it bouncing off the water in the photo below? We got absolutely drenched, several times! If it had been a nicer day, exploring the grounds would have been much more enticing. We had a map but it soon disintegrated in the wet! 

Music while you walk

Whilst we were exploring the interior of Castle Howard, a gentleman started to play the piano in the Long Gallery, which was rather pleasant. I gather that is a very expensive make of piano: Bösendorfer. 

Owing to the fire, many of the rooms are still quite bare with exposed timberwork and brick walls, which are gradually being renovated.  Some are furnished, like the appropriately named Turquoise Drawing Room, which had fabric-covered walls and many portraits, though some, I think, were copies rather than originals.   

This is the Crimson Dining Room (imaginative names!) with its ornate fireplaces and elaborate chandeliers. 

The dome above the Great Hall collapsed in the catastrophic fire in 1940 and has been rebuilt. Originally it had been decorated by the Venetian artist Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini in 1709-12. High up in the dome itself, 'The Fall of Phaeton' is a reproduction of his original, painted by the Canadian artist Scott Medd in 1963. 

The family Chapel dates to 1870 and is richly decorated in the pre-Raphaelite style with William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones designs and lots of gilt, very opulent.  (I prefer my chapels to be somewhere in between the austerity of Ampleforth (see last Monday's post) and this level of extravagance!) 

I absolutely adore Morris/Burne-Jones stained glass though. The faces of the figures are always gorgeous. 

 

Castle Howard

The focal point of our mini-break was a visit to Castle Howard, one of the north of England's most celebrated stately homes, which I've been meaning to see for ages. Privately owned, it has been the home of the Howard family for over 300 years. You may recognise it from various films and TV programmes as it is often used as a location, most famously for 'Brideshead Revisited' in the 1980s and more recently in some episodes of 'Bridgerton'.  

Unfortunately the weather on the day we were there was atrocious. It was briefly sunny on arrival, so we opted to explore the grounds and gardens first but hadn't got far when the heavens opened and we got soaked... the first of several soakings from very heavy rainstorms, which robbed the day of some of its joy!  

It is a very grand building dating from 1699, though it took over 100 years to complete, with a lavish Baroque section by John Vanbrugh constructed in the early 1700s. The 4th Earl added a Palladian wing, so the house is rather oddly unbalanced. Sadly, in 1940, when it was being used as school for evacuees during the war, a large fire took hold and tore through more than a third of the building, causing the dome to collapse into the Great Hall. What we see now, both inside and out, is a reconstruction overseen by George and Lady Cecilia Howard and their descendants, beginning in the 1960s and still continuing. 

It is worth seeing but, to me, lacks the glory and splendour of Harewood House, our more local stately home, which I love.  

Helmsley

When the rain arrived, we made a brief stop in Helmsley for a coffee. It's a lovely little town but nearly always full of cars, motor bikes and throngs of people. It was nice to find it quieter, no doubt due to the rain and the fact that it was late afternoon. I almost always take the same photos! Iconic shots of a pretty little North Yorkshire market town. 

Lavender blue

Not surprisingly, the signature colour of the Yorkshire Lavender farm was a lovely soft blue, which decorated gates, fences and sculptures. 

Twinning it with yellow is, of course, a winning combination, whether the yellow is Phlomis (above) or buttercups. 

There's a rather joyful steel sculpture series, 'The Spirit of Yorkshire', created by local craftsman James Morris, which depicts a cricket match between (of course) Yorkshire and Lancashire, that old rivalry. Someone was bowled out!  

Elsewhere, imposing pyramids echoed the forms of the trees on the slope. 

Yorkshire Lavender

Second stop of our mini-break was the Yorkshire Lavender farm at Terrington, its elevated position giving lovely views over the Vale of York. 

It has pretty gardens with flowers and herbs, a café and a gift shop. Unfortunately the lavender was barely in flower. Apparently it peaks in early August. I was a bit surprised as the pot of lavender on my balcony is in full bloom, but it seems there are many varieties and most flower a bit later on. Those that were just coming into flower seemed to be Lavandula augustifolia (English Lavender), which is what my pot contains too. 

It seems to be a good year for lupins and these were a gorgeous colour. 

I liked the spiky fractals of this umbelliferous plant, which I think may be angelica. 

 

Ampleforth Abbey's stained glass

This window in Ampleforth Abbey Church's South Transept is inspired by the abstract designs of medieval Cistercian windows. It is by the celebrated stained glass artist Patrick Reyntiens (1925-2021), who was a former pupil of the College. His work, much of it hand-painted, is among some of the most important of the late 20th and early 21st century, including windows in Coventry Cathedral and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. 

There are several other more figurative designs in the church, also by Reyntiens and his son, John. Those in the Lady Chapel, commissioned for the Abbey's 200th anniversary, include: the Wedding Feast at Cana:

Our Lady's Assumption into Heaven: 

and the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost:

Ampleforth Abbey

A friend recently treated me to a mini-break in North Yorkshire, to celebrate my birthday. The first stop was at Ampleforth Abbey, a Benedictine Monastery founded in 1802, and linked to a (now) co-educational boarding school, Ampleforth College. It's a long, rambling site on a hillside, with beautiful views. It has a newly-opened tea room (very nice!) and visitor centre, with displays about the history and explanations of Benedictine monastic life. 

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII in the 1500s, the English Benedictines were banished to France, and then forced to return in 1792 owing to the French Revolution. They were invited to use a lodge that had been gifted by Lady Anne Fairfax to her chaplain Fr Anselm Bolton, which then became the new monastery and a school was opened in 1803 that became one of the country's leading Catholic boarding schools. Sadly the school was embroiled in a historic child sexual abuse scandal and seems to have struggled to meet safeguarding requirements in recent years, though this now appears to be resolved, after a clearer separation has been made between the College and the Abbey. 

Although it didn't say, I assume this statue outside the Abbey Church is St Benedict, though it may be St Lawrence after whom the church is named. 

The Abbey Church is a Grade 1 listed building designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, whose other notable creations include Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, Battersea Power Station - and red telephone boxes. It was constructed in two phases in 1922 and 1961. 

I'm afraid I didn't really like Ampleforth Abbey Church. I found it very austere and very heavy looking. It felt cold and unspiritual to me. However, it is always interesting to explore new places. I liked some of its modern stained glass rather more, which I will show tomorrow.