A Weekend with the Outlaws

8.11.19 – 9.11.19

There was no sign of Paddington Bear, but we left the station exactly on time and made our way down to Wiltshire.

We were excited to be spending the weekend with son-in-law Matt’s parents Kate and Mike, and Matt’s brother Nick. We hadn’t seen them since Jane and Matt’s wedding in January 2018.

It was like we’d only said goodbye yesterday. It didn’t take long to crack the vino and cut the cake for afternoon tea.

We talked and talked, catching up on all the family happenings. The most exciting news is that Kate, Mike and Nick will be coming out to Australia for Christmas this year!!

The Fenners had a busy weekend planned.

Today we headed off to Stourhead Estate, owned by the Hoare family who established the first private bank in England. It was raining fairly steadily, so we headed to the house first.

It’s actually an estate, extensive gardens, a village, church and two pubs! I loved this wooden turnstile at the entrance gate.

The house was built in 1725 in Palladian style (Greco-Roman, symmetrical), and is filled with European treasures collected on various ‘tours’ members of the family made over the years.

A pretty common feature in all the rooms was Chippendale furniture. One of the Hoares seemed to be a patron of Thomas Chippendale and bought up big.

The house was cold, with one of the volunteers taking the situation into her own hands!

There were some quirky features to the house like this painting. Totally dark and indistinguishable, you could only see the painting when the guide held up a torch to it. It was meant to be viewed in the days of candlelight.

And this is one of the chandeliers photographed from underneath. Totally perfect.

But by far the main treasure of the house, utterly and completely priceless, was this cabinet made for Pope Sixtus V in the 16th century. It was prized so highly by the family that a room was remodelled to house it, and was then named…..The Cabinet Room!

Originally an organ, it was converted into a cabinet with 150 concealed drawers. It is made of wood, marble, jade, pearl and semi precious jewels, and is one of only about 3 of its kind in the world.

In a story that seems fairly common in aristocratic families, the lineage that started off with 11 sons dwindled over the centuries until the last family members to own and live in the house had only one child. He was killed in WW1, leaving his parents devastated. To prevent distant rellies getting their hands on the estate, luckily for us, it was left to the National Trust in 1946.

This is Sir Henry and Lady Alda with their only son Henry who was killed in battle. The really poignant thing is that Henry was actually exempt from joining up as he had health issues. But he went to be with his mates.