Bartimaeus

We had planned an excursion to fit into the time we were hanging around. We had walked before to the coffee room, but not explored the interior. On the way I was surprised that the public right of way through private land involved walking through a planted field, but that's where the arrows were pointed. There were a few stiles to negotiate and the field was muddy but there were plenty of mats and boot scrubbers at the entrance.

We were warmly greeted and told that we didn't look too muddy to come in.  The gentleman was asking if we wanted an introductory talk and Shane said first he thought we should pay for a ticket. He apologised for not observing that we had no stickers on and said we couldn't get tickets here and pointed us the way to the visitor centre near the car parking area.  The walk to purchase tickets took us past the attractive solid gazebos on either side of the entrance gates.

This was a fore taste for the treats in store inside. We returned paid and stickered. The introduction included that at some point the building has been split into apartments and rented out so the furniture wasn't original but they had been at pains to source antiques of the correct vintage for each room decorated in a style suited to different previous owners. The paintings however had been saved and tell the story and set the scene for each room. The hall is famous for its murals which were retained and were remarkable: the same artist did the ceiling in St Paul's cathedral.

The staircase murals were magnificent. Explanatory boards described the Greek myths on which they were based. They also stated that there was an example nearby to demonstrate the method of making the murals. I couldn't see that anywhere around but started on the tour anyway. Shane handed me a card in the first room which had particular things to look for in certain rooms. I would keep my eyes peeled. 

The central painting in the entrance hall had been of Thomas Vernon. He had commissioned the murals. He was a lawyer and later an MP for the Whigs. In a smaller room my observation card told me to look for a particular picture of him. Shane thought he had found it but it was some other long haired charcter from the same age. The room told some information about Vernon trying to gain votes as a Whig candidate and in the room was a painting done of the king, and some policies to encourage the electorate to pick him. It was new to us that canvassing the voters literally meant putting canvases up to gain popularity and advertise your name and what you stood for. His policies were rather lacking in detail but he stood "for trade and the good of the country". This was still not a picture of Vernon, but I found it at last.

In the dining room the item to find was a painting detail, a pointed foot wearing a red pump type shoe attached by straps criss-crossed up the leg and asking who the foot belonged to. I looked for ballerinas but found it on the ceiling, belonging to the god Apollo. The room also had the example of how to build up a fresco, that I had expected to see elsewhere. The noticeboards must have been moved around.

Having spent longer in the dining room looking for Apollo's foot, I joined Shane in the drawing room. There was nothing to find on my card but the visitors were asked to compare different flooring pattern techniques in here (dyed wood) compared to the dining room (inlaid wood), so I had another look in the dining room. We were asked not to touch the instrument, despite a sign saying "Play it again!"

Throughout there were seats with beribboned teasel heads to indicate you should not sit here, though we had seen some furniture where sitting seemed permitted. I guess playing chess was also not approved, either.

We had completed the downstairs rooms and could now go up the stairs to admire the main feature. As well as the greek myth explanations on the noticeboards, on Achilles, Odysseus and Ajax, a volunteer drew our attention to an addition to the painting that was not on the original plans, a picture of a minister who vehemently opposed the Whigs and said so in one of his sermons. He is depicted being passed by Mercury, to the furies. Vernon so disliked him, he must have requested this addition.

Upstairs had many paintings in the corridors and several bedrooms which included styles from residents of a later era and this somewhat unusual portrait which showed off an elegant hairstyle rather than the lady's face.

As well as period furniture and domestic details there was a room about witchcraft. It being late October we had seen a Halloween trail in the grounds but this exhibition seemed permanent, and not aimed at children, with historical information of the 16th century witch trials, and about attitudes across the centuries and in other countries compared to England. There was nothing here to find on my card, but plenty of interest.

Another room invited visitors to sit and read. There were books on a table and chairs you could actually sit on. A historical map of the area from the late 1600s or early 1700s was on the wall. The map itself was interesting to look at and what we call Stratford was spelt Stretford but what struck us was what the cartographer could have thought was the purpose or meaning of a scale for a map.

I completed my eye spy card in the last small room, the Hercules room. By the door was a chair in a corner, not a dunce's stool but designed for a corner.

On the landing beside the door, at the top of the stairs, was a place to leave your card if you wished it to be reused. We were glad we had spotted that.