Their website has this to say about it:
“King Henry VIII gave Walden Abbey to Sir Thomas Audley, who transformed it into his mansion, Audley End. Despite ups and downs in its fortunes, Audley End remains one of England’s grandest country homes with over 30 lavishly decorated rooms to enjoy and explore. The sumptuous interior is largely due to the third Baron Braybrooke who inherited Audley End in 1825, filling it with treasures including paintings by Masters such as Holbein and Canaletto. A rare set of English tapestries by Soho weaver Paul Saunders is now displayed after 30 years in store. Wander round the beautiful 19th-century parterre with its magnificent floral displays and imagine yourself back in Victorian times as you take a turn around the organic walled Kitchen Garden growing original fruit and vegetable varieties.”
(the above quotation was taken from
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.12088
accessed on 9/12/07)
The first thing that struck John and me was the hedge – comprised of two varieties of hedge plants, it grew in most interesting twists and curves.
With the wind blowing fairly consistently around us, it looked rather like green billows in the garden.
We walked around the landscaped grounds, which had been designed by one of England’s most famous garden designers, Capability Brown. The grounds were certainly attractive, even at this time of year, with a stream, waterfall, pond, bridge house and kitchen gardens.
Quite a few types of water birds were taking advantage of the artificial stream and pond, with geese, ducks, swans, and even a kingfisher in evidence. At the back of the house, the formal gardens looked rather bare, and we were firmly kept on the beaten track by the enormous Haha that bordered the back of the formal gardens. Apparently these were built to keep the cattle out, and were used in place of fences, which were thought to spoil the view.
The house itself was quite grand, with elaborate architectural features on the exterior (including no less than 8 wind vanes on the little turrets of the roof!), and interiors decorated with heavily carved wooden flourishes in lavish Jacobean style.
Only a small part of the house was open, as it was ‘out of season’, but to compensate and to celebrate Christmas, English Heritage had organised a shop in the entrance hall, and story tellers in the parlour. We were entertained there by a ghost story and the story of Christmas wassailers, who entertained the residents of the grand houses with carol singing and comic plays. This tradition apparently originated in Feudal times, when peasants could call on the Lord of the Manor to receive Christmas food and drink without being thought of as begging.
The term ‘wassail’ is an old English word, apparently from ‘waes hael’, meaning ‘be well’, which also incorporated the meaning of eat and drink well. Wassailers expected their efforts to be rewarded with Wassail drink (hot, spiced ale) and ‘figgy pudding’, according to at least one folk song. We were also told about various Victorian parlour games, such as ‘Blind Man’s Bluff’ and ‘The Minster’s Cat’. Between the wassailers and the parlour games, it seemed that pre-television Britian could entertain itself quite well.
We finished our visit with a stop at the shop, where free beer and wine tasting was available. This tasting resulted in us carrying away 2 bottles of Wassail beer and a bottle of rhubarb wine. Sadly, all three are now gone.
2 comments:
I wish someone would give me a house like that! What a great place, beautiful gardens. The weather looks pretty good, if a little chilly, too.
PS Have sent you my mother's number to call for the room
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