27 May 2023
Despite it being a Bank Holiday weekend, we didn’t find
traffic to be a problem during our exploring today. First thing this morning,
we headed about 30 minutes north to the Catterick Cemetery to visit the Commonwealth
War Grave of Mum’s great uncle, Lieutenant Errington Edward Castle. Errington
died as the results of his injuries sustained in a mid-air collision over
Catterick in 1917. The cemetery itself was very peaceful, and we met some older
locals there who had a very wicked sense of humour and were very happy to chat
to us about a wide range of topics.
We wanted to visit Newby Hall in the afternoon, which is about an hour south of Catterick. Instead of using the motorway, we decided to drive some of the little country lanes over the Dales, passing through lovely little villages surrounded by beautiful scenery. There were plenty of push bike riders out, plus lots of tractors and other farm machinery on the roads, but everyone was very patient and courteous (even when stuck for a while behind a caravan).
Newby Hall was a lovely surprise. The Hall is a family home, but most rooms are as they were when designed, including with the original Chippendale furniture, and one spectacular room contains exquisite 1760s tapestries (the one room in the house not used by the family so as to preserve the tapestries). These tapestries are one of only six sets made for English patrons and is the only complete set left in the setting it was made for. The house was originally built in the 1690s by Sir Christopher Wren but was ‘modernised’ by Robert Adam about 80 years later.
Visitors are able to gain entry to the ground floor and first floor rooms of the Hall via a tour. There is a wonderful library on the ground floor that was originally the dinning room. After dinner, guests would be led by candlelight next door to a very spectacular statue gallery, which was designed by Robert Adam as two square rooms with a central rotunda, in the style of a Roman house. These rooms are very spectacular and not something that we knew to expect – took our breath away.
Another special room was The Circular Room. William Weddell married a wealthy heiress, Elizabeth Ramsden, and didn’t know what to give her as a wedding gift. He decided that ‘the woman who has everything’ needed a circular room and so arranged for one to be created on the first floor as a morning room for his new bride. Something to keep in mind if you are every stuck on what to give someone as a gift.
The grounds of Newby Hall are extensive, with many little ‘rooms’ surrounded by hedges, water features, lawn, woodland, flowers, pergolas dripping with colour, colourful flower beds, a river (which used to be the main form of transport to the house), and even a model railway. Mum and I had a wonderful afternoon exploring and highly recommend a visit. It probably helped that, once again, we had stunning weather.
Tomorrow we continue our journey south and are looking forward
to spending a couple of days with Dad’s cousin, Patrick.
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