Felbrigg Hall

Last weekend was my birthday and a bank holiday in the U.K so we took a couple of days off from house work and went exploring. Now we're living in a different area it's nice to visit National Trust properties that are new to us, and having looked at the map  we decided to go to Felbrigg Hall. Now I have to confess that, having been visiting stately homes for a few decades, the grand rooms and over elaborate decor can get a little much and it's the 'below stairs' rooms that I usually find more interesting. Felbrigg Hall however had a couple of surprises up it's sleeve. First was this ceiling.

Amazing craftmanship

Do you remember 'Iced Gem' biscuits? This looked liked giant ones upside down.  I'm always amazed at the skill of the workers in centuries past.
The next surprise was the dining room. I'm used to seeing rooms in rich reds and greens with dozens of portraits and so this confection of a room was a breath of fresh air - like being inside a wedding cake. The colour is  little grey here but it's actually lilac- grey, almost French in feel.

Dining room

The end of the tour was the staff area, I loved this corridor with all the buckets to douse the flames in case of a fire. It's almost Shaker in it's simplicity.

Servants corridor

Finally we saw the kitchen - I love cooking and would adore this dresser and the copper - as long as someone else did the polishing:) Notice the blue walls? Historically kitchens were painted blue to stop flies - apparently they were fooled into thinking that it was the sky and so didn't land.

Kitchen

Outside we ate ice cream whilst enjoying the kitchen garden. The herb garden was inspirational, one of the best I've seen.

Part of the herb garden

It started me plotting. We have a flower bed outside the sitting room window which is very dry and sunny - perfect for herbs. The previous owners had planted quite a lot in it but the hollyhocks have driven us mad. Not only do they grow in front of the window, they fall over the path,  I can see changes ahead.

Messy hollyhocks

I have to thank Andrew for the photographs - not only is he better than me, but he put up with me dirceting him to get the best shots. Well it was my birthday:)


We hope you enjoyed your brief visit to Felbrigg Hall,



Until next time.



Sharon