STATELY HOMOS IN ENGLAND - Sizergh House

Now, I don't know about you, but we love a good romp around a stately home. Yes, it may have been obscene they had so much money, but just look what they did with it. Mainly we visit National Trust properties, but we are not averse to a privately owned one, if it's well set up. Whilst in the Westmoreland border country of the North West ,Sizergh was one of only a few National Trust managed stately homes in the area. It is a great example of a particular style of stately house - The Rambling Old Pile. Sizergh is situated outside Kendal. These days it's just off an extremely busy 'A' road. Entering up its winding drive is as though you are slowly being drawn into another place and time entirely. And though the 'A' road thunders away less than a mile away, it is remarkably muffled by the dense woodland that envelopes it. The problem you immediately encounter as you approach the house, is the insufficient amount of car parking space. They are currently in the process of repairing one section of the car park that has been badly affected by flooding. But even when this is back in use, in busy periods parking spaces can be quite scarce here. So your time of arrival might be crucial. Best avoid the peak periods. Your smart phone, if you have one, should tell you when the less busy times are.. But, rest assured, dear hungry aesthete's, Sizergh is certainly worth all your efforts to get there.

Sizergh is built around a Peel or Pele tower. These were once stand alone towers which you could retreat to when marauding Scots were in the vicinity. Over the years this tower has had further developments phases, extending along the raised ground the original tower was built upon. The outside of the house though uniformly rendered in a grey stone, is surrounded by a colourfully rich assortment of lush trees and shrubs that wrap around and embrace the house like a stole. A wide expanse of stone staircase cascades down the slope from the house to a semi circular platform, were you can view the 'mirror' lake beneath. This is just one of its beautifully contrived aspects. The gardens at Sizergh are that classic English style of an informal appearance disguising a tightly structured formality. They are one of its chief delights anytime of the year, and they are endlessly receptive to a improvised wander through is topiary arcades, convoluted winding pathways and bedraggled rock gardens.

One of the qualities that strike you about the interiors of Sizergh, is that so many of its rooms are lined in gorgeous 16th century panelling,. Each with their own detailed fire surrounds richly carved in the darkest of dark wood. It is remarkable that they have remained untouched by the later flourishes of fashion. There are some of the most exquisite plasterwork ceilings too. It appears that in the Westmorland borders of the Lake District,  money was never that flush to stretch to completely demolishing and rebuilding a stately home in a more contemporary style. This has hence preserved  rooms pretty much as they were originally conceived. Sizergh is a veritable treasure trove of the odd and the gob smacking, which is one of the things I really loved about it. As you venture through it's tumble of rooms, just tucked on a side table in a quiet corner or upon it's many shelves and mantelpieces, you'll find really examples from Sizergh's fine collection of ceramics, and other truly expensive object d'art.

Towards the end of touring the house, you progress ever upwards inside the Tower block. Eventually finding yourself at the top of the tower where you're faced with another astonishing Sizergh survival, a medieval hall with it's gallery intact. Sizergh is simply one of those houses packed with such unexpected surprises. As it is a National Trust run property, there are all the obligatory supporting infrastructure you expect them to provide, cafe, loos, gift shop etc. It also had, on this visit an installation. Now National Trust installations, can often be either truly naff, or terminally underwhelming. But Sizergh, given its own superlative ceramic collection, actually had a rather interesting installation on a long entrance table a series of place settings, with ceramic plate designs and freestanding candelabra, using the forms of worms, insects and soil microbes. This thematically also linked with another imaginative exhibition in a barn close by, about soil and conservation in a time of climate change. So on this visit there was lots here to explore, to leave us clapping our hands with delight, like barking seals.