Wimpole Hall

[puddleshark]

Wimpole Hall. Grand, isn't it? The earliest parts of the house date from the mid 17th century, but it was much enlarged and altered during the 18th & 19th centuries (in the process luring a great many men to their financial doom...)

The house as it is today, and its contents, were bequeathed to the National Trust in 1976 by Mrs Elsie Bambridge, Rudyard Kipling's daughter.

Captain George and Mrs Elsie Bambridge first rented Wimpole in 1938 and had bought it by 1942. The only surviving child of Rudyard Kipling, Elsie Bambridge was able to use the substantial royalties from her father’s books to refurbish the house.

The house was largely empty of contents, so they set out buying pictures and furniture to fill the house, bringing back many pieces that had once been owned by Wimpole’s previous families.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/cambridgeshire/wimpole-estate/history-of-wimpole-estate

There's quite a long walk from the National Trust car park to the house (though there is a little electric buggy that makes regular round trips for the less mobile visitor). This is the view along the way:


The Italianate tower of the stable block (which is arguably much prettier than the main house. You have to get your priorities right, yes?)



The avenue that approaches the house from the south, through the park, is two miles long - a very grand 1720s statement (somewhat undermined by the fact that it was originally of elm trees, and had to be replanted with limes when the elms all died in the 1970s).

But there are still many fabulous specimen trees in the park.


More tea, urn?


On the plus side, the house wasn't fashionably clad in Portland stone like so many other 18th century mansions. But it's still rather heavy in style. More Whitehall government building than Palladio.






A murder is being committed in the garden. Samson is slaying the Philistine.



I think the interior is rather more interesting than the exterior. Elsie Bambridge seems to have had a lot of fun choosing furnishings, and managed to acquire rather an eclectic collection of pictures, some of them quite breathtaking.


Yellow Drawing Room. Excuse the image quality. The National Trust has blinds on the windows to protect the house contents from light damage, so the photos are all shot at high ISO and rather grainy...


















The dining room ceiling.


The dining room, set out as it would have been during Queen Victoria's reign. On the wall, Russian landscapes:








One of the collection of prints in the Print room.



There are some outstanding works of art in the house: pictures that stop you dead in your tracks.



The Crack Shot by Tissot (1869).


A Collector in his Study by Venceslao Verlin (1768).




The Library.




The staircase for the family and guests.


The servants' stairs.




Basement passages. The understairs realm.


Butler's pantry.


Housekeeper's room.


A truly impressive supply of tea, in lockable chests.


Bedroom for visiting servants, from the days of the Bambridges.

Comments

[greenwoodside]

Fascinating look at Wimpole Hall. To my taste, the butler's pantry looks much more liveable and hospitable than the grand upstairs rooms.

I can see that Elsie Bambridge outlived her husband by over 30 years. It must have been quite lonely and strange living there in her last years, though I suppose the sales of her father's books would have helped keep the finances ticking over.

I visited Cardigan Castle last year; its last private owner didn't have book royalties and ended up living in a caravan in the grounds for a decade.

[puddleshark]

Yes. The grand rooms are impressive, but they never feel liveable. Though that might just be because these days they are more gallery than home.

The only National Trust property that felt at all home-like to me was Thomas Hardy's birthplace at Bockhampton, because there were chairs by the fireplace and you were allowed to sit down! But that's a much more humble property.

[greenwoodside]

Going back through my memories of stately house, I also can't think of one that felt like it was a home, despite the efforts of NT staff to put photos around and maybe leave a game of scrabble unfinished on a table.

Sit-down-upon-able chairs are a novelty I'd like to see in more NT places.

[puddleshark]

It certainly made a change from the usual Many Ways The National Trust Prevent You From Sitting Down (such as putting teasels on the chairs...)

[greenwoodside]

Heh, the teasels on chairs have a kind of passive-aggressive evil overlord vibe. I'd love to know who it was that first decided on the teasels. (Possibly know about, at a distance).

[puddleshark]

LOL

[heleninwales]

What an interesting house. I agree that the interior is more interesting than the exterior. It's nice that visitors get to see below stairs as well as the grand rooms.

[puddleshark]

I really enjoyed the tour of the house. Elsie Bambridge had a wonderful eye for treasures!

I think the National Trust has improved a lot in the last decade when it comes to social history, and telling the below stairs story. It's far more interesting to visit their properties these days.

[benicek]

Oh a Tissot! I have a book about him.

[puddleshark]

There are actually two Tissots! There's also a study of a figure by water.

Elsie Bambridge seems to have a good eye for paintings...

[sartorias]

Beautiful, but like all those gigantic houses, sounds like a perennial money-pit.

[puddleshark]

Absolutely. It's a common history, gentlemen bankrupting themselves to build and maintain such houses...

It was lucky that Elsie Bambridge came along, with her father's literary estate to pay for the upkeep.

[flemmings]

I always wondered why the stately homes of England absolutely hated having trees anywhere near the house. I assume the chilly climate of yesteryear was the cause: 'for God's sake don't block the sun! Don't you know what coal costs??!' And now they need window blinds.

[puddleshark]

I think possibly we have Capability Brown to blame for the fashion for open vistas across the park.

Warm sunshine coming in through those windows must have been very welcome. I hate to think how much coal it would have taken to heat all those rooms...

[dna2]

Beatiful photos, as always !
The "south avenue" is very pleasing to look at as a park vista

[puddleshark]

Thank you!

It's a truly impressive avenue. I wish I could have got the chance to explore it, but it was too hot a day for walking far when I visited.