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

( Many random pictures )

Gatehouse, King's College, Cambridge by William Wilkins. 1824-28.

Cambridge is glorious, and I did not like it much. I always have a problem with palaces. Whether it is cathedrals (palaces built to the glory of God), the bigger stately homes (palaces build to the glory of aristocratic families), or Cambridge colleges (palaces built to the glory of learning and the glory of monarchs). Glory is such an uncomfortable sort of companion.

I'm sure if you live and work in Cambridge, the glory effect wears off, and you start to see and love the detail, but for the day-tripper, it is All Too Much...

( A great many random pictures )