Holker Hall

You know when you're in an Aristocrat's home - they have their armorial badges literally woven into the fabric of the place! The knotted snake is a traditional Cavendish armorial device.

 

You know the saying: Familiarity breeds contempt? Well, I am afraid that Holker Hall has suffered from that syndrome in my particular case. So, when husband John suggested a visit, I thought for a bit, and then it hit me - I hadn't been round the house for aeons, and apart from the Entrance Hall (we went to a Christmas concert there pre-pandemic), couldn't remember much about the rest at all!

Holker Hall from the formal garden

So on a niceish day in October, we toddled off to refresh our memories and we were not disappointed. Holker Hall belongs to Lord Cavendish, who is a member of the extended family of the Dukes of Devonshire, who reside at Chatsworth in Derbyshire (one of the pre-eminent stately homes of England). If you saw the Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice then you have seen Chatsworth, as it starred as Pemberly, the home of Mr Darcy.

Pleached tree arcade - giving structure and style at all times of the year

Dahlias - stalwarts of the autumn border, giving both colour and form

But I digress! Holker Hall is about a half hour's drive from where I live on the edge of the Lake District. The original hall dated back to Tudor times, but has been changed, added onto, and finally rebuilt in the 19th Century. In terms of architecture I do not perceive it as drop-dead- gorgeous, but it has a sort of friendly reliable Victorian solidity to it, and it has lovely gardens and some quite interesting embroideries. 

Exquisite Whitework depicting Scottish Thistles - 

There are also interesting domestic features (domestic for the upper classes, I hasten to add. I doubt my Victorian, Edwardian ancestors even set eyes on something like them.) Take for instance the rocking horse and the children's indoor see-saw. Beautifully made and in remarkable condition.

Charming rocking horse - what child could resist him?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day bed with embroidered throw, with child's indoor see-saw behind. 

It also has a wonderful library - for me, one of the most important rooms in any house, large or small (a bookcase counts as a library to me!). In Holker's library there are some particularly fine historic portraits (excellent copies of historic originals, perhaps?)

Just a small corner of the magnificent library

 There are some exquisite pieces of furniture - a Pietra dura table particularly caught my eye. These tables, usually from Italy (shipped back home whilst some young sprig was on the Grand Tour, no doubt?) are inlaid with decorative stones, and required a great deal of skill and artistry to produce an aesthetically pleasing whole.

A magnificent pietra dura table with appropriately impressive marble sculptures

 

 

The house was rebuilt in 1828 to 1841 by the Duke of Devonshire in the Jacobean revival style. Though essentially a Victorian house, nods were made to traditional features of that earlier period. So there are heraldic windows. Maybe not quite impressive as those found in some historic houses, but the picture below does illustrate the sort of thing I was talking about when I mentioned them at the beginning of 'Lady Isabel's Inheritance'. 

 

Heraldic windows. These traditionally reflected the family's aristocratic connections, and in some cases, could almost obliterate the whole window space. I believe most of these blazons are connected with the Cavendish family.

 

 

And then there are even more impressive embroideries, including crewel work in wool and silk, bargello work (florentine work), and various mixed pieces. When one considers the time and expertise lavished upon these quite extensive works, one can understand the frequent references to ladies doing their embroidery in works of the period. One can only conclude that ladies must have been extremely bored with their lot in life to afford such time and effort to produce such detailed work!

An embroidered firescreen in the library

 

A crewel work bedspread

 

 

Another bedspread worked mainly in silks with various techniques including silk shading

 

A Bargello footstool (doesn't really suit being situated next to a check pattern, does it?)

 

Could you imagine embroidering all these bed accoutrements? The result is beautiful, of course, but all that back breaking work and maybe working by candlelight!?!

 

Then there are all the interesting paintings and other fixtures and decorations which are all fascinating, but would take a whole book to do justice to them. But I will leave you with a picture of that bastion of male retreat in many historic romances - the Billiard Room!

  

The Billiard room. Note that this male retreat  though less furnished than other rooms, still is decorated to same standard as other rooms in the house. 

 

 

 I will probably add to this post at a later date, when I'm not writing. However, as that is pretty much always ongoing - don't hold your breath!

Detta x 

 

 A few more pictures!

More from the Biliiard room

 

 

A nod to Jacobean carving - nicely executed

 

A relatively modest dining room table for a Stately Home - no doubt a few more leaves could be added to increase seating numbers

Now those are what I call Tassels!

More very fine embroidery

 

I think Queen Mary (wife of George V) may have slept in this bed

 

Ornate Gates with a view of the Park beyond

Lots of topiary gives the garden structure even when there isn't much in the way of colour to catch the eye.

The last gasp of colour? - Cherry tree autumn colouring

And some impressive steps with statuary, and a Lutyens bench to finish off!

Inspiration and Research

When reading ‘Writing Coach Books’, I am surprised how much time they spend on the subject of ‘Writer's Block’. Maybe it’s because I have been around quite a bit (no, I’m not telling you my age!) that I seem to have an endless resource in my head, so if one plot line seems to be coming to a dead end, it doesn’t take long for the brain cells to come up with a new scenario to pursue. 

Inside the Orangery at Sezincote - the Inspiration for Colonel Fawcett's Orchid House in Lady Serena's Secret (currently being written - hopefully to be published in the New Year).

Having worked with the Great British Public as an Optometrist, it is surprising the amount of drama that even ordinary folk encounter (don’t worry, all your stories are safe with me - I would never use them directly). And the drama increases in variety and shock-value the higher the social status or wealth of the people involved! So, the fact that during the Regency/ late Georgian period, the Upper Classes were always getting up to a myriad of scrapes and downright wickedness, is not quite as surprising as one might suppose. The fact that there wasn’t any social media beyond the newspapers and scandal sheets, or an organised police force for much of the period, may have had something to do with it!

However, despite having quite a mine of tales of human frailty to pick and work, I do find it both interesting and fruitful to feed that memory bank on a regular basis. That is my excuse, anyway, for noseying around as many interesting historical places as I can, when I am taking a few days away from home.

Kelmscott Manor. Country home of William Morris. Though it has not been a direct inspiration for a scene in my books yet, it is an archetypel Cotswold Manor House, and probably has the most romantic feel of any I have visited.

So Bath is next on my list. I’ve been there before, of course, but as we are in the area in the lead up to Christmas (visiting daughter and family with Christmas presents), it seems too good an opportunity to miss, to renew my acquaintance and get the feel of the place once again. The downside of visiting at this time of year is that a few places are closed, notably, the Assembly Rooms.

Bath will probably feature to some extent in Book 4 of the Brockworth Chronicles, “Lady Rosamund’s Recluse.’ As we already know from Book 1 ‘Lady Isabel’s Inheritance’, Lady Rosamund is currently attending a rather progressive school near Bath, and so it is a good spot for her to have already established connections in the area. It also gives me an opportunity to use a new plot setting to explore, and as this is to be in the nature of a Gothic Romance, the craggy coastline of Devon, not too far away, should prove to be a suitable backdrop. The Castle involved will be suitably gloomy and forbidding, of course. I have already modelled part of it on Berkeley Castle, which we visited quite recently.

Berkely Castle - a suitably rambling and ancient castle for setting a Gothic Romance. My inspiration for the castle to feature in Book Four of the Brockworth Chronicles. Actually, it's rather a beautiful place in an austere kind of way. Well worth a visit!

Though many of my trips are planned as semi-research trips, I’m afraid I’m a bit of magpie, so if something shiny catches my eye (i.e. it looks interesting), then I shall go there, take as many photos and notes as I can, and salt the memories away for possible future mining forays.

Then there is what I like to call serious research, which usually involves reading rather dry tomes, to get my facts straight. Why do I bother, you may ask? Not many people would be bothered to look up facts, but then I have an inkling that there are quite a few pedantic readers like me, out there, who are incandescent when they read something totally wrong that an author has failed to fact-check. (That also applies to modern or foreign, mainly American, phraseology creeping into the mouths of Georgian English Aristocrats. Gotten is my number one pet hate!)

 

William Dalrymple's excellent book about the East India Company.

So, I spend a good deal of my time reading up on subjects such as the East India Company. Reading ‘The Black Sheep’ by Georgette Heyer many years ago, inspired me to wonder how many men of middling background, went out to India and made eye-watering fortunes which, if they survived, they brought back to England to set up as Landed Gentry, and frequently entered politics. So, currently, I’m reading The Anarchy, by William Dalrymple (one of the most forefront experts on the subject, and thankfully, very easy to read), to provide background for the book I’m currently writing, ‘Lady Serena’s Secret’. Though none of the characters or plot lines are taken from such sources, they provide, hopefully, a realistic and historically accurate backdrop to the events happening to the lead characters. It makes them more believable, I hope, and more rounded sympathetic characters.

So, what am I saying, really? Well, I suppose it’s that writing for me, isn’t simply just dreaming up a racy storyline and committing it to electronic pen and paper. It's more about really getting into the characters' heads and situations, and the things they have experienced and hopefully relating how those influence the how, who, why, where and when they fall in love.

And though I appreciate that most Aristocratic marriages of the Regency Period were probably decided on purely mercenary lines, nobody really wants to hear about those. (Except, maybe, if against the odds, it does turn out to be a love story. Maybe, a story line for later?) So, in the pursuit of entrancing (I hope), true love stories, I will continue to seek out the unusual, and quirky, and sometimes downright bizarre - hopefully to entertain my readers!

Detta.

Lady Isabel's Inheritance

 Well, I've finally done it! I've completed and published my first Historical Romance on Amazon! It's been in preparation for over a year, and I've finally given up tweeking it, and backed myself (for once), and committed it to electronic print.

I have always been a fan of Georgette Heyer's novels, and I suppose this is my take on the genre. Think of the Sanditon or Bridgerton style of story and you get the idea. You can find it here. 

Here is the online intro:  

Lady Isabel, newly widowed, has beauty, status, property, money and most importantly, her independence. Why would she need a new husband, especially when her past experiences of men have been so dismal?
Theo Brockworth, 3rd Marquess of Norcombe, is similarly suspicious of all females of marriageable age, for different reasons. Having been relentlessly pursued by scheming debutantes and their Mamas for his title and fortune, he is understandably cautious when it comes to the female of the species. However, he is in a quandary. He needs to marry, but has never found a woman that he could envisage being shackled to for the rest of his life, nor whose motives are above suspicion.
And then they meet on a stormy winter's night, when Isabel's coachman has arrived at The Marquess's house by mistake. Sparks fly as attraction sizzles between them, but after Isabel states that she has categorically sworn off men, Theo tries to stifle his attraction to his gorgeous new neighbour. Circumstances draw them inexorably together, though Isabel still clings to the idea that no man is trustworthy, despite Theo's help and kindness in overcoming her problems in getting to grips with her new estate. Will Theo be able to avoid the local heiress who has fixed designs on him? Will dangers from Isabel's past wreck the budding love story? Enjoy the fast moving relationship between the lovely Theo and the feisty Lady Isabel, as their family, friends, neighbours and enemies watch on with sometimes more than benign interest.
Meet the Brockworth's and their friends and neighbours in the village of Norcombe Abbey, set in the lovely rolling countryside of the Cotswolds.

After a summer of visiting stately homes around the country, I am newly armed with fresh inspiration and have embarked on book two in the series: Lady Serena's Secret. Currently there are six books planned for the series, with a few novellas thrown in for good measure.

Talking of Inspiration, I fell in love with Sezincote, which is a rather unusual Georgian Mansion in the north east of the Cotswolds. It has inspired a very small portion of 'Lady Serena's Secret', and so will be the subject of my next post. That's enough of a spoiler for now, but I will give you a photo to whet your appetite.

Sezincote House from the Cedar Grove

If you have read Lady Isabel's Inheritance then you may wish to see from where one my inspirations for Norcombe Abbey Old Hall came. The exterior was inpired by Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire. For me, as I saw it for the first time, it epitomised the graciousness of that earlier period. I know nothing of the interior, as one was not permitted to view indoors. A pity - I would love to have had a nosey round.

Asthall Manor, from across the valley on a rather gloomy February morning.

Despite the fact that this post is called Detta's Diary, I find it hard work to post every day, or even every month! Self publishing is far more involved than I ever imagined - I'm having to learn to market myself - not a natural thing for someone who is fairly reclusive by nature! But needs must! So I'm going to try to post every Wednesday from now on. If you would like to subscribe, please just fill in the box.

Keep well and happy! Detta