Holker Hall - photo blog

I am decidedly late in posting photos of our visit to Holker Hall on the first of October. We've been busy in the meantime with the ongoing decluttering of the house and garage. Lots of things have been re-homed, some things re-purposed (part cans of paint go to the tip where the Council collect and use them, for example), and unfortunately some stuff simply had to be chucked out. We still have work to do in the attic, but phase 1 saw 5 large bags of stuff collected by a charity today, in addition to the things mentioned above. At the moment the house is tidy again and there are no piles of stuff stacked up waiting to go elsewhere!

I'll update my knitting progress in a separate post, for now here are some photos I took during our visit. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and considering the date the gardens still looked quite summery. Click on any of the photos to see a larger version.



Formal gardens near the house, still a riot of colour.





Beautiful blues and purples.



"Architectural" seed heads.



This is at the gate from the garden onto the parkland, leading to the labyrinth - they have carved a compass point showing North into the centre.



My favourite photo of the day. Gorgeous lichens on one of the standing stones making up the labyrinth. It's a modern construction but looks lovely.



View from the labyrinth across the countryside.



And the view back to the house.



A short walk from the labyrinth is this wonderful slate sundial.



One of the many and varied benches, this one is entirely held together with dowels.



Ducks in the cascade fountain - as we approached they all rushed into the water with much noise and splashing!



As we stood watching the ducks and admiring the fountain, the sun scythed through the trees and we were treated to a rainbow in the spray.



The ducks later calmed down and some came out of the water to preen (one suspects they were angling to be fed!). I've tried to find out what species these are, to no avail, does anyone know?



Late summer colour in the sunken garden.




"Here shall ye see no enemy, but winter and rough weather"



House and gardens - we also toured the house itself and it was great to see the rooms so brightly sunlit. Unlike many "stately homes" this house is lived in and there is no attempt to stop the natural light.



Holker also hosts a Motor Museum, with a lot of material related to Donald Campbell. The photo above shows a replica of the Bluebird car, and below the K7 boat. The car in particular is huge!



I would recommend a visit to Holker, it has been some years since we last visited, and it has been much improved. As we were walking down to the gardens to begin our tour, we were overtaken by Lord Cavendish, who greeted us very cheerily, and took the time to have a quick chat with us and some other visitors. Not something you expect to happen, and I think shows how very "hands-on" the family are when it comes to running the business!