Did you know if your kids attend school in the UK they get a whole week off to celebrate “half term”? Did you know if your kids attend a private school in the UK they get TWO weeks off for half term? Well, I didn’t! Not until Friday when at the Harvest Festival everyone was chatting about the fun things they were going to do during half term. I politely butted myself into a conversation to ask what half term was and that’s how I found out my kids have the next two weeks off! I’ve been warned next week will be utter insanity everywhere in Europe become of all schools being on half term break. So, we are going to jump in and take this week and go on adventures!
Thankfully I purchased this awesome pass that gets us into some pretty amazing places, all of which have incredible history attached to them. But can we stop for a moment and appreciate the time, effort, and care Z took in preparing his outfit (and accessories) for our outing today?
After taking the shuttle up to the house (I was thinking of Graceland the whole time!) we watched a little video about the history of the house, the family, and the incredible Pope’s Cabinet. More on that later. The room next to the media room was a kid area with old games, dress ups and other fun things. So of course my two oldest got right on the dress ups!
The artwork collection in this house is mind blowing (and I’m not that into art). The gentleman on the horse is the son of Henry Hoare (who purchased the Stourhead castle and transformed it into the home it is now) and is known as “Henry the Magnificent” for the ingenious way he laid out the gardens on the estate. It is said to be one of the greatest masterpieces of European garden design….I haven’t seen it for myself yet (it was closed today because of the crazy wind)…but I’ll let you know if I agree. The pictures I’ve googled are pretty amazing though.
The library. I could spend all day in this room. It is so light and inviting. All it needs is a comfy reading spot and I’d be good for years! The ceiling was frosted so the light of the day flooded the room. Ben was in heaven looking at all these incredible books…and the place to keep them all!
We found another piano! My kids are really missing our piano! They all played their masterpieces again and even earned a round of applause from the room.
The Pope’s Cabinet
If this is all we had seen and learned about today I would have felt like it was a day well spent. We watched a video about this cabinet before we entered the house, so when we saw it up close (with no ropes around it!) it was pretty incredible. This masterpiece was commissioned by Pope Sixtus V in Rome in the late 1500s. It is designed to look like a miniature church. It is adorned in emeralds, rubies, gold, bronze, silver, marble, and other precious stones. All the doors and windows on the cabinet are actually cupboards and drawers. There are 150 drawers, some that are so hidden the craftsmen (who took 13 months to restore this) could barely find them! There is one they still can’t open. Henry bought this cabinet in Rome in the 1700’s and never told anyone what he paid for it. Which is fascinating considering he loved to flaunt the astronomical prices he paid for his art and other treasures he brought home. If you want to learn more about this fascinating cabinet check this out.
No modest home is complete without its own art wing. There are no words and the pictures don’t do it justice. It was…just…wow.
The last family to own Stourhead as a personal home (as part of the agreement with the trust one blood relative must always be allowed to maintain residency…and they still do to this day) was Henry, Alda, and Harry Hoare. Henry inherited the house from his cousin who could not afford the upkeep on the house and had just left is empty for years. The young family moved into the mansion and lovingly restored it. Sadly their only child, Harry, died while serving in WW1. Since Henry had no one to leave the house to he turned part ownership over to the National Trust (an English organization who takes care of historic properties). Henry and his wife, Alda, died on the same day (March 25, 1947), 6 hours a part, from natural causes. They were in their 80s.
We couldn’t go into the gardens, but the front of the house was entertaining enough for us! As we were walking around the wind was whipping the leaves off the trees so it looked like it was raining leaves. We decided we needed to try to catch the falling leaves. The kids got so into it! They were running all around and so excited when they finally got one!
I got my phone out and started using the slo-mo function. That was another hour of the kids throwing leaves at each other…then fake falling….then action stunts. I need to figure out how to post videos!
These walnut trees are over 600 hundred years old. When guests would come to visit the Stourd family they would bring seeds, plants, flowers, etc from all over the world. They were planted in a row to show the way to the old castle.
This tower is the only part of the original castle that is still around. When the Hoarse family bought the estate they moved this tower brick by brick to it’s current location at the foot of the driveway (which you aren’t allowed to drive on). It was really a beautiful thing to see!
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