Tuesday 31 July 2018

Ickworth House

Saturday was a lovely day and so much cooler so Eldest Daughter said where shall we go? We looked on-line.......... not a lot on except a carnival in Felixstowe - Too Busy or a local farm park - too expensive and commercial  so she suggested a National Trust place with plenty of room for Jacob to run around and she's a member and neither of us had been to Ickworth House near Bury St Edmunds so that's where we went.

Jacob slept all the way there and then woke up in a grump and carried on being grumpy most of the time we were there and I forgot to take many photos but as I decided to join up (a £15 voucher tempting me in) I can go back another time and visit all the bits we didn't see.

So just a few photos

Here's a good word to impress your friends
And this is the entrance for the bats

The most famous part of Ickworth is The Rotunda and this is a terrible photo of it!

Ickworth is a HUGE house and the Rotunda is in between two wings and this is another bad photo, taken from the end of one wing up to the Rotunda. The other wing is the same size on the other side.

He did enjoy all the steps everywhere and  climbing up and bumping down

As always the best bits are 'Below Stairs'

I will go back - on my own - and visit the things we missed.

Many thanks for comments yesterday and hello and welcome to another follower.

Back Tomorrow
Sue





27 comments:

  1. Thank you for showing Ickworth, Sue. It brought back happy memories of a holiday in Suffolk (we stayed in Framlingham) when we took my (now late) mother with us and visited this wonderful house. It would lovely for you to visit again, perhaps on your own, so that you could savour all the delights of this house. I particularly loved the rooms in the rotunda, and their wonderful polished doors (fancy loving doors!, but I did!) and also the Egyptian room. Joining the Trust will be useful as there are several properties in Suffolk you could visit and perhaps in Norfolk (I loved our visit to Blickling with it's wonderful plasterwork ceilings.)
    Margaret P

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    1. We're going to an open air concert at Blickling on Saturday week. 100 years of the RAF, with flypast and fireworks. I'm really looking forward to it.

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    2. As I started reading I thought of the huge doors! Ms Galant beat me to it. It must have been over 30 yrs ago now.

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    3. Hello, Potty … yes it is about 30 years since I was there, too! The summer of 1990, I think! Fancy you remembering the lovely doors, too!
      Margaret P (aka Galant)

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  2. What a stunning house. The Rotunda reminded me of the similar building of that name in Scarborough (now a Museum). Below Stairs was my favourite bit too - I have a couple of (smaller) copper harvest jugs like the one in the photo. I am sure you will make the most of your NT membership now. Something pointless for us where we are as only about 3 places to go to in our neck of the woods.

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  3. I love all the copper and have quite a collection of saucepans, kettles, frying pans and jelly moulds. Sadly they are in our loft as in our modern house they look completely out of place. When I have my cottage in the country they will out, polished and on display.

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  4. Sometimes it's best not to take small children with you when going on such a trip.
    The Rotunda is beautiful, the kitchen as well, with all the polished pans in the drawer.
    Thanks for sharing with us.

    https://ruraltownliving.blogspot.com/

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  5. Looks like the people who built the place weren't short of a bob or two! I always love the kitchens best on any visit...the real heart of the home. I well remember our children being unimpressed at our choice of day out...it always had to be one of them fidgety about it...now they all love such places and two are actually members! x

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  6. I remember visiting Ickworth as a child, my parents were very keen on visiting National Trust and similar - I always got a chance to run around in the gardens or park, and my mum was very good at finding things to interest a child (this was before the days of 'treasure hunts' and colouring books). Thank you for reminding me of it.

    I always prefer the 'below stairs' bit - after all, that's where I would have been!

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  7. Lovely my NT membership. It’s now £17.50 to get into Culzean Castle, so a few visits at that price makes the joining worth it. Enjoy you visits when you have time.

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  8. I visited Ickworth many years ago when all that was needed to get into the grounds and Orangery was a donation in the honest box in the car park. The Orangery is superb. However, the Hervey family and the squandering of millions on drug taking and debauchery put me off ever visiting the place again.

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  9. I love Ickworth and your photos have taken me back there. Must go again sometime.
    THank you. xx

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  10. The dresser looks wonderful, Will was the same when we went to Marwell Zoo, he loves car's so was impressed with the zoo's vehicles rather than the animals. Next time we take him out, we have said we will visit a car park!

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  11. That looks a very interesting place Sue....and that dresser!!!
    I always prefer seeing the kitchens and laundries to seeing the posh bits of big houses.
    Hugs-x-

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  12. I remember a visit to Ickworth, perhaps a decade ago, also with some of my grandchildren. Beautiful place with a colourful family history, if I remember correctly. Lovely wooded areas, too, which at the time of my visit were carpeted in daffodils. Sounds like it was a nice adventure with your daughter, even if Jacob couldn't quite appreciate it. :)

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  13. I love the idea of a bat vault! Our bat populations have been badly decreased by a fungus the last few years (eastern seaboard of Canada) and their plight has been in the news a few times. It's nice to see them being thought of on that property.

    Lovely pictures; you may think they are not good shots but I just like to see a place through others' photos, as I will never get to see them in person.

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  14. We all have days like that, Jacob! It looks a fascinating place, plenty more to discover and enjoy sometime.

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  15. Yes, hibernaculum is a good word!

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  16. Our two closest NT properties are Dunham Massey where there's a huge deer park, so little LJ is shattered by the time we've walked all around that, and Speke Hall, where the grounds back on to Liverpool airport, and LJ loves watching planes take off....sorted!
    We've never been to Suffolk, but are giving the area serious consideration for a holiday next year, mainly down to reading your blog, it all looks and sounds lovely!

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  17. I was a member of the National Trust years ago and enjoyed many a happy hour wandering around places, imagining life in times gone by. Lovely you can go again and see bits you may have missed. xcx

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  18. I've found my membership invaluable over the winter months now they keep some of the properties open. IT's been a godsend on a bad day. The bat hibernaculum looks interesting. Arilx

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  19. This brought back happy memories Sue. It is many years since I went and I too thought below stairs fascinating.

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  20. What a gorgeous place!! Love the rotunda and the "bat cave".

    God bless.

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  21. I've unfortunately just given up my NT membership. Since I gave up driving, I can't get to any of my favourite properties in our area. Historically most of them were built in the middle of vast rural estates, which means they are almost never served by public transport. In the past year I have only visited two, once each - Dyrham Park, about 6 miles outside Bath, and Quarry Bank Mill, Cheshire, near to where my friend lives on the southern fringes of Manchester, and was driven to both of them.
    So it's cheaper for me to give up the membership and pay as I go. A great pity, as I've been a member for about 25 years. Ideally I would keep it up in order to support their conservation work, but my thrifty nature is finding that difficult.

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  22. I love your photo of the Rotunda ... you've managed to make it look like a stumpy leaning tower of Pisa ☺

    Getting NT membership was the best thing we ever did, we try to get full use of our membership each year. Living so close to Bodnant Gardens helps, we try to get in lots of lovely walks watching the seasons change.

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  23. Below stairs is always my favourite place to be too.

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  24. I visited Ickworth a few years ago with a friend. I think our favourite was the stumpery and the kitchens.

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