Hatfield House, Hertfordshire

[cheerypeabrain]

wow....gorgeous gardens and I love the frieze...I was very young when I was last there and don't remember the grounds. I think I need to go there again now I'ma grown up.

[bjd]

"Certainly in London, huge swaths are set aside as green areas for public enjoyment."

I hate to disappoint you, Bixa, but read this:

www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jul/24/revealed-pseudo-public-space-pops-london-investigation-map

[bixaorellana]

Thanks, Cheery! In one way I wish I'd visited on a Wednesday in order to have access to the East Garden also. However, even though the basement area was closed the day I was there, I felt there was plenty to look at. If I were to go back, I would build in a visit to the town of Hatfield as well.

Bjd, I'm hardly disappointed, as that article does nothing to rebut my statement. The eight Royal Parks of London alone take up 4,882 acres, not to mention the many large commons. source

But enough about London, let's return to Hertfordshire and the green glories of Hatfield House's gardens ~



Now that is a blue delphinium! There were several around, almost grabbing all the attention from surrounding plants.
I've looked it up, and my best guess is that it's a Bruce Deep Blue. nursery





There were other garden beauties to admire as well ~









This is one of those gardens delightfully divided into "rooms", creating that sense of discovery everywhere you look ~

[bixaorellana]

[bixaorellana]

[bixaorellana]

So much area to explore, and so many pleasant surprises ~





I was drawn to go through these gates because I could smell one of my favorite aromas in the world ~



And that would be how fig leaves smell in the sunlight. These beauties were espaliered on each wall on the other side of the gates ~







This picture was taken looking down from the rather rickety wooden porch that is the entrance to the solar of the Old Palace ~



Peeking in before entering ~





This is the video the people are watching, about Hatfield in WWI: www.hatfield-house.co.uk/house-park-garden/history/hatfield-during-ww1/



From a large covered window in the solar, you can look down upon the Great Hall, nowadays hired out for weddings and banquets ~

[bixaorellana]

The little porch of the solar is a wonderful vantage point for admiring the garden ~







A last look before turning around to exit ~







And back out the way I came in ~

[bjd]

Beautiful photos, as usual, Bixa. I love the pale pink poppies and the clematis.

[mickthecactus]

My daughter is there today working at a Game Fair which starts this weekend.

[lagatta]

Lovely, and wonderful how the brick walls permit figs to ripen in a cooler climate. I had a big fig three outside the balcony by a LARGE dorm room where I was staying (alone) at one point in Perugia.

I support hiring the Great Hall for the next APIAS meet-up would be a bit steep...

[questa]

Ahh...The Bixa Trademark...keeping the best for last.The final lot of pics are on a human scale and the gardens are so restful and link the old with the new. I can't help seeing an egg being cooked in the modern sculpture, but it is a gentle piece and not jarring in its surroundings.

Thank you for this fascinating tour of a house of history.

[bixaorellana]

Thank you, Bjd. The clematis are lovely, but I also like those empty supports for them, which I think add interesting open vertical shapes to that rather cottage-y part of the garden. I love poppies, and those fluffy pink ones are sort of nice summer stand-ins for peonies.

Mick, it would have been wonderful to meet up with her there!

Thank you, LaGatta. The fig outside the balcony sounds beautiful.
We should start a membership drive. Apparently the Great Hall can accommodate 300 people for a meal.

It occurred to me that I didn't know how much of the house the pubic gets to see, nor exactly what the layout is.
For others who enjoy knowing that sort of thing, here are the floor plans ~

                     

                                           

[mossie]

Thanks for all this Bixa. You really have done the place justice, think our little lunch party would be a bit lost in there.

[bixaorellana]

Finally seeing your kind comments, Questa. Thanks for those, although I don't know about that egg image. Now it's stuck in my head!

One thing that has impressed me with all the gardens I've seen in England is that even the formal ones seem to maintain a certain amount of unmowed portions, allowing for flowers and seeds to develop for the birds and insects. It also makes for a friendlier feel for humans, I think.

Thank you, Mossie. I believe you're right about the people/great hall equation!

[kerouac2]

Beautiful photos as always and a real discovery for me since I had never heard of this place. One thing that strikes me is how "totally-over-the-top" embellishments are so completely different from the French version of this sort of wealth.

I only hope that they spent some money on orphanages and hospitals too and didn't concentrate all of their wealth on this place.

[bixaorellana]

Thanks, Kerouac!

Jul 26, 2017 5:20:09 GMT kerouac2 said:

One thing that strikes me is how "totally-over-the-top" embellishments are so completely different from the French version of this sort of wealth.

Maybe I'm only speaking for myself, but I think one reason for that is because our mental image of that sort of French grand show comes from a somewhat later era -- more from the era of Louis XIV, whereas the French era more concurrent with the English Jacobean era would be the Louis XIII period. In this link you can see some definite similarities in the furniture, and even the king's residence shown is not unlike the rather plain brick front of Hatfield House, although that residence has an archetypal Parisian roof.

Jul 26, 2017 5:20:09 GMT kerouac2 said:

I only hope that they spent some money on orphanages and hospitals too and didn't concentrate all of their wealth on this place.

Hm. You think? Many people who worked the land became poor because of the enclosures in the time of Elizabeth I. And Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries took away the main carers of the poor, sick, and aged and even added to their ranks.
The Royal Palace of Hatfield, built by the Bishop of Ely, was seized by Henry VIII with other church properties. It remained in the possession of the crown until King James I, gave it to his chief minister Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury in a swap for the Cecil family home. source
I assume the present-day family, like others of great wealth, must fund various charitable enterprises.

[questa]

Jul 25, 2017 20:09:01 GMT bixaorellana said:

Thanks for those, although I don't know about that egg image. Now it's stuck in my head!


Does this make you an "egg-head"?

[bixaorellana]

Jul 27, 2017 0:08:41 GMT questa said:

Does this make you an "egg-head"?

Oh, Questa ~ you crack me up!

[questa]

It is yust a little yolk, Bixa.

[patricklondon]

My blog | My photos | My video clips
"too literate to be spam"

[bixaorellana]

Y'all are egging each other on!

[questa]

Oh Dear, we have totally scrambled the thread, and I om letting you poach it and whisk it away. I would beat it now if I weren't so hard boiled.

[patricklondon]

I do understand. Un oeuf is un oeuf, after all.

My blog | My photos | My video clips
"too literate to be spam"

[questa]

Jul 29, 2017 11:38:06 GMT patricklondon said:

I do understand. Un oeuf is un oeuf, after all.

My blog | My photos | My video clips
"too literate to be spam"

** bows before a master**

[bixaorellana]

And da winner is ~ 

Jul 29, 2017 11:38:06 GMT patricklondon said:

I do understand. Un oeuf is un oeuf, after all.

 
Omelet this go now. Un oeuf indeed!

[bixaorellana]

Have you all seen the British Airways 2024 safety video? It's a fun takeoff on period dramas & the interiors were filmed in Hatfield House. Probably no one else subscribes to my level of compulsiveness, but even so I share the video scenes coordinated with photos in this thread.


:05 -- reply #4, the King James drawing room
:40 -- reply #13, the library (starting at 5th photo)
:54 -- reply #18, the armoury (starting at 10th photo)
2:12 -- reply #12, the long gallery (starting at 6th photo)
3:25 -- reply #1, the great hall (starting at 2nd photo)
3:45 -- reply #18, entrance to the armoury (starting at 9th photo)

In the rest of the video you'll see the settings above again.

[kerouac2]

This is delightful even if it is excessively long. I don't know which airline first had the brilliant idea of making the safety videos interesting (Virgin Atlantic?) but at least they finally found a way to make people want to watch them instead of ignoring them.

[fumobici]

Virgin Atlantic has the best, British Airways, next. Hire British people to make your safety films everyone!

[kerouac2]

I have liked in the past the Air France one filmed in the Louvre.

[lugg]

I am looking forward to seeing this on my next BA flight ...just 52 days to go !!! Hopefully it will do the trick and send me off into a deep slumber for several hours,