Last Weekend we enjoyed a short trip to Derbyshire and after staying at the George Hotel in Hathersage, I can certainly recommend the food, although I did feel at the price it ought to have been top notch! Hathersage itself had a late summer feel about it, but of interest is that the George Hotel, and the village for that matter were a favourite of the great Yorkshire authoress Charlotte Bronte, and her novel Jane Eyre was set in the locale.
A couple of years back, summer 2008 to be more precise, I constructed a virtual roof truss of the timber structure which once covered the Drawing Room Block at Parlington Hall, from the early part of the nineteenth century up until around the mid 1950′s. Below is a view of the sketch. Clicking on the picture will take you to the relevant section on the Parlington History Site, in a new window.
Lotherton Hall is a favourite location for many people to visit, and with the ability to “get up close”, to the furnishings and fittings, is perhaps unique in Britains’ Country Houses. However like all old buildings some of the fabric of the house especially the interior décor, is showing signs of age. The Drawing Room is now the subject of a plan to restore it to its former glory, and you may be able to help!
The following is an explanation of the plan by the curator of Lotherton, Dr. Adam White.
I wrote about a water colour painting of Parlington Hall which had been found in a skip, it features in an earlier post,
http://www.parlington.info/2009/09/04/country-life-magazine/
The picture above is of the painting; for over a year I have carefully steered a path towards having the picture recovered and returned to its rightful home, Lotherton Hall, where it will be displayed for the interest of the general public.
If you enjoy visiting the many heritage sites around the UK and you are in the vicinity of Yorkshire, Brodsworth Hall is a must, and a full circuit of the gardens should not be overlooked, the above picture is of the Grotto, which is fashioned within what was the quarry which provided stone for the hall. The south facing rockery is thought to be the most extensive fern garden in the world, with examples from all regions of the planet. The fact it is sunk below the general ground level affords it a micro climate some latitudes south of the rest of the garden!