Hanbury Hall

We have been members of National Trust for quite a few years now. We certainly make the most of our membership and visit as many places as we can, especially on our holidays. We also stop on route to a holiday as the cafes make a great rest stop, one such place was Hanbury Hall in Worcestershire, a stop off on the way to Wales. 

Although close to the M5 it was a windy route of small lanes, passing Hanbury Church high on the hill, to reach this 18th century stately home. There had previously been a manor house at this location but Thomas Verdon was the man responsible for building this William and Mary style house as his country holiday home. The rooms inside the Hall are quite large and certainly suitable for entertaining. 

The Hall and Grand Staircase are stunning with painted walls and ceilings by James Thornhill who was the artist who painted the ceiling of the Royal Hospital at Greenwich and the inside of the dome at St Paul's Cathedral. The design is so intricate and gives the impression of plaster and mouldings when in fact the surface is flat. I was fascinated by the way the painting on the stairs moves from the wall to the ceiling joining the two together.

As with most National Trust houses the furniture gave an impression of how the Hall was lived in and it did have a holiday home feel rather than a working house. Seeing how rooms were decorated, the design patterns on fabrics and the placement of objects gives me plenty of interior designs ideas for our much smaller home, I am always envious of the huge beds but they do seem to be always for short people.

Hanbury Hall has extensive gardens and planted in specific places and for reasons. Originally they were formal gardens similar and based on the gardens at the Palace of Versailles but as fashion changed they were replanted as much more open spaces. The gardens have now been recreated in their formal style, the symmetry was very effective from the house windows and looking back towards the house.

The warm spring weather and blue skies had just begun which added to our enjoyment of the house and gardens. It is somewhere we will visit again, especially if passing through Worcestershire.