Today I learned that we are staying within miles of the global headquarters of thoroughbred horse racing, Newmarket. I'll be frank, my only experience with horse racing is the Kentucky Derby, and even that is short-lived in my attention span.
I had wondered as we drove along the country road yesterday, and I spied what appeared to be sprinting tracks set between a long row of white fences, if there was some sort of horse racing that goes on here. But never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed the enormity of the sport here. Or that people come from the United States to pay £250,000 for a race horse to take back with them.
And, it appears that many of those same people stay here, at the Packhorse Inn.
Which really kind of surprises me, because I thought the rooms here were a real bargain, and I would have presumed that people who were buying expensive horses would stay in more expensive establishments. Perhaps they save all of their funds for the horse? Who knows?
But the location here is surreal, in a quiet little village, with the inn standing just a short distance from the medieval packhorse bridge. (thereby the name).
Just look at how quaint these houses are!
We both really love the location.
At dinner last evening, the waiter told us about the local sprints that happen each morning, so after breakfast, we drove a few miles up the road to witness it for ourselves. There is a parking lot just adjacent to the fields, along this narrow road, where one can easily view the sprints and watch the jockey's return on the horse as they make their way around again.
These photos are taken with my phone as I left my zoom camera in the room. You can almost make out the riders on the track in the distance.
And these photos were clipped from a movie that Marty took with his high powered zoom camera.
You can't argue that those are much better at seeing the action!
These are photos of some of the horses and riders after finishing their sprint.
It was really quite interesting to watch. The parking lot was empty save for us and another car with a man in binoculars watching intently. He apparently came prepared.
From here we made our way southeast to Ickworth Manor, another property that is owned by the National Trust. I've mentioned previously that we have a Royal Oak membership, so I set up these trips to take advantage of as many properties as possible in a particular area since each one is unique and offers so much interesting information.
Ickworth estate is not quite as large as yesterday's, but it is quite substantial in comparison to most of the National Trust holdings. It is 1800 acres with a lot of paths to investigate should one choose to do so. Since I definitely overdid it yesterday walking nearly 7 miles, we both decided that there would be no marathon hiking today. Forget the folly. It's not worth the after effect.
But that being said, I grabbed a walking stick that I had brought with me, and we headed out to explore this magnificent site.
What you see is the completion of the 4th Earl of Bristol's dream. He was the son of John Hervey, the 1st Earl of Bristol whose painting greets one when they walk through the doors into the foyer.
Here is another likeness of the first Earl
his first wife Jane
and his second wife, Isabella.
I found these miniatures to be remarkably beautiful.
The title passed through two sons, settling on the third, Frederick, who then became the 4th Earl. He arranged construction in 1795 with the intention of using this mansion as an art gallery. He spent 17 years touring Europe, collecting all sorts of art and artifacts in which to fill the house. But the holdings that he had collected were lost during the Napoleonic wars, and when he passed in 1803, the house was merely a shell with nothing to fill it.
It was his son, the 5th Earl, also Frederick, who not only finished the house for the purpose that his father wished, but he also managed to acquire many of the holdings that his father had originally purchased specifically for the house.
Today we had the opportunity to take a personal tour of the house before it opened to the public as it was offered to us when we checked in at the visitor center. The man running the tour was in his early 80's, extremely knowledgeable, and true to form, quite cheeky in his presentation. He seemed to be up on all of the gossip of the 19th century and was excited to share all sorts of tidbits of information. We not only learned a lot, but had an entertaining time doing so.
Our tour began in the entrance hall.
And here is the view looking down from the first landing.
We went through to the red drawing room, which was primarily used by the women of the day.
and entered the library. The paintings here all came from the earl's grand tour.
The piano dates from 1820 and is made from rosewood with a brass inlay.
There were numerous bookcases filled with over 8000 books, not just in the library, but scattered throughout the house. This library holds the volumes of 200 Years of the House of Lords. There are apparently twelve copies of all of these volumes, and Ickworth holds one of them.
The adjacent dining room holds paintings of family members, many of whom we were updated on regarding their social behavior.
There were also some interesting artifacts.
We were able to explore the two side wings. One led to an Italian room with frescoes. You can see how the floor was constructed to curve with the walls.
Now that was certainly interesting. I can't even imagine the time that went into that feat!
The opposite wing displayed a myriad of art.
Paintings of the 5th earl and his wife.
A painting by Titian that was painted in 1512. He is considered to be the greatest painter of the 16th century.
A self portrait by Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun, painted in 1791. She was considered to be one of the greatest portrait painters of her time. She is painting her daughter, and has made herself smiling, which was not generally accepted by fellow artists of the time. I think she looks beautiful. I'd say this was my favorite painting in the house.
Down the hall there was this beautiful depiction of the Virgin Mary and child. Although the painting stems from the 1600's. the stand in which it is displayed is from the 19th century.
Continuing around you can see the bookshelf scattered on the second floor under the rotunda.
As I said, books nearly in every corner
and Marty spied this collection of books pertaining to William Penn.
The second floor also had a room filled with a silver collection. The second Earl, George, who died young, was responsible for the acquisition of much of this collection.
One of the entertaining items were these perfume decanters in the shape of fish. I can't imagine a woman wanting to carry such a thing in that time period. But there was quite the collection in this cabinet!
We could probably have spent hours more in the house perusing the holdings, but we decided to head out to see the Italianate Garden that had been planned to compliment the layout of the house.
This gives some perspective into the size of those round shrubs.
Here is a view from the end of the garden.
And the view looking out which shows just how vast this estate is.
Walking along the exterior paths, we spied this mediterranean garden.
In addition to various palm trees, a eucalyptus tree stands as well as a couple of olive trees.
From here we set out in search of the walled garden.
Once again, the map that we were given made it look as if the walled garden was nearby, and I honestly thought that the above photo just might have satisfied.
However, upon careful inspection of the map, the walled garden needed to be red brick, and needed to have four sides, neither of which we see here.
So, we set out through a gate, although Marty was skeptical, and headed down a trail, with sheep surrounding us on either side.
Soon we came upon St Mary's church, which shows up on the map (although it does show the church to be adjacent to the walled garden....which it was NOT!
So we continued down the trail until we were greeted by this welcoming committee.
Actually, they all scattered into the distance and we saw that we were nearly at our destination.
There wasn't much left to see in the garden save some lovely flowers, and the church in the distance from this viewpoint.
And across the way, this ideal scene of a lake, with sheep in the field, and a blue heron posing.
Marty got this closeup.
How special was that?
We headed back up to the house where we stopped in at the cafe and we enjoyed some tasty scones with a cup of tea.
What a treat!
We decided to take one more photo
then we headed out with Marty behind the wheel, back to the Packhorse Inn where we could relax a bit before heading to the restaurant for dinner.
Our waiter was a delight and made us feel quite special even though it was obvious we weren't there to purchase a £250000 horse. Or any horse, for that matter!
We're having a great time, as you can tell.
Thanks for following along!
Until next time....
