My family and I went to Lord Burghley's
house in Stamford in Lincolnshire. It was built by William Cecil (Lord Burghley) who was one of the
most important advisors to Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century. It
is absolutely huge, with lots of grounds. It really looks impressive from the
outside, and as I found out, it is impressive inside too!
We followed the Beastly Boring Burghley
tour which showed us all around the house. All the children were also given a
special book at the end, which was full of interesting information, and it was led by a guide in Elizabethan costume (I think she got very hot!)
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| Our guide, in the kitchen |
We found out about all the earls who lived
at house, the furniture and the paintings, although we started in the kitchen,
which had turtle skulls hanging on the walls (the turtles were made into soup) and
a giant spit next to the fireplace. Young boys used to have to turn this round and
round for hours (getting burnt in the process). There were also lots of jelly moulds which
people used to eat for dessert – they often had rotten teeth, so these were
easy to eat. I don't think they would have improved their teeth though.
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| The steps with the potty in |
There were so many bedrooms and drawing
rooms including lots of rooms called George, the blue silk drawing room, the
green and black bedroom and lots more. One was supposed to have had Elizabeth 1
sleeping there, while another was slept in by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. She
was so small, they had to lower the bed for her to get into (you used to get
into bed by climbing up steps). We saw a set of steps and if you lifted the lid, it
had a little potty inside.
I found all the bells in the hall
interesting as there were so many connecting up all the rooms in the house so that servants could
be called. There was also a billiard room which is still used today to play
snooker.
I loved the chapel. It had so many decorations, and even the ceiling was
beautiful. My favourite rooms were the heaven room and the hell staircase. The walls
and ceiling in each room were painted with gods for the heaven room, including
Neptune and Saturn, and for the hell staircase the walls were painted with
pictures of wars and death. It was very dramatic.
Over all I would say the tour was not
boring but it was also not very beastly. I thought it would be horrible and
disgusting but it was actually quite nice to listen to – I think more gore
would have been better!
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| Jess next to one of the sculptures in the gardens |
At Lord Burghley's house there are also
some fantastic gardens, called the Gardens Of Surprise. The gardens are full of fountains, mazes
and sculptures and I got soaking wet running in and out of the water.
I especially liked Poseidon's Grotto and
the maze, and I got to the middle even though mum and dad didn't. I really
enjoyed walking around the gardens after the tour, even though I was dripping
with water.
The beautiful house of Lord Burghley is a
great, fun and interesting day out for all ages. I really liked it.
The Beastly Boring Burghley Tour is on every day over the summer at 10am. It costs £35 for a family (up to three children and two adults) but then you get admission to the House and Gardens for the whole day so you can go back inside after the tour if you want to.
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Labels: days out in England, history, stately home
