Wonderful Wallington

Wallington House

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Attraction | "The four dragons of Wallington"

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Having stretched our legs on the riverside walk (see separate review) and rested with a cup of tea at the garden kiosk we were now ready to explore the rest of the garden at Wallington. We’re fascinated with walled gardens as it seems that people with large estates always craved for the enclosed space of a small garden whereas the majority of people living in small cramped spaces would have given their all for the vastness of the country estate. I guess that’s why, in Victorian England we saw the development of arboretums and public parks.Wallington’s walled garden was a mass of colour at the time of our visit and around every corner was another attraction. There was a lion wal...Read More

Having stretched our legs on the riverside walk (see separate review) and rested with a cup of tea at the garden kiosk we were now ready to explore the rest of the garden at Wallington.

We’re fascinated with walled gardens as it seems that people with large estates always craved for the enclosed space of a small garden whereas the majority of people living in small cramped spaces would have given their all for the vastness of the country estate. I guess that’s why, in Victorian England we saw the development of arboretums and public parks.

Wallington’s walled garden was a mass of colour at the time of our visit and around every corner was another attraction. There was a lion wall fountain dribbling water into a deep pond which in turn, by way of small water channels, fed into a number of small circular ponds. These ponds tended to be covered by water plants with the odd glimpse of their bright reflections twinkling back at us through the gaps in the foliage. Red, yellows, oranges and blues were the favoured colours all set off with the verdant greens of the plants’ foliage

In contrast the trees in the garden offered shade and subdued lilacs and purples setting a much more tranquil scene for the visitors to the enclosure. We were led through the garden on a series of footpath many with curved metal arches just begging for the climbing honeysuckles and sweet peas to start growing. In the borders a fine array of lavender ensured that our olfactory organs were well occupied during our visit.

Garden urns were surrounded at their base with delicate pink flower as a barrage of colour erupted from them with hanging flowers and proudly erect geraniums. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a wide array of lupins as there were in Wallington’s walled garden.

Exiting by "Neptune’s Gate" we pause at the side of the "garden pond" – a bit of an understatement for this small lake – to admire the water lilies, before heading off towards the estate’s Edwardian Conservatory. A narrow pathway leads us over the top of the walled garden where well weathered statues gaze expressionless towards us. It’s interesting that the small intimate walled garden, that seemed to be isolated from the rest of the estate, now seems so much more exposed and integrated into the grand plan.

The conservatory with its central wrought iron pillars is well ordered – almost regimented –and in common with the rest of the gardens a mass of complimentary colours. There are a lot of fuchsias all with slightly different shades of red and it’s evident that the staff at Wallington must be kept very busy maintaining this part of the estate.

Leaving the conservatory behind us we spot the estate’s grand summer house. A simple yet classically designed two-storey house with two pillars supporting the first floor. From Portico house there’s a very pleasant view through the trees back down to the garden pool. Walking on we next get a glimpse of China Pool, walk round it (checking out the many ducks) before returning to the main road around the estate.

We’re aware from the leaflet that there’s some dragons’ heads close to this road so we head off towards the house keeping to the road and then clamber through a small gap in the wall to view the strange sight of four dragons seemingly buried up to their necks in the grounds of Wallington. In reality these 16th Century limestone carvings had been discarded in 1760 by and had been brought to Wallington as ballast for one of Sir Walter Blackett’s coal mines. They survived the journey and the ordeal of being treated as ballast and were placed in their current spot in 1928. Personally I would have preferred to have heard a much more elaborate story surrounding their resting place, but that was not to be the case. They do seem to be at home here guarding the extremities of the lawn leading to Wallington.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on September 21, 2011

Wallington House
Newcas
Newcastle upon Tyne, England

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Wallington House

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Attraction | "This house spans the generations"

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The study at Wallington is a bright and homely place, with a low level fire surround decorated with tiles set against a marble frame, floral wallpaper and a floral carpet. You would expect this to be overly floral but it’s such a tall ceiling and the wall are adorned with portraits and landscape paintings that your eyes are not too bombarded by the fussiness of the soft furnishings. Leaving the study we next head for the house’s library. This is a much more formal room that is out to impress. It’s only been a library since 1853 (before that it was the drawing room) and it was at this time that the Trevelyans were prolific writers, but it was the era in which books indicated wealth as well...Read More

The study at Wallington is a bright and homely place, with a low level fire surround decorated with tiles set against a marble frame, floral wallpaper and a floral carpet. You would expect this to be overly floral but it’s such a tall ceiling and the wall are adorned with portraits and landscape paintings that your eyes are not too bombarded by the fussiness of the soft furnishings.

Leaving the study we next head for the house’s library. This is a much more formal room that is out to impress. It’s only been a library since 1853 (before that it was the drawing room) and it was at this time that the Trevelyans were prolific writers, but it was the era in which books indicated wealth as well as intellect and so an impressive library was important in a country house.

Moving next in to the Drawing Room we are hit by the "wow factor". The ceiling of this room is barrelled and the plasterwork is of a supreme standard. As well as this fantastic ceiling there’s a plethora of plasterwork on the walls, with elaborate decorated frames for doors, mirrors and paintings. It’s in this room that you can see Lady’s Trevelyan’s Embroidery. She started work on this in 1910 and almost 25 years later it was completed and ready for hanging. It’s actually in three sections but Lady Trevelyan, having stitched the three together then skilfully embroidered over the joins so for most of us it’s impossible to see the joins.

The Dining Room was a fair distance from the kitchen and so the strange array of sturdy pillars at the end of the dining room provided a screen behind which the servants could serve from. The decoration in this room dates back to the 1740’s and the delicate rococo is a delight. As this was a room for food and drink it’s not out of place for Bacchus and his friends to be represented but more unusual are fish with shamrock tails seeming to dive bomb the plaster framework around the chimney.

Even the staircase and its hallway are impressive features in this house with an array of formal busts and statues, finely decorated supporting pillars and a stairway that takes you off in two directions to a magnificent viewing balcony. From up here we got a great view of the fine ceiling in the stairway and a few more paces gave us a bird’s eye view of the Central Hall (see separate review). From here you can get much closer to the carved owls and appreciate their dimensions much better.

If you appreciate fine needlework then the next room on our route was called the "needlework room". The wall hangings were all worked in the early 18th Century by Lady Calverley and were brought up to Wallington by her son (Walter Blackett) after he’d sold off the Calverley home at Eshott. Apparently they only took three years to make so unless she worked on them day and night it’s fair to assume that she had a fair bit of help! They are in fantastic condition especially when you consider that they are over 300 hundred years old!

We passed through several bedroom but we both really like the nursery which is set out with numerous toys that have been used over the generations by the Trevelyan children.

This house is a real treat and there are loads of different things to see from common day to day period items to fine art work, children’s toys to antique books delicate understated plaster work to brash and impressive wall hangings. It spans the generations with work dating back to the early 1700’s and recent additions of the mid 1930’s.

It will keep you occupied for a good few hours!
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on September 20, 2011

Wallington House
Newcas
Newcastle upon Tyne, England

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Wallington House

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Attraction | "A walk around the grounds"

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We started off our visit to Wallington Hall by strolling around the gardens. In fairness the grounds are so extensive that you could spend a day just following the directions in the "walk leaflets" that are available on site. I guess you could walk for miles and still not capture all the available sights around the estate. Apparently visitors travel for miles just to call in on Wallington’s farm shop, which is by far the largest of its type hosted by National Trust properties. Here there’s a wide range of local produce including, meat, game, organic flour, baked goods, and the famous smoked Craster salmon. We did check it out but weren’t in the market for purchasing farm products – we were...Read More

We started off our visit to Wallington Hall by strolling around the gardens. In fairness the grounds are so extensive that you could spend a day just following the directions in the "walk leaflets" that are available on site. I guess you could walk for miles and still not capture all the available sights around the estate.

Apparently visitors travel for miles just to call in on Wallington’s farm shop, which is by far the largest of its type hosted by National Trust properties. Here there’s a wide range of local produce including, meat, game, organic flour, baked goods, and the famous smoked Craster salmon. We did check it out but weren’t in the market for purchasing farm products – we were, after all, on holiday.

Many stately homes are "littered" with fine garden sculptures and Wallington’s 100 acre estate is no exception. You’ll find wood land, open parkland, river walks, ornamental lakes, formal lawns, a walled garden, and walkways flanked by beautiful trees. Overall we were transfixed by the tranquillity and beauty of the place and although we had the map, provided by the National Trust on admission the walk around the estate was often quite instinctive. These naturalistically landscaped gardens were designed by Sir Walter Blackett in the style of the renowned "Capability Brown" and I guess it’s no coincidence that this famous gardened has a direct link with the Wallington Estate. He actually went to school at the estate’s village school.

I’ve become intrigued with the ice houses that are often found in the grounds of these large country mansions and the one at Wallington goes back to 1746. It’s a stone-lined egg shaped underground room that’s built into the ground and then covered by a mound of soil and surrounded by trees to give shade and added certainty that the room remains cold enough to preserve the "valuable ice". It’s often this kind of setting that makes these sites a haven for wildlife.

A few paces away from the ice house is the "boathouse pond" which had a fabulous display of water lilies and numerous ducks and water fowl. We saw no-one else as we wandered around this part of the grounds and spent time enjoying the tall trees and tiptoeing through the undergrowth in attempt to get close to the many birds that live here.

In the distance we saw a small bridge which spanned a trickling beck with some great photographic opportunities. We followed this stream for some time, needing to be a little careful in places as the pathway through is "natural" and a bit tricky in places. The route was overhung with tress, bushes and shrubs and we were enjoying the tranquillity when almost out the blue we saw a well constructed buttressed bridge. The footpath cut down below the bridge and then underneath the road to the other-side of the river by way of a precarious set of stepping stones. This was going to be a nightmare to encourage my wife across as she’s not mad on water and wasn’t too convinced that the stones were stable. They were and after a bit of coxing, and facing the alternative of returning back the way we’d just walked, she decided to "go for it". It really wasn’t a problem, but you do need to be steady on your feet to make the dozen steps across the stream.

We carefully cross a small road and admire an imposing wrought iron gateway before seeing a glimpse of the walled garden through a sturdy door with delicate wrought iron work in the top panels. Here, before entering the walled garden we are struck by the impressive ferns, alpines and rambling wisteria with its tangle of stems clambering against the wall.

We decided that we’re ready for a bit of sit down and a "cuupa" so we head off to the garden kiosk to enjoy a little rest before continuing with our tour of Wallington.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on September 16, 2011

Wallington House
Newcas
Newcastle upon Tyne, England

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Wallington House

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Attraction | "The Central Hall"

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Wallington Hall has been a family home since 1688 when the Blackett and Trevelyan families purchased it from the impoverished Fenwick family who had owned the estate since 1475. It’s had some major face lifts over the time and having had the first rebuild for Sir William Blackett at the point of purchase. It was substantially rebuilt again, in a Palladian Style (classic temple pillared architecture) for Sir Walter Blackett before it was passed, on his death in 1777, to the Trevelyan family into which family his sister had married. It then remained in the ownership of the family until it was taken over by the National Trust in 1941This 17th century Palladian mansion doesn’t look too much fr...Read More

Wallington Hall has been a family home since 1688 when the Blackett and Trevelyan families purchased it from the impoverished Fenwick family who had owned the estate since 1475. It’s had some major face lifts over the time and having had the first rebuild for Sir William Blackett at the point of purchase. It was substantially rebuilt again, in a Palladian Style (classic temple pillared architecture) for Sir Walter Blackett before it was passed, on his death in 1777, to the Trevelyan family into which family his sister had married. It then remained in the ownership of the family until it was taken over by the National Trust in 1941

This 17th century Palladian mansion doesn’t look too much from the outside, but once inside it’s a different story with a host of unrestrained features that, when put together must make this a fairly unique building. It’s lavish and extravagantly extrovert and every room present the visitor with another "wow factor".

We entered the house into the central hall which was designed by John Dobson, a local man, to enclose what was originally an open courtyard. It was built in the 1850’s and once the palazzo courtyard was finished Trevelyan commissioned others so that the hall would ooze intellect, artistry and knowledge of the sciences. So in 1856 William Bell Scott, a friend to the renowned painter, Rossetti, was given his final instructions and the resulting works of art were installed. Apparently he was paid £100 for each painting and they all illustrate the greatness and history of the area – from the building of Hadrian’s Wall to the development of industrial Tyneside in the mid 19th Century.

Below each painted scene is a description of the painting with scenes of Roman engineers, Danish invaders, Grace Darling’s heroics, George Stephenson’s development of the railway, and ship-builders of the North-East. The pillars between the paintings were carefully decorated with local plants like foxgloves and bulrushes and although there’s some stylisation in the epic paintings this adornment is highly naturalistic. Pauline Trevelyan was personally responsible for a lot of this art work but many famous artists were called upon to lend a hand. The most famous being Ruskin whose work is credited to an intricate group of wild oats, wheat, cornflowers and yarrow. Woven into the paintings is trellis work supporting foliage which is covered with butterflies, moths, birds and amphibians.

Alongside the beautiful paintings are fine sculptures and high above the arches four magnificently carved wooden owls. They’re actually up-lighters and were a recent addition (1930’s) to the hall added to enhance the introduction of electricity into the house. They, however, fit perfectly with the rest of the decor in this magnificent hall. They were the work of H Jackson, from Halifax, who was a trainee / apprentice of the great William Morris

There are seats in the centre of this Hall so we sat down to get a good look at all of the art work. Above the winged wooden owls, right at the top of the room are scenes from the 1388 battle of Otterburn based on The Ballad of Chevy Chase. It’s suggested that the Ballad did distort the facts of battle but I’m sure no one at Wallington cared about that. In truth it’s a real good topping to the extravagancy of this room. A room that bombards your senses but it’s well worth lingering in.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on September 17, 2011

Wallington House
Newcas
Newcastle upon Tyne, England

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Wallington House

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Attraction | "Houses with a house"

forces at the ready Photo - Wallington House, Newcastle upon Tyne, England

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Within Wallington is a display of exquisite doll’s houses but the one that takes everyone’s attention is a whopper of a house. It measures nine feet long and three and a half feet in height and width. The house dates back to 1886, was discovered in an attic room in Yorkshire and donated, with all its contents to Wallington in 1970. It’s been called the Hammond House because the name Ruby Hammond was found embroidered on a miniature towel and inscribed in an equally small book. Some historians suggest that it might have been linked to the Hull department store but there is no firm evidence to its pedigree.The outside of the house was covered with red brick paper but this has been recovered ...Read More

Within Wallington is a display of exquisite doll’s houses but the one that takes everyone’s attention is a whopper of a house. It measures nine feet long and three and a half feet in height and width. The house dates back to 1886, was discovered in an attic room in Yorkshire and donated, with all its contents to Wallington in 1970. It’s been called the Hammond House because the name Ruby Hammond was found embroidered on a miniature towel and inscribed in an equally small book. Some historians suggest that it might have been linked to the Hull department store but there is no firm evidence to its pedigree.

The outside of the house was covered with red brick paper but this has been recovered as the original had perished with the ravages of time. Equally the balustrade that runs round the top of the house is part of the restoration work, although like all projects undertaken by the National Trust it’s been done as sensitively as possible. The house was constructed out of four rectangles which were joined together to form two and then connected by three long corridors running down the length of the house. In total there are 39 rooms all of which are fully kitted out with period furnishings. In the house there are over 70 scale model dolls of men, women and children still wearing the original period clothing.

Gazing through into the house it’s easy to spot the family rooms as opposed to the servants quarters and here in the Hammond house you really get the picture as to how things worked in an affluent house in the Victorian era. The floors have scaled down embroidered carpets and the furnishings are high quality miniatures made by the best craftsmen in France and Germany. Indeed it doesn’t stop there because even the tea services and silverware is present in this property

Following the donation of the Hammond House Wallington was donated an impressive collection from an avid Northumberland collector of Dolls Houses. Mrs Angus’ dolls houses were donated by her family after her death in 1973

The long house was built around1870 and still has its original painted exterior. This house, dwarfed by the Hammond House only has eight rooms, but once again the carpets are handmade and the furniture is mainly German and period to the house. It is believed that Mrs Angus favoured this house as in it are her finest pieces of furniture and best dolls.

The White House, nothing to do with its grand USA namesake can be dated to the late 1870’s and is a six-roomed house. Inside there is a superbly crafted staircase which dominates. Here the carpets are needle-work rather than embroidery and in the kitchen disproportionally large plates are loaded up with food. The wallpaper is original although it’s now more "shabby chic" than cutting edge. Still it is original. The white house even has a small garden.

Also in the collection is an understated house, made by a local joiner for his daughter, constructed in the 1830’s. I guess its title of the joiner’s house isn’t really that original! It’s the tiniest of the houses and despite its age the exterior paintwork is original and the painted interior walls were "discovered" when the peeling wallpaper was removed. The furnishing are certainly disproportionate to the size of the house, but let’s be fair it was made for playing with in the 1830’s.

And finally in this area is a magnificent collection, both in detail and quantity, of hand painted soldiers. Getting right down level with them the collection seems to go on and on forever.
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Member Rating 3 out of 5 on September 18, 2011

Wallington House
Newcas
Newcastle upon Tyne, England

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