Enjoying retirement
In The Red Rose County
We combined a trip to see our lovely Afghan tailor in Altrincham with a meal at the Church Inn Mobberley and a visit to Tatton Park. After sorting out some material to repair my leather jacket, and turning down the offer to pay £5 towards my petrol (!) we arrived at Church Inn which is in a lovely setting. And we had our lunch by candlelight (very atmospheric). The lunch was terrific and cost £57 all in - which for a place recommended this year by Michelin is amazing. We attempted all four doors on the interesting looking church to no avail, but noted this unusual marker(?) on one of the buttresses. We had visited Tatton several times before, walking round the lakes from the Knutsford entrance but we hadn't yet been inside the house or gardens. The estate was acquired by Sir Thomas Egerton Lord Chancellor to Elizabeth I and there is an old hall from that time but the present mansion was built by by John Egerton, Sir Thomas' grandson and completed in 1716. Between the 1770s and 1816 most of it was replaced by the present neoclassical mansion, designed by Samuel Wyatt and his nephew Lewis William Wyatt. There are 150 pieces of Gillow furniture in the house, and a nationally important collection of pictures and, unlike many houses, the house was conveyed to the National Trust with virtually all contents intact. The entrance hall prepares you for the rest of the house, and here we talked to a guide who has been here over 25 years and who was very knowledgeable and helpful. She pointed out to us the rams heads on the battering rams on this vase........ and this rather nice glass dish from nearby Warrington made in about 1805. I couldn't mistake who this was........... A comfortable drawing room contained two Canalettos..... And because you could get really close up you could see the amazing details In this room is also the painting that featured recently on BBC's 'Lost Masterpieces'. The 'before' and 'after' pictures are incredible. Up until last year, the portrait was considered only as ‘A Physician’ by an unattributed artist. After fully investigating the mysterious portrait, with the help of art conservator Simon Gillespie, the painting was officially attributed to Francesco Salviati, one of the leading Mannerist fresco painters of the Florentine-Roman school. The BBC team also identified the man depicted in the portrait as Realdo Matteo Colombo (1515-1559), a pioneering anatomist of the Italian Renaissance. He studied at Padua University, was surgeon to Pope Julian III and a friend of Michaelangelo. The Library is a lovely room and contains beautiful protective covers to the bookcases which I have never seen before. This is a contemporary portrait of Elizabeth I, copied from the famous Armada Portrait. My favourite room was the Dining Room which contained wall spaces perfect for displaying your ancestry. I particularly liked this portrait of Alice Anne Graham-Montgomery, Duchess of Buckingham and Chandos and Countess Egerton of Tatton (1847-1931) by Sir Frank Dicksee in her coronation robes. We had recently visited Coalbrrokdale and here was a Coalport and Coalbrookdale dessert service. Having just visited the deer park before we hadn't realised how superb the gardens were. The first section we visited was the orchard which had a magnificent display of apples and pears (some very old varieties), and outstanding espaliers. I do love a doorway in a garden. Where will it lead? There was some fine topiary......a Victorian lady offering - what? There was also a lovely and extensive Japanese garden. All in all I am sure we will be back several times. Having said that our own back alley isn't so bad!
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August 2023
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