Winter Walks - Charlecote Park

We'd not been on a National trust visit for almost three weeks so, on Thursday, we headed off to Charlecote Park in The Cotswolds, normally a forty-five-minute drive away from home, however, Lord Jon decided to trust his sat-nav rather than his memory and the journey ended up taking twice as long.

The land has been owned by the Lucy family since 1247 and the house that stands today was completed in 1558 by Sir Thomas Lucy, becoming one of the first great Elizabethan houses. Elizabeth I stayed at Charlecote Park during her reign.

Sir Thomas Lucy III (and seven of his twelve children) by Cornelius Johnson Source

Although the outline remained the same as the original, it was modified by successive generations of the Lucy family across the centuries. In 1823, George Hammond Lucy, who became the High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1831, inherited the house and set about recreating the house in its original style.

George Hammond Lucy (1789 - 1845) SOURCE

Charlecote Park after George Hammond Lucy's intervention.

The National Trust was presented with Charlecote Park in 1946 in lieu of death duties although the family, through marriage now known as Fairfax-Lucy, still live in

 part of the house.

After a few mild days, Thursday was icy cold although the profusion of snowdrops & hellebores warmed our hearts.

My maternal grandparents adored The Cotswolds and visited Charlecote every year. The photo was taken by my dad in around 1969 when we must have joined them ( I recognise my brother's pushchair).

Charlecote Park covers 185 acres, backing onto the River Avon. William Shakespeare was allegedly caught poaching rabbits and deer on the grounds as a young man and brought before magistrates as a result. 

Shakespeare before Sir Thomas Lucy by Thomas Brooks   SOURCE

In 1744 Charlecote was inherited by George Lucy (1714 - 1786) a wild bachelor with a love of travel, fashion and married women. From his travels in Portugal in 1755 he brought back the first flock of Jacob sheep in the UK to Charlecote’s parkland. The sheep travelled by sea and arrived thin and terrified at Charlecote, but settled down placidly on Warwickshire grass, where their descendants browse to this day. 

George called in Lancelot‘Capability’ Brown to work on the gardens. The changes conformed to the fashion of the time to remove formal elements and create a larger landscaped vista. Instead of constantly repairing the brick lining of the water pools, he had one of the canals filled in and turned into an area of shrubbery. This was the beginning of what would later come to be called the wild garden (now the woodland).

 

George never married, enjoying the freedom of a bachelor’s life far too much. Among his friends, Lady Ann Coventry suggested he employed a housekeeper rather than marrying. Once Mrs Hayes was given the day-to-day running of the household, George refused to give in to pressure. There is no mention of him forming any lasting relationship with a woman although he participated fully in the society of the day.  In a letter to Mrs Hayes from Naples, he described himself as a ‘cicisbeo’, a gallant of married women. 

George travelled to Europe between 1756 and 1758 spending most of his time in Naples, his main reason for going was for his health. His problems started as an undergraduate at Oxford where he over-indulged in the finer things of student life, ‘port drinking had brought on gouty tendencies’. George was not particularly interested in the wonders of classic culture and art of the Grand Tour, he was not impressed with Venice, and while in Rome confessed to being relieved to be able to avoid sightseeing on Sundays. 

George mixed in high circles and felt underdressed in Naples, ‘I often lament leaving my finery at home’, so he asked Mrs Hayes to send some to him from England. They never arrived as the ship carrying George's box was boarded by Moors and all the goods (including George's clothes) were carried off to Algiers. This happened before George sat for his portrait (above) by Pompeo Battoni in 1758.  It was long thought that he must have been painted in borrowed clothes, but more likely that his waistcoat looked a little ‘snug’, its because it was a sign of status for the rich to look overweight and the artist saw no reason to disguise George’s waistline.

The fallow deer herd has been at Charlecote for centuries, they don't seem in the least bit bothered by visitors, not that there were many people braving the cold.

Along with the house, a large part of the parkland is currently closed. The constant stream of visitors erodes the grass and the upper structure of the soil layers leading to possible environmental damage if the Parkland isn't allowed adequate time to recover.

With the birdsong and the low Winter sun sparkling on the river, it was a blissful walk despite our tingling faces.

The bridge over the River Avon (Stratford-upon-Avon is just four miles away).

Wellies, woolly hats and thermals were the order of the day. I'd not worn my 1960s Polly Peck maxi dress in over a year!

The winged boar's head and gryphon are taken from the Lucy family crest.

After a car picnic in the warmth of Patrice, we ignored the Satnav and were home in forty minutes, getting in just in time to miss a snow shower. 

Thanks for reading and see you soon!

(Follow the link HERE to see Charlecote in the Summer)