A Visit to Newark Park

Today we took Son#2 and his partner to another National Trust venue – Newark Park and House, about 25 miles from Bath. We had a lovely walk in the grounds and a good look round the house. Inevitably quite a lot of photos were taken but this is my favourite.

The house started life as a hunting lodge, built by Sir Nicholas Poyntz, an attendant to Henry VIII in about 1550, but has had quite a history since then, having had a series of extensions and other alterations made as it changed hands through the years, turning it into a “proper” home. The most significant building phase was undertaken in the 1790s by the Reverend Lewis Clutterbuck; the Clutterbuck family owned the house right up to 1949 when it was given to the National Trust. By 1970, the estate was in need of a fair bit of renovation work: an American architect, Bob Parsons, leased the house from the National Trust and spent almost 30 years taming the grounds and returning the house to a home along with his partner, Michael Claydon.

The stone window frame dates from the hunting lodge days, but the stained glass wasn’t installed until 1817. Apparently it uses a technique called “silver staining”, first used in England in York Minster in the 14th Century. It can create a full range of yellows, oranges and reds but takes a lot of skill. This example is a rare survivor of this type of glass so is of national importance.

After our visit there, we drove the Bath couple back home, then set off for part of our journey back home so we’re staying the night near Leicester. The journey was uneventful apart from a rear tyre blowout part of the way – in 54 years of driving I can’t remember ever having had a blowout, and I inspect my tyres regularly. Fortunately our car isn’t one of these newfangled ones which doesn’t have a proper spare (indeed or any spare at all!) so we were on the way again after about 20 minutes. Of course it was raining during the wheel change but I carry an old cagoule in the car for such eventualities.