On a lovely sunny day in mid-July, I visited Packwood House in Warwickshire. Packwood is a Tudor house that contains items collected from other country houses that were demolished and installed. The house itself dates from the 16th century, but the interiors were restored between the world wars by Graham Baron Ash, and he located Tudor items and architecture for the restoration. He was able to salvage many items of textiles and furniture and fittings for the house at a time when many country houses were being demolished. Packwood is also highly noted for its yew tree collection.
The house was built in the mid-1500s by the Fetherston family. The last of the family died in 1876, and the house was purchased by the Ash family. It was inherited in 1925 by Graham Baron Ash, and he is responsible for restoring it to its Tudor character. The barn was also converted into a Tudor hall. In 1941, the house was donated to the National Trust.
I had a quick look around the gardens first. There are lovely gardens leading up a path that leads to the famous yew garden. On the terrace are lovely views that overlook the colourful garden and the house on one side and the yew garden on the other.
The yew garden is famous and contains over 100 trees. It is one of the best topiary gardens in Britain. It was laid out in the middle of the 17th century by the Fetherston family. The yew trees have a meaning or story behind them. The clipped yews are meant to represent the "sermon on the mount", and the twelve large yews represent the apostles. The four largest represent the evangelists. An orchard and fruit trees were planted amongst the yews, but these were removed when the landscaping was completed in the 1920s.
Today, some of the yews are taller than 50 feet. The ground of the estate isn't ideal for the yews, however, as there is a lot of clay in the ground, and this harms the trees. Often, work is required to rectify these issues and leads to closures of the garden. However, the drainage work has been completed, and the yews are looking good. The yews take three months to trim.
After walking through the yew trees, visitors were led through a small orchard before continuing a short trail that continued around a small lake. There was a small wooded section which gave way to a meadow with views of the house across from the lake.
There was a large queue for the entry to the house when I arrived, so I had to wait several minutes.
The first room is the entrance hallway, and the room immediately to the right is the drawing room. We were told that the house was visited by Queen Mary as the royals were sad about many of the older country houses being destroyed at the time.
One of the other rooms is the dining room, and it contains the Bargello Tapestry, which dates from the end of the 1600s or beginning of the 1700s. The same pattern is used on some of the other furniture, and the room is rumoured to be haunted by a servant.
The entrance hall was remodelled to contain a larger window in 1930, and the flooring comes from a house in Wales that was being demolished.
The long gallery was an addition onto the house to connect the new great hall, which was formerly a barn. The long gallery contains a tapestry collection. The tapestries are Flemish and date from the 16th and 17th centuries. One of the tapestries is known as "The Resting Traveller", and it has recently been restored. The long gallery is a beautiful part of the house.
Off of the long gallery is a parlour where the last resident of the house would relax. The room contains a clock, and the instructions were that all clocks must be wound to give the impression that the house is lived in.
The new edition is the great hall, and it's at the end of the long gallery and down a few steps. Although it was built in the 1920s, it appears to have been here for longer thanks to the original items in the collection.
Not all of the house was accessible due to the lockdown. There were some additional rooms that we could not see due to social distancing. So, I hope to return at some point.
Overall, Packwood House is a lovely property with a lovely collection of items.
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