Over 1,800 acres make up the Ickworth estate in Suffolk, which has been managed by the National Trust since 1998. Ickworth House is the neoclassical building on site, and part of the building is a museum today, and part of it is a luxury hotel. The house was built in the early 1800s, and it was built as an art gallery. Unfortunately, the owner's collection was taken by Napoleon.
The estate was given to the National Trust in 1956 with a 99-year lease on the 60-room east wing. The lease was sold in 1998 to the National Trust, and it is now run as The Ickworth Hotel. The west wing at Ickworth was left uncompleted until 2006 with a partnership as a centre for conferences and events.
The rotunda, the main part of the house, started renovation in 2019. The house was built from inspiration of an Italian design. Friezes are located around the rotunda.
The items on display are changed from time to time, and there is a collection of paintings, silver, and porcelain.
In the entrance hall, which is looking dark at the moment due to the scaffolding still in place, is a statue depicting "The Fury of Athamas", a Greek story about a man killing his son.
A few of the rooms were open to either peek inside or walk around, but the majority of the house was not yet fully open to the public.
After looking around the house, I explored the formal gardens, which do look beautiful in the sun.
I then decided to go on a wander to see the lake and walled garden. On the way to it is St. Mary's Church. I peeked inside to have a look before continuing on my way.
The walled garden is primarily empty today. It did have some fruit trees. There is a large lake at the bottom.
I resumed my walk around the estate, which led me through woodland and bordering pastures and meadows of grazing sheep.
The path led me through a pasture amongst the grazing sheep, but there was not a clear way to exit the pasture for some reason, and I had to climb over a locked fence. I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere, but I did not see any other place to go.
Ickworth is a remote place, and there are some decent walks here, but the house/museum seemed a bit cold and dark to me. It felt as if it lacked "soul", which is strange because it is a highly-decorated building and certainly built to look luxurious. It just felt like it was missing something to me. I will have to re-visit it at some point; a lot of the house was locked down, and the dark entrance hall (due to scaffolding) probably was not the best for the house to show off.
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