Madresfield Court

This morning I walked Hogan over to my parent's home and noticed the latest issue of Vanity Fair on their kitchen table.  I left with the Vanity Fair in hand and dog on leash, excited for a lazy afternoon spent with a growing stack of magazines.  Since returning home and plopping myself down on my sofa, I have been enthralled by the article on the author Evelyn Waugh and his novel, Brideshead Revisited.  

This story line has everything that makes for a juicy novel.  Scandal, aristocrats and, of course, a stately English country side estate!  Whoo hoo.... and I am hooked!  The majority of the arcicle focuses on Lord Beauchamp's family estate,  Madresfield Court.  The daunting home of 136 rooms nestled on 4,000 acres, is the perfect backdrop for Lord Beauchamp and his family to play out all sorts of aristocratic drama.  A family blessed with good looks, open ended bank accounts and an unabashed sense of culture, intellect and humor, seem to have it all.  They welcome Evelyn into their home as one of there own, and it is here he begins to engulf himself in a surrounding that will be the muse for his life's great work, Brideshead Revisited.

This family estate is filled with ancestral portraits and fine antiques as well as being surrounded by topiary gardens and yew mazes. The estate has gone through many transformations. The original hall of the home was built in the 12th century (wowzers), followed by a 16th century renovation, but the home is more currently known for the fine representation of the Arts and Crafts style.  While the movie apparently was filmed at Castle Howard, a estate I had the pleasure of visiting back in 2006, here are a few pictures of the inspiration.

I am definitley going to read this book soon... or rent the movie... or do both in no particular order!