Lyme Park

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NOTE: We are home, but still catching up on the blog.



This morning dawned dry and clear, much better for a visit to Lyme Park. We headed off after breakfast with Syri taking us on the (almost) single track road past the Rising Moon Pub to Hyde onto the A560 and then the A627. A couple of miles south of Hazel Grove we turned onto the A6 before turning into the Lyme Park Estate just after High Lane.

We showed our National Trust card at the car park entrance. With a staff member on duty, rather than just a ticket machine, we were waved through into the car park so didn’t have to pay for parking today. Bonus. We walked up to the house and as we approached the gates both of us could recall the façade of the house, but still felt sure that we had not been into the house on our earlier visit. We could remember being brought to the estate to see the herd of red deer and we both felt we could remember taking a photo from the lawn area inside the gates, but we felt certain we hadn’t seen anything beyond that.

Walking through into the courtyard we were welcomed by a volunteer greeter who told us that we just needed to pop over to the ticket office to show our cards and we would receive vouchers to access the house. When we showed our Aussie NT cards again, the staff said, oh, you’re visiting from a long way away we’ll pop you onto the 12.30pm ‘Behind the Scenes’ tour too.

We were just in time to join the 11.30am introductory talk in the Chapel so we went along to learn about the house, the largest in Cheshire, and the family that owned it. In a nutshell, at the Battle of Crecy in 1346 Sir Thomas Danyers helped retrieve the standard of the Black Prince (eldest son of Edward III) and was rewarded with an annual annuity of 40 marks which could be exchanged for land of that value belonging to the Black Prince. When Sir Thomas died in 1354 the annuity passed to his granddaughter, Margaret and her husband, Piers Legh. Piers was favoured by Richard II (son of the Black Prince) and was granted the estate of Lyme Handley in 1398 in exchange for the annuity. The estate remained in the hands of the Legh family until 1946 when it was given to the National Trust by Richard Legh, the 3^rd Baron Newton. Wow, that’s nearly 600 years in the same family!

The earliest part of the house dates to the late 16^th-century during the life of Piers Legh VII. In the 1720s Venetian architect, Giacomo Leoni, was engaged to modify the house. Although he retained some Elizabethan features, he added Palladian and Baroque elements at this time along with the south range to create a courtyard. During the latter part of the 18th century Piers Legh XIII bought most of the furniture which is in the house today. Further modifications, particularly to the interior, were made by Lewis Wyatt in the 19^th-century when Thomas Legh owned the house. The formal gardens were laid out in the late 19^th and early 20^th-centuries during the times of William Legh, the 1^st Baron Newton and Thomas Legh, the 2^nd Baron Newton.

We also learnt that upon aquiring the property the National Trust appointed the Stockport Corporation (later the Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council) to manage it. The council used the property for many years to host weddings and events. In 1994 the National Trust was in a financial position to take direct control of the property.

Of course, the single most important thing that I learnt about Lyme Park is that it was used in 1995 to stand in as Pemberley, the seat of Mr Darcy, in the BBC adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice. And when I said - and the lake is THE lake that Mr Darcy walks out of in his white shirt? - I was told that there was some artistic license taken with THAT scene. Apparently, the lake is not deep enough for swimming, so the swimming scene was filmed at another lake on the estate and then Colin Firth strode out of the decorative lake in his wet shirt. Swoon!

With some time to fill in until the ‘Behind the Scenes’ tour we wandered out into the gardens and around the lake. It really is a beautiful scene looking back across the lake to the façade of the house! With the sun shining the gardeners were very busy. With gardeners mowing the lawn and parking their tractor and trailer adjacent to the orangery it was difficult to take photos! Later, we told ourselves, after we’ve explored the house.

At 12.30pm we met our National Trust Guide, Ian, in the courtyard and proceeded on the tour which told the story of the house from the perspective of the servants. It was very interesting to explore parts of the house that are not normally accessible to visitors unless they are on a guided tour. In addition to the Butler’s Pantry and the scullery we were taken into The Dark Passage a service corridor that was created in 1815. Later, when the Orangery was built, it also served to provide access from the house to the Orangery. Ian told us many interesting anecdotes about the lives of the servants.

After our tour it was time for some lunch. Another day, another National Trust sandwich! Getting a bit bored with the three sandwich fillings on offer we switched it up and purchased the sourdough ham and cheese toasties before venturing into the house itself.

When the Leghs handed the property over to the National Trust in 1946 they took EVERYTHING with them. Then the house was administered by the council for over 40 year and used for functions and events rather than being lived in as a home. Considering this chequered past, it is a credit to the National Trust that the house is now presented in a fashion that suggests the transition from family home to stately house tourist attraction was much more seamless as the furnishings and decorations throughout are impressive. Fortunately, many items have been able to be returned to the house and restorations have been very sensitively undertaken to present the house much as it would have been in 1946.

With the house explored it was time to return to the terraces and orangery to see if the gardeners had finished. Not quite, but they had moved the tractor and trailer, so we were able to take a couple of photos from the terraces. Our next challenge was to try to find the deer herd and a couple of other structures that are features of the estate. We wanted to walk up to The Lantern but that proved easier said than done. The path via the Rhododendron Garden was closed (it might still be closed due to flood damage that occurred in 2019?) and try as we might, we could not find another path to take us in that direction. We had to settle for the glimpse that we had of it over the hedge from the Top Lawn.

Right, we’ll walk towards The Cage instead. It was no problem taking photos of The Cage and luckily the deer herd was around this area too. The formal gardens around the house are six hectares but the rest of the estate runs to 550 hectares, so the herd has a lot of space to roam. Vast swathes of the estate are designated deer sanctuary which you are not allowed to enter so if the herd wants to stay away from the visitors they can.

We saw a guy setting up a long lens on a tripod, so we stalked over and found that he was photographing the deer. He must’ve been a local as he was telling us how pleased he was that the deer were so close. He visits regularly and more often than not the deer are way over the back and can barely be seen. Close is a relative term, but considering they have 550 hectares to roam I guess they were close?! Bernie put his long lens on too and snapped a few photos of the herd.

With the afternoon drawing to a close we found our way to the Timber Yard Café so that we could be our ice-creams. The sun was still shining so it was perfect weather for one last holiday ice-cream. Today they even had scooped ice-cream, we didn’t have to resort to an ice-cream on a stick!



Note: Since I am writing this after returning home, I have checked the photo album from 1993. In the album we have ticket for: Lyme Park Admission to ESTATE excluding HALL. The ticket also states that the property is managed by Stockport M.B.C. so we definitely visited before the property was a National Trust attraction. We took TWO photos of the deer herd, one of the surrounding countryside, a photo of us on the lawn in front of the house and a photo of the Italian Garden. To that meagre collection of photos (ah, the days of film photography when you limited yourself to just a few photos!) I added a postcard of the view across the lake to the side of the house that we didn’t even see in 1993.



Syri took us back to Stalybridge by a different route utilizing more narrow roads with passing places. We have wondered if she sends us on these minor roads to spare us from getting caught up in traffic congestion on the main roads? We shall never know, but Bernie has certainly negotiated the Lexus along some challenging rural tracks. And all without having a head on collision with another car as the locals whip around the blind corners!!

Back at Kath and Albert’s it was time to turn out the suitcases and re-pack ready for the flight home tomorrow. We haven’t bought much so everything still fits in our cases without needing to open the zip for the expanding gusset. I think the thing that is going to add the most weight to my case is the new AZ Road Atlas. We have a 30kg baggage allowance so we won’t have to worry about weight, but I might get a HEAVY label attached to mine if it’s over 23 kilos.



Steps: 15,478 (10.58 kms)

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