Cheshire 6 Dunham Massey, the lord and the circus bare back rider , spring vegetable soup and Lamb stew

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The Grande Depart is coming ever closer. We have two more weekends, two more Saturdays and two more Sundays. Three and a half days at work before we leave. As we drive back from France at the end of our last holiday we hear ourselves vainly discussing the motorhomes heading in the opposite direction to us. We drive towards the Chunnel and Calais. They drive away from it. We wonder where they are going to as we head north and homewards. The butterflies are flying round getting stronger by the minute as we wonder when our vignettes will arrive. Will they arrive in time? We need to take Suzy for diesel and a top up of LPG before we leave . Hair needs cutting and that was todays job. A trip over to North Wales to get it cut. OK go on then say it why do I go over all that way to have my hair cut. It gives me chance to get a taste of back home , a catch up chat with my hairdresser who is off on safari to Uganda and the opportunity to get out and about and visit another National trust property.

After consulting the book I came upon Dunham Massey which is close to Manchester Airport and on our way home. First job park up and the place was heaving. It still appears to be the Easter holidays and the kids are still off school. Perhaps they go back tomorrow. The place was heaving. Second stop the long walk all the way to the Stables Restaurant where we sat to have our lunch. For me the Spring Vegetable Soup and a cup of tea. This was dictated by the need to have a second blood test tomorrow and today needed to be meat free and this to be followed by a fasting night. I looked lovingly at the Lamb Stew which Glenn ate wishing I could have chosen it. Still the soup was pretty warming, thick and delicious.

To pass the half hour between eating and visiting the house we went into the gardens. Our timed ticket was for 1.00. The gardens are extensive. A winter garden full of the nodding heads of the daffodils. Beneath the trees were plantings of exotic looking plants whose names I did not recognise, forget me nots bright blue and tulips of many hues. Water ran through the garden and I guess in summer would be delightful areas full of perennials. The flower buds were tightly shut on the Azalea and the rhodedendrums, In the middle of the lawn was a huge tent full of circus equipment. The children loved all the hoola hoops, the wooden tops and the spinning plates. This was a homage to the lady of the house whose career as a circus bare back rider turned her into a cause celebre for the Cheshire set. We were to learn more about her as we entered the house. A house built of red brick laid in Flemish bond under a slate roof. A house with a stone frontage of the Baroque style ornamented with broken pediments and fancy plinths. Parts of it reminded me of Erddig.

So what have circuses, bare back horse riders and the Cheshire set got in common. Well we got our first clue when we read the many posters around the grounds which gave the attributes a good lady should have. She should have no intelligence, she should not be interested in politics, her husband may go the ball with two ladies on his arm but heaven forbid she should do the same. She should not be greedy and not eat too much. She should think of others before herself. So the list went on. A male chauvanists dream and the way that Victorian women were thought of at the time. Dunham Massey was formerly the home of the last Earl of Stamford and was given to the National Trust in 1976. The present hall was built in 1616 by Sir George Booth who received one of the first baronetcies to be created by James I in 1611. Remodelled by John Norris for his descendant, George the 2nd Earl of Warrington between 1732 and 1740; it was further altered by John Hope towards the end of the 18th century and again by Joseph Compton Hall between 1905 and 1908. So a house that has much changed over the years.

Inside it was similar to many other houses built at the same time. Dark oak staircases, rich red velvet wall papers, paintings adorning the walls. Sadly many paintings were sold and were never returned to the hall. A tiny dining room with small table, an extensive amount of silver and kitchens full of brass and copper pans. Large and ornate beds and hangings. Around the house were the stories of the family and the story of the demise of the house. So what was the story?

You have a story that sounds like something from a bad romantic fiction. It is the sometime in the 1850's and the rich handsome, clearly powerful and a catch Henry 7th Earl of STamford is a widower and in need of a wife. He meets the beautiful and rather barely clothed Kitty Cocks who is both a commoner and a bare back rider in a circus. Bad enough to be poor but a circus act would prove to be too much for the Cheshire set. This is the story which could be turned into a Holly wood blockbuster or a story worthy of a Mills and Boon book.

Now it would have been OK for the Earl to keep the lovely Kitty as his mistress but for him to marry her was not the sort of thing expected of a man in his position. He brought his new wife back to the family’s stately home, the grand Dunham Massey in Cheshire; surrounded by art and fine clothes. Such riches Kitty had not known.

What sort of reception did she get? The vicar would not speak to her, Queen Victoria refused to sit in the next box to her in the opera. Local society was so scandalised that they snubbed poor Kitty, turning their backs on her at the Knutsford Races and refusing to pay any calls on the newlyweds.

So what did they do? Packed their bags and moved out never to return to the house which gradually fell into neglect. In one of the rooms was a box with cards on which you could vote on two issues . Was the village right to ostracise the lovely lady because she did not fit in or was it morally wrong? All you can say is then was then and this would have been normal behaviour but in our eyes it felt wrong. She must have been one hell of a woman and him a man with such love and passion to do what he did for love.



We both enjoyed our visit and this will probably be our last before we holiday. So what is next for us ? A visit to the weighbridge to see if Suzy is not overweight before we leave. Then the set off Wednesday afternoon and a 300 mile trip to Hertfordshire to Theobalds Park where we will overnight before we had off through the Chunnel to La Belle France. Can't wait.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Strolling through libraries
We love places like this.

[JenGog]

Library
We love old books . Rows and rows of beautiful leather all gold and red . Love your new appartment