Grant and Siobhan's Excellent Adventure: Tyntesfield

Tuesday dawned overcast but still warm. We had set this day aside to visit the Victorian estate of Tyntesfield, another National Trust property. The house was not open to visitors until 11am, so we tried to time our arrival accordingly. We were a little early but this didn’t matter as the grounds were open. We found that at 11.30 there was to be a “Servants Tour”, taking a small group around the behind- and above-stairs areas not on display to the public. Why not, we thought and cheerfully paid a little extra. We took a slightly circuitous route to the house but arrived in time for the tour. This was well worth the extra fee, and completely fascinating. We think that the behind-stairs area was actually quite generous for servants’ quarters, so a job in service to this family was probably quite sought after in those days. The butler they had in the late 1890’s actually worked for the family for 54 years, starting as a footman when he was 18 and retiring at 72. Very impressive.

There was a boy whose job was to watch these bells and see who was needed where!

The night-nursery

We needed a bit of a break by the end of that tour, but still had not seen any of the ‘front of stairs’ rooms which are of course the main focus. On venturing outside we found that the cloud had burned off, so we went for a walk and found the summer house at the top of the grounds. This seemed the ideal spot to have our picnic lunch, and as it was up quite a steep path we had undisturbed peace and quiet the whole time. We returned to the house via the stables (which, like many stately homes, seems to make an ideal bat roost). Also, the NT has many items of furniture in storage here as the restoration of Tyntesfield is still a work in progress.

The stable block

The house itself is extraordinary. The Victorian love of the Gothic style has truly been played out here, and the extravagance of carving in both wood and stone is just amazing. The number of rooms on display is only a fraction of the house so we were very glad to have been able to see more earlier. Just when we thought things couldn’t get any more elaborate or exquisite, we found the tour of the house ended with the family’s private chapel. Although only for family and staff, the detailing is amazing and the stained glass windows would put many a public church to shame (or perhaps to breaking the tenth commandment?). On leaving the chapel, we found it was already after 3pm; as Siobhan had an appointment back in Westbury at 4pm for a much needed haircut, we found ourselves having to leave without exploring the grounds properly. We shall have to go back!