Monday 1 May 2017

Lotherton Hall - Another View

I've done lots of posts about Lotherton Hall in the past:- Lotherton Hall And Doggy Ghosts, Fabby DayBack To Lotherton, A Date At Lotherton Hall, Lotherton Hall Bird Garden, A Muddy Walk At Lotherton. Until now, I haven't been able to show you inside the house but we visited again yesterday as there was a food fair being held there and I noticed a sign saying photography inside the house was allowed without a flash so I thought I'd pop in to take a few photos to show you.


Lotherton Hall has been home to a number of prominent families, the most recent being the Gascoignes. It was gifted to the City of Leeds in 1968 by Sir Alvary Gascoigne and his wife. As you enter the inner hall there's a portrait of Sir Thomas Gascoigne 1743-1810.


This is the Housekeepers Room. There's a beautiful piano here and a well used writing desk.


The tablecloth sports some pretty embroidery.


Just off from the Houskeepers Room is the Servants Hall. The rooms I most like to explore in houses such as this one is the kitchen and scullery but these rooms, along with others, aren't open to the public.

I always thought a boudoir was a woman's bedroom but it can also be a small, private room. This room may be private but I wouldn't class it as small.


The Medal Room. This is most certainly a gentleman's room with it's masculine decor.


These are just a few of the medals displayed on the walls.


There are two large book shelves in the Library, you can see just one in the photo.


The Dining Room. A lovely space to entertain.


I thought this highchair was so sweet. I made sure I got the fireplace in the photo for scale. I remember highchairs like this where it splits in to a low chair and table once the baby's a little older.


Time to visit some of the rooms upstairs now.


They do say that the secret to a happy marriage is having separate bathrooms, this one is the Colonel's.


Lady Gascoigne's Bedroom.


I wonder if Lady Gascoigne was actually a spinner, there's a spinning wheel by the side of her bed.


Adjoining Lady Gascoigne's room is Sir Alvary's Room.


I'm not sure about the fire screen in Sir Alvary's Room, it seems to be a display of stuffed birds, not my kind of thing at all.


Between 1914 and 1918, Lotherton Hall was used as a voluntary aid detachment hospital for wounded soldiers. A few photos are displayed showing some of the patients and the nurses who cared for them.




I haven't included all the rooms in this post, there's more to see, along with many interesting displays and a good variety of paintings. There's usually an exhibition being held in the hall, at the moment it's Fashionable Yorkshire, exploring the history of fashion through the clothes and personal stories of a selection of Yorkshire women.


A bird garden, which is home to an extensive collection of endangered bird species, has been in the grounds of Lotherton Hall since the 1970s. Many of them are part of endangered breeding programmes. At the moment, work is being undertaken to change the bird garden in to Lotherton Wildlife World which will see forest mammals being introduced as well as new bird species.


There's lots of work going on at the moment building new habitats ready for the animals to move in to.

I didn't take many photos in the bird garden this time but I just had to show you the following two. This rhea had obviously had a hard day.


One of the emus took a bit of a fancy to me and was happy to pose for photos.


I hope you enjoyed this little tour. If you're in the area I can thoroughly recommend a visit to Lotherton Hall, allow yourself plenty of time as there's lots to explore: the house and chapel, the gardens, the bird garden, the orchard, the deer park, walks, not forgetting the courtyard and cafe. If you have children you should allow a full day as you'll never tear them away from the fabulous playground and newly installed play equipment.

I think you can tell it's a place we enjoy visiting.

36 comments:

  1. Thanks for the tour of Lotherton Hall, it looks a beautiful place, i do like visiting these old houses and the servants quarters along with the libraries are my favourite rooms to see. It's a good job that so many of them are preserved and looked after so that we can enjoy them.
    Have a good Bank Holiday, it's raining here, hope you have better weather.

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    1. I find these sort of houses fascinating, I like seeing how those both above and below stairs lived in times gone by. The weather here today started off a bit cloudy but it's brightened up this afternoon.

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    1. We enjoy our visits to Lotherton, there's so much to see and do there.

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  3. Having just returned from a walk I feel a little bit like the rhea in your photograph.
    Lotherton Hall looks like a beautiful building both inside and out. A fascinating day out for sure. I must admit my favourite room would be the kitchen. It's a shame you weren't able to see it. X

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    1. Ha ha, I often feel like that rhea. I love seeing the kitchen in these sort of houses, it's a shame it's not open to the public at Lotherton, perhaps that may change in the future.

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  4. A most enjoyable, and interesting, post and lovely pictures. xx

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    1. I'm glad I've finally been able to take some photos inside the house. There's some really interesting displays as you walk round, there's still loads of things that catch my eye even though I've been many times.

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  5. Lovely post! Thanks for taking us inside and I agree with you about the fire screen!

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    1. I think those kind of displays were quite popular in times gone by, I'm glad they're not the norm any longer.

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  6. Thanks for taking me along on your trip, it certainly looks a lovely place to visit.

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    1. Lotherton Hall is only a ten minute drive away so it's really handy if we just fancy a stroll in beautiful surroundings. We really enjoy going still even though we've been many times.

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  7. Thanks for the visit, and like you I always enjoy seeing where the servants lived and worked.

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    1. The servants bedrooms aren't open to the public either yet these are the rooms, along with the kitchen, that I'd love to see.

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  8. Sounds like a wonderful place to explore - I too am usually most interested in the servants quarters and seeing how they lived. I'm wondering why those would be off limits.

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    1. I'm not sure why the servant's rooms are off limits, I suppose there's certain rooms in any house such as this which aren't on show to the public but I think with the popularity of such programmes as Downton Abbey many people would find these rooms interesting.

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  9. That's just my kind of house to visit, Jo! I'd have loved to have gone there with you! Indeed, I could quite happily have been a chatelaine of such a lovely house provided I had the staff! I'm good at organizing things and ordering people around! However, I do like the taxidermy birds in that fire screen. We are more concerned these days with conservation but in the days before television and photography, taxidermy of this nature (pardon the pun) was the only way people in this country might see species from other countries, caught by explorers and 'stuffed'. I know it's not acceptable to do this now, we know 'better' but it is understandable why it was once acceptable, I think. I'd love a case of birds like this. Even had they died of natural causes (or fallen prey to other birds or animals) at least their bodies, well the attractive parts (their feathers) have been preserved for posterity.
    Margaret P

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    1. There were certainly plenty of staff, there's lots of information on display as you take the tour of the house and some of this relates to the butler, housekeeper and servants. The Gascoignes were very well travelled so perhaps the fire screen was something they brought back with them as a memento.

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  10. A great tour, I am not a fan f the fire screen either. I loved the dining room what a great space for entertaining.

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    1. I love the dining room too, I'd love to have a table like that, such a wonderful space.

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  11. I really enjoy visiting homes of this era. The furniture and textile styles are so ornate, it's hard to imagine living with them, but I love seeing them. Funny that the room was called a boudoir, I wouldn't have expected that either. I also thought it would mean a smaller room. Yet the wife's bedroom was not called a boudoir but a bedroom. Shows what I know, right? :)

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    1. I feel the same, the furniture and textiles aren't to my taste but I love looking at them. I'd quite like my own little boudoir, having some space to myself would be a real luxury.

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  12. Thank you for such a lovely informative tour of the house & park. Love the photo of the rhea! And as for emus, they can be devilish too, as hubby worked in forest once upon a time & if you weren't careful, a certain emu might just run up, snatch your sandwiches, & be off with them. Take care.

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    1. We don't often visit the bird garden as we usually have Archie with us, but we'd left him at home on this occasion so we were able to go in both the house and the bird garden. I made sure I didn't get too close to the emu, that beak looked like it could do a lot of damage.

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  13. I love to see the kitchens etc when we visit old houses too. I'm always disappointed if they're shut. I often feel like that rhea too! :oD

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    1. I wonder whether the kitchens at Lotherton will be opened to the public at some time in the future, it would be nice to see them.

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  14. It really does look a lovely place to visit. I love to see these places and try to think how their lives must have been, especially the servants xx

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    1. I always look out of the windows when visiting these grand houses and try to imagine what it would be like to own not only the house but all the grounds, sometimes as far as the eye can see, too.

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  15. It looks a great house and gardens, and your photographs showed it off very well.

    I did like the pretty embroidery in your photograph and the emu looked a cheeky fellow!

    All the best Jan

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    1. We love visiting Lotherton Hall, we have an annual pass which comes to an end tomorrow but we'll definitely be renewing it again. I couldn't resist taking a photo of the emu, he was very happy to pose for me.

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  16. Thanks for taking us inside the hall. I am now going to use the phrase 'retiring to my boudoir' and imagine myself floating off to a room like that!
    I'm with on the fire screen, give me some pretty embroidery over stuffed birds any day.
    Lisa x

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    1. Ha ha, wouldn't it be lovely to have a room like that all to yourself? We can but dream. It's interesting how the fire screen is in Sir Alvary's room, perhaps Lady Gascoigne wasn't keen on it either.

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  17. I loved this tour, I often wonder what it would be like to live in such a huge house.The pictures of the rhea and emu had me smiling, especially that poor exhausted rhea!!!xxx

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    1. We never tire of visiting Lotherton, there's always lots to see and Archie enjoys taking his walks there too. I don't know what that rhea had been up to but it had certainly tired him out.

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  18. Great tour - another one for the list; there are so many wonderful places to visit in Britain - we are very lucky. You've taken some fabulous photos there.

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    1. Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment. You're right, we're quite spoilt for choice in Britain with so many fabulous places to visit.

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