Holkham Hall And National Nature Reserve, Norfolk

Holkham Hall And National Nature Reserve, Norfolk

Holkham Hall on the north Norfolk coast was built in the 1750s by Thomas Coke. But the history of wealth at Holkham goes back much further. Historically, wealth in this area came from farming, and a Museum of Farming at Holkham Hall charts local agricultural development for the last 2000 years. Before the Roman invasions the powerful Icini tribe had a fort at Holkham, and this region, according to information in the museum, was home to some of the richest people in pre-Roman Britain. Today Holkham Hall is home to the 7th Earl of Leicester, a direct descendent of Thomas Coke.

Holkham Hall was built in a Palladian style, which in itself has interesting echoes of a rural past when wealth came from land. The Palladian style derives from the architecture of Venetian Andrea Palladio (1508 - 1580). It is based on the formal, clean lined architecture of the ancient Greeks and Romans. However, there was also a practical element to the style, in that characteristic extending wings on each side of a main building were, in Palladio's original Venetian villas, agricultural buildings. In these extended wings various farming stores, horses and animals were kept. After an initial enthusiasm for Palladio's style in the seventeenth century, led by Inigo Jones, the style was revived in the eighteenth century, with the original functional wings now turned into part of the decorative design of a grand house. Colen Campbell designedStourhead House, completed 1720, followed in 1734 by Richard Boyle and William Kent's Palladian concept for Holkham Hall. By the twentieth century Aston Webb was using Palladian design in his re- facing of Buckingham Palace, and still there is that echo in the wings of Venetian farming buildings of long ago. The design of Holkham today is a reminder of where wealth in this part of Norfolk once came from. It is, in fact, a highly stylised farm house, as is Buckingham Palace.

Holkham Beach

Palladianism is also interesting in the way it demonstrates a changing conception of the natural world. In Tudor England, during Palladio's lifetime, nature was not valued as it is today. Houses, and the occasional formal gardens around them were designed to shut out what was seen as a harsh natural world. But in the sunshine of Italy Palladio was already designing houses with covered open verandas, allowing occupants to appreciate surrounding countryside while being protected from the sun. The same idea is seen in American style porches today. Loggias were also built, a recessed room with a wall, or walls, open to the outside, where once again people could sit in shelter and still enjoy views over surrounding countryside. By the eighteenth century in England attitudes to nature were changing, with the romantic poets busy writing positive things about nature. Eighteenth century Palladian architecture seems in keeping with this change. Fittingly Holkham Hall is now the centre point of a huge estate which includes a beautiful area of coastline, one of Britain's largest nature reserves. Holkham National Nature Reserve was, until the seventeenth century, a long stretch of dunes and shingle ridges, separated from the mainland by a tidal marsh. A series of embankments were then built, reclaiming the salt marsh as farmland, and a shelter belt of pine trees was planted behind today's beach to protect reclaimed farmland behind. Today the area is a diverse habitat for a variety of wildlife. A visit to Holkham Hall can be combined with a trip to the beach. The road leading to the beach is directly opposite the entrance to Holkham Hall, and is about a half mile walk from the Hall. For a shorter walk to the beach there is parking along the access road.

Holkham Hall is open to visitors, and includes a Bygones Museum and a History of Farming Exhibition. There is a restaurant and gift shop. The house is used as a film location, and Holkham played the part of Devonshire House in the film The Duchessstarring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes. Filming also took place at beautiful Holkham Beach for Shakespeare in Love. Many high profile theatrical, operatic and musical events also take place here - details via the link to the Holkham Hall web site below