Today Joe and I went to Markenfield Hall not far from Ripon. From the start of the day the stars in their courses were fighting against my from oversleeping, through phone calls and unexpected visitors, but we did eventually manage to set off with a picnic and a full tank of petrol.
It is a smallish house and the intention was to combine the visit with a picnic at either Fountains Abbey or Brimham Rocks. Not only did we start late, but it rained solidly from the moment we crossed the border into Yorkshire, so in the end it was our sole destination and the picnic was eaten in the car.
Now, I am making it sound as if the day was a bit of a disaster, but it wasn't - the house was absolutely lovely. It opens for just a few weeks each year as an obligation in return for English Heritage grants, but there is nothing half-hearted in the way that it is opened. There are baskets with a stack of A4 sheets in 14 point print describing each room as well as very friendly and knowledgeable volunteer stewards in each room.
It is an early fourteenth century house, and you enter across the bridge and through the gatehouse - something of a dash in our case through pouring rain under a shared umbrella - neither of us comfortable or very well protected with a foot difference in our heights making effective sharing somewhat difficult!
and walk across the courtyard to the undercroft which was modernised into a kitchen in the Tudor period. Today, although it is now used as an entrance hall cum living room, the fact that the nineteeth century range had been lighted was a welcome sight, and it was very pleasant to sit down in front of it to read the imformation sheet before going over to the sideboard to look at the photographs.
Upstairs is a great hall decorated exactly as I would decorate my great hall if I happened to have one with massive bookcases, a huge fireplace and comfy seats. The bookcaases are brand, spanking new, as is the fireplace which was rebuilt in the style of the one which could be seen in outline on the wall, but which was destroyed centuries ago and now houses the woodburning stove. In here are even more photographs of the house and its restoration.
Next is the chapel which is RC, but where Catholic and Anglican services alternate on a regular basis. In here is the only major rebuild in the house's recent history as one internal wall had become dangerous and needed complete reconstruction - the financing of which rebuild is the reason that the house has to be open to the public. The original family lost everything due to their support of the Rising of the North in the reign of Elizabeth I, so there was no money to do anything fashionable with it though it was maintained as a farm house until late in the twentieth century when the family - descendants of the original family - decided to move back in after the family who farmed the property for them moved out into a smaller, more manageable and modernised part of the buildings.
Finally there is a very pretty bedroom opening off the chapel (via a small lobby with more lovely bookcases) which is where brides go to titivate when marrying in the chapel.
Markenfield Hall is one of very few mediaeval houses still completely surrounded by its moat, and by the time we had viewed the house the rain had temporarily ceased and I decided to do the moat walk. Joe opted for sitting in the car while I did this.
I ought just to mention that I forgot to take my camera, so these photographs are borrowed from a variety of websites including Markenfield's own, which is well worth reading. http://www.markenfield.com
