I was told that my bath would have one of the great views of England and indeed it did:  out across the lawns to the north of the house towards the Great Lake, which was dug out by the fifth Earl when he had recovered his finances some time in the 1790s and, beyond that, to the estate village of Coneysthorpe and, in the distance, the Howardian Hills:-

Looking out of the other window, I could enjoy Vanbrugh’s playful pinnacles, like chessmen, on the south front as the sun came up over the parapet:-

To the north, I saw the Pyramid, constructed in memory of Lord William Howard, across the nineteenth-century parterre:-

And across the parterre and South Lake to the mausoleum:-

Before breakfast, I went on a brisk, early morning pilgrimage out along the terrace to the Temple of the Four Winds and across the fields to the mausoleum.   I love the Temple of the Four Winds, so crisp, so controlled, Vanbrugh at the end of his life answering his critics who regarded him as incapable of understanding Palladianism:-

The lead Sibyls were supplied by Carpentière:-

It’s hard to photograph Daniel Garret’s bridge:-

Then up to the mausoleum:-

And back for breakfast:-