I wrote briefly yesterday about the changes which have been made during the refurbishment of Castle Howard and now have access to images which show the changes.

The most interesting change is the reconstruction of the Tapestry Drawing Room on the south front, one of the rooms which was completely burnt out in the disastrous fire in the early hours of the morning of 9 November 1940 when the house was occupied by a girl’s boarding school. The tapestries which had hung there were rescued, but the room itself remained a burn-out shell. So, the question was whether or not it should be restored as an exact replica of the room as it was immediately before the war, following the evidence of the photographs taken by Country Life. A decision was taken to recreate the room as it might originally have been, as designed by Vanbrugh, helped by the survival of the tapestries. This is what Francis Terry has done so remarkably successfully:-

Issues or restoration are often treated as a straight choice: does one restore something as it was, as was done following the fire at Uppark? Or does one keep it as a managed ruin, as is happening at Clandon?

What has been done at Castle Howard is interesting in showing another way of doing it – an inventive, but not archaeological reconstruction, which keeps the spirit of the original, but not as a precise replica.

It was the launch today of Castle Howards’s 21st. Century Renaissance, a comprehensive rehang, refurbishment, and in small but significant ways, a reinvention of its interiors: starting with the visitors’ entrance where the family portraits have been replaced by objects from the 4th. Earl’s Grand Tour:-

Then the run of bedrooms in the Thomas Robinson west wing which have been comprehensively redone – and beautifully – by Remy Renzullo:-

Then (but for some reason I didn’t take photographs) the Tapestry Drawing Room has been completely and magnificently recreated by Francis Terry in the style of Vanbrugh: not a reconstruction, but a reinvention, done with great sensitivity and historical intelligence.  A very interesting precedent for historic interiors.

The last Easter light on Snowdon:-

Happy Easter to all my readers:-

St. Mechell is a saint I have never heard of before: a miracle worker of the sixth century who turned thieves to stone and founded a clas, a type of small monastery, in Llanfechell in the north part of Anglesey.  The church is long and narrow with an unusual and distinctive pepper pot spire which was apparently added in the eighteenth century:-

We were tipped off that there is a butcher’s in Valley, an unlikely spot for a shop that is remarkable both for the quality of its meat and, more unexpectedly, a superb, almost museum quality, selection of kitchen knives, sharpeners and pots and pans, a definite addition to Anglesey’s gastronomic opportunities:-

https://www.angleseyfinefoods.co.uk/about

We went down to the beach to watch the sun go down:-

It’s a long time since we’ve been in Anglesey for the bluebells.  We went to see them in the woods on the Vaynol estate where one can walk through to Y Felinheli along a track which runs alongside the Menai Straits:-

There were lambs in the fields as well:-

I went to have another, proper look at the new project by Amin Taha on Greville Street just west of Farringdon Station.  It’s a fascinating development, re-using the existing concrete frame and then covering it with aluminium sheets which makes it a curious and unexpected re-invention of its previous history:-

And at the back:-