Kingston Lacy part I

. This one has been on my phone since just after Christmas and I just haven’t had the chance to upload it yet. It’s probably one of the most impressive national trust properties I’ve been to yet and they had a gorgeous Christmas display.

Kingston Lacy was an opulent family home built to resemble a Venetian Palace. Its owner was a keen traveller and also worked as an Egyptologist so there is an entire section in the basement dedicated to his finds which, is actually the largest private collection in the Uk and two obelisks in the garden he went to huge effort and expense to get over to the Uk.

The estate was owned by the Bankes family who over the decades built, altered, embellished and rebuilt their house. Their wealth came mostly from their properties and profitable marriages, including inherited wealth from Caribbean plantations supported by the Atlantic slave trade. William John Bankes created the house we know today between 1834 and his death in 1855. A lot of it was re modelled remotely from Venice as he was In exile for his homosexuality which, at that time punishable by death. One of the stand out features is the incredible detail and opulence of the ceilings, every one of them is just incredible. The house is home to a number of paintings by renowned artists like Rubens, Van Dyck, Titian and Brueghel, the house is a miniature ‘national gallery’ for the South West.

I absolutely loved this shadow instillation they had up. I like how the National trust incorporates new artists into their historic houses.