Northamptonshire Country Houses

7 September 2022

3 days from £1,195pp

Stay in the historic Grade I listed Rushton Hall.
Private dining in the library room.
Visit to Drayton House by special arrangement.
Visits to private rooms not normally open to the public during our visits

A Study of the evolution of the English Country house offers a fascinating insight into how changing fashions in architecture and the decorative arts shaped the homes of some of the land’s most influential families. This tour takes in four of Northamptonshire’s finest country houses, including Kirby Hall, and Boughton House, Burghley and Drayton House. One of the great Elizabethan houses of England, Kirby Hall was begun in 1570 for Sir Humphrey Stafford, a descendent of the Earls of Stafford, although he died before the house was completed, and it was subsequently sold to Christopher Hatton, a gifted and ambitious courtier of Queen Elizabeth I. Boughton presents a remarkable blend of the intimate and the grand, with its palatial Versailles style frontage added by Ralph, 1st Duke of Montagu in the 1690s. Burghley, one of the largest and grandest houses of the first Elizabethan Age. Built and mostly designed by William Cecil, Lord High Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I, between 1555 and 1587. The core of Drayton House, built by Simon de Drayton c.1300, still survives, but the house is especially important for its transformation in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1770 the house passed to the Sackville family, when the 1st Viscount Sackville, who served as Secretary of State for America in Lord North’s cabinet during the American War of Independence, took ownership. It remains in his descendants’ hands to this day.

Day 1:
Choose from independent arrival at the hotel or pick up at Kettering rail station in the late morning. After lunch, by coach to Drayton House, where highlights of the incredible interior include the largest wooden spiral staircase in the country (c. 1680), and a unique embroidered State Bed dating from 1700 which survives in breathtakingly good, original and unrestored, condition. Outside, the full flowering of Baroque can be seen in William Talman’s splendid façade, as we enjoy a stroll through the gardens, which are of an interesting layout conforming to the Baroque style. We return to our hotel where we enjoy a pre-dinner talk followed by private dining in Rushton Hall’s historic library.
Day 2:
After breakfast we travel by coach to Kirby Hall, a highly important early flowering of true Classical architecture, and the first house in to use the ‘giant order’ in 1570. We will also explore the gardens, with the restored parterre featuring a special treat. After, we travel to Stamford for lunch and a visit to Burghley House with breath-taking staterooms, mainly due to two great collecting Earls. From the evocative Tudor interior of The Old Kitchen and the chapel that leaps into the 18th and 19th centuries, gives some idea of the lavish and extravagant scale of the country house entertaining.
Day 3:
By coach to Boughton House, where we have the opportunity to study especially fine furnishings including, Mortlake tapestries, marquetry tables, 16th-century carpets, in addition to the 1st Duke of Montagu’s architectural façade. The Duke rose to prominence when he succeeded his brother, Edward, as Master of the Horse to Queen Catherine, wife of Charles II, after Edward was dismissed for ‘showing attention to the queen of too ardent a nature’. After lunch, our tour concludes at your chosen point, Rushton Hall Hotel or Kettering rail stop.

Pick up at Kettering rail station or Rushton Hall Hotel.
Private coach transfers and excursions.
2 nights’ bed and breakfast in the 4* Rushton Hall Hotel and Spa.
One dinner and three lunches
Guided visits to sites listed in the programme.
Services of a lecturer and tour manager.
Detailed programme and study notes.
All entrance fees, taxes and gratuities for coach drivers and waiters.

Overview

A magnificent Grade I Listed Country House Hotel in Kettering, Rushton Hall is nestled in 25 acres of immaculate grounds and splendid 16th Century surroundings. Located in the county that boasts the largest number of stately homes in the UK, Rushton Hall offers guests the best of a luxury hotel and historic venue in Northamptonshire.