I have visited an impressive number over the years and would be hard-pressed to name a favourite. But there's no doubt that a strong contender for the top slot is Norfolk's magnificent Holkham Hall.For a county slightly off the main foreign tourist track, Norfolk is awash with country house stars. There's Robert Walpole's place at Houghton Hall, a gem of the English Baroque. Tudor Blickling was home to the Boleyns and Jacobean Felbrigg is a jewel box you could see yourself moving right in to. But Holkham dwarfs them all.
Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (of the fifth creation of that particular title) spent his 20s on a protracted grand tour during which he fell in love with the Palladian style, bought huge amounts of art, antiquities and furniture, and made friends with people like William Kent and Lord Burlington, who were later to popularise the look across British high society. At Holkham you see the perfect expression of Palladianism.
From the outside it has all the dignity and austerity of a Roman Republican senator, who might easily mistake it for a grand bath complex. Walk through the front doors and you're still in ancient Rome, but now it's the lavish and decadent days of empire. To my mind this is the greatest entrance hall in the country, with its colonnade around the upper story, the semi-circular apse at one end with the grand staircase cutting through it and rising to the doors of the grand saloon. Once you've recovered your breath and lifted your dropped jaw, you start making your way through room after room of lavish decor, all consistently reflective of the symmetry, decorative detail and classical obsessions of the early 18th century.
There's a rare and fantastic round dining table that expands and contracts with the clever insertion and removal of pieces. Several remarkable canopied beds. A quiet and dignified sculpture gallery. A comfortable and lush library suite. The art collection includes easily recognisable pieces like Rubens' "Return from Egypt", Vasari's portrait of Leo X and Gainsborough's "Coke of Norfolk". While the masterpieces are great, my favourite bit of this art collection is the portraiture. Most of the Cokes insisted on being painted with their dogs; centuries of canines of all shapes and sizes, sharing the limelight and gazing adoringly at their masters. Any family that likes dogs AND Palladian architecture can do little wrong in my eyes.
Throughout the house, guides are happy to bring the place to life with stories about your surroundings or the family. Both are fascinating. You can learn about the Georgian obsession with decorative pairing ... either similar or opposite things ... then look out throughout the house as you spot pairs like a bust of stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius across from bad boy hedonist Caracalla. You can discover which rooms were used for which films, and what the stars were like when they came to visit. Don't miss the 19th century family scandal when the
60-something "Coke of Norfolk", long widowed, married his teenage ward. Or the fabulous story of the creation of the lake: After 13 years of 30 men digging constantly, the earl decided it just wasn't right and got them back on in to double the size of the original.The final lake is a wonderful trick of perspective. By starting and ending it around curves beyond sight of the front door, the designers created something that appears to be a broad river stretching to places unknown. All of the earth moved out went to reshape the landscape around, turning an unremarkable, swampy coastal plain into a classic 18th century English Arcadia. If the boat is running, do spend the little bit extra to go out for a ride and hear all the tales the boatman has at his fingertips.
From its austere facade to its magnificently lush interior, to its genial, well-informed staff and its magnificent grounds, Holkham is all that is magical about the English Country House. If you are ever anywhere near this part of the country, make the effort to get there. You won't regret it.
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