Up to the main entrance with its tremendous columns, and into what was once an amazing entrance hall. In the Victorian age Lord Dudley was the owner, and often was host to the aristocracy, including the Prince of Wales, giving sumptuous parties. At Christmas it is said that he had the Christmas Tree in the 69ft ballroom hung with precious jewellery, from which the lady guests could choose a piece to take home with them! That's my kind of party!
When you go through the house to the back you catch a glimpse - and then
Dudley commissioned the leading garden designer W A Nesfield to provide him with a suitably grand srrounding, and James Forsyth created the magnificent fountain 'Perseus and Andromeda'. The main jet in this fountain reaches at least 90', and there are lots of smaller ones, all pumped from a nearby pool - in turn supplied by a reservoir over half a mile away and 100' above house level. I had been looking forward to seeing this amazing structure - but in reality it exceeded all expectations.
As if this is not enough there is something else worth seeing at Witley - and that is the Church.
Although a tiny parish church it is said to be the finest baroque church in England - please enlarge the photos to see the exquisite detail, I was lost for words.
Nice to hear from you again, we're having a "Staycation" this year too, being very lazy, walking, eating nice food, but we are planning a day out next week and though we might go to Hampton Court which we've never visited. There are so many attractions on our doorstep yet we've not seen half of them! Witley Court looks an impressive house, and that water feature is amazing. How the other half lived (and still do!)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the rest of the summer, hope you have some more nice days out.
Nice to see you are back. I've never heard of Witley Court but it certainly looks worth a visit. Enjoy your staycation, at least you won't be suffering from sunstroke here!!
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