New Book | Life in an Eighteenth-Century Country House
From Amberley:
Peter and Carolyn Hammond, Life in an Eighteenth-Century Country House (Stroud,
Gloucestershire: Amberley, 2012) 160 pages, ISBN 978-1445608655, £13.
Grove House and its extensive estate in Chiswick were owned in the eighteenth century by Humphrey Morice, a not very successful politician and an animal lover. The story of the house has been reconstructed by Carolyn and Peter Hammond who have studied the country home for almost a decade.
A wealth of period detail comes from the rare survival of letters written by the head groom to the lord of the house while he was in Italy for his health. They are a window into the daily life on the estate, describing the rather turbulent relationships between the servants in the house and the sometimes exciting events from the outside world. There was an attempted armed robbery, the theft of the walnut crop and the arrival of the Poor Law officers from a neighbouring parish to attempt to force one of the stable lads to pay for an illegitimate child he had apparently fathered…
Here is real life in the country house during the period of English history, immortalized by the fiction of Jane Austen.
Discussion | Perspectives on the English Country House
The National Trust & Apollo present
Perspectives on the English Country House: Preserving our Cultural Heritage
The National Portrait Gallery, London, 23 September 2013
This event celebrates the publication of this year’s National Trust Historic Houses and Collections Annual. The journal features essays that bring to light the great range of research currently being undertaken at the Trust’s properties, giving us a better and deeper perspective on its work.
Speakers include:
Simon Jenkins, Chairman of the National Trust
Oscar Humphries, Publisher of Apollo Magazine
Nicky Haslam, English interior designer
Robert Sackville-West, on his ancestral home, Knole House
Professor Maurice Howard, speaking about The Vyne
Chaired by Oscar Humphries, Publisher of Apollo Magazine, and Simon Jenkins, Chairman of the National Trust, this panel discussion will examine the personal stories behind a number of great houses, exploring the different ways in which people are connected to, or have been influenced by them – whether that means shaping their aesthetics, their cultural politics, or their academic research.
Discussion begins 7pm. Drinks reception afterwards. Tickets £20. Click here to book tickets.
Enfilade 
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