News from home: the saving of Apethorpe Palace. A triumph for English cultural and country life alike

The 20th century was a time of great tragedy for the English country house. Across the country, grand mansions were razed to the ground as they became too expensive to run, their owners bankrupted by death duties and crippled by a changing world that rendered the old order of squire and servants obsolete. Architectural masterpieces were reduced to piles of rubble, their contents dispersed. Coleshill in Berkshire by Sir Roger Pratt, the first country house to have a double-pile plan with bisecting corridor, the magnificent London mansion of the Dukes of Devonshire, Deepdene in Surrey with its glorious ornamental gardens: all were destroyed. Many now exist only in archives, including that belonging to Country Life magazine, and in the pages of books such as England’s Lost Houses by Giles Worsley. Forty years ago this year, the heartbreaking exhibition at the V&A museum in London entitled ‘The Destruction of the Country House’ brought home just how many architectural treasures had been lost to the maw of money-saving and modernisation.

The south front of Apethorpe Palace, now safe from ruin

Thankfully, things have improved and the great homes of Britain are now preserved by legions of dedicated private owners supported by the Historic Houses Association, not to mention the public bodies of the National Trust and English Heritage. Finding the money to keep the roof secure may still be a headache (when will the Government see sense and introduce VAT relief on repairs and restoration of old buildings?!), but paying visitors and innovative estate businesses mean many important houses have been saved. Now, another disaster has been averted with the sale of Apethorpe Palace in Northamptonshire to Jean-Christophe Iseux, Baron von Pfetten of Selore in Burgundy, France. He will dedicate himself and his family to restoring the Grade I-listed Jacobean palace to its former glory. Dr Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, calls Apethorpe ‘unquestionably one of England’s great houses’, and its preservation is to be celebrated.

The Baron and Baroness von Pfetten and their daughter, Charlotte

Apethorpe’s importance derives from the architectural details that survive from almost every period of history, particularly its set of Jacobean state rooms, one of the most complete in the country. They are redolent of its glory days around the turn of the 17th century, when 13 royal visits were made between 1565 and 1636. Sir Walter Mildmay, the highest-paid civil servant under Elizabeth I, welcomed his queen here in 1566, and his son Anthony first entertained  James I in 1603. It is said that it was here that the king met his future favourite, George Villiers, later Duke of Buckingham in 1614; two interconnecting bedrooms are known as the King’s Chamber and the Duke’s Chamber. Sir Anthony’s son-in-law, Sir Francis Fane, was granted timber from the crown forest to remodel the state apartments, including the Withdrawing Chamber, Great Chamber and Long Gallery, ‘for the more commodious entertainment of his Majesty and his company at his repair into those parts for his princely recreation there’, proof of the king’s admiration for the house. Sadly, most of the work was completed after James’s death in 1625.

The Long Gallery today and (below) in 1909, 

when it was photographed for Country Life magazine 

Courtesy of the Country Life Picture Library

Apethorpe’s subsequent history was less illustrious. It remained in the Fane family until 1904, when it was sold into the Brassey family, who employed Sir Reginald Blomfield to restore its 17th-century character. In 1949, the Brasseys sold it to a school, which added inappropriate modern buildings. When the school left, it was acquired by a private owner in 1982, who never occupied it and allowed it to decay. Over the succeeding two decades, it began to crumble, neglected and ignored but for the vital ministrations of caretaker George Kelley. English Heritage placed it on the At Risk register in 1989, and, after lengthy public enquiries and legal wrangling, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport acquired it by compulsory purchase in 2004. Since then, £8 million worth of repairs have been carried out to save the magnificent plaster ceilings and shore up the masonry, but there is a tremendous amount still to do, which will fall to Baron von Pfetten. The work will be of importance to all, as Dr Thurley points out: ‘Baron von Pfetten has agreed to an 80-year commitment of 50 days public opening a year, a far more extensive undertaking than the normal period of 10 years in the case of English Heritage grant-aided properties.’ Thus this seminal building will reach a wider audience than ever before.

The glorious Jacobean plasterwork 

of the King's Room at Apethorpe Palace

Courtesy of the Country Life Picture Library

I have no doubt that Baron von Pfetten will rise to the challenge. I say this with authority, because he has been a great friend of mine for years, and I am honoured to be a member of his private hunt, the Equipage de Selore, based in a wild, lonely, beautiful part of Burgundy in the heart of France. It is a place where the centuries fall away, where nothing matters but the thrill of the chase. Amid the deep, dark Foret du Briffault, 10,000 acres of forest laid out for hunting before the Revolution, we follow roe deer and foxes along arrow-straight tracks, over ditches and fallen trees, through bogs and undergrowth, past piles of timber destined for wine barrels, with not a sound to be heard but the beat of the horses’ feet and the distant music of the hounds. It’s not like English hunting, where followers keep together and at a distance, shadowing the field master to stay in touch and watching the action unfold across field and moor. In Burgundy, everyone must keep their wits about them, their horse’s head pointing towards the quarry, their ears open and their mouths shut. There’s no coffee-housing here – everyone must help Jean-Christophe, as master and huntsman, keep up with a pack of fast, independent blanc-et-noir hounds that are quite capable of leaving everyone behind. It’s a thrilling experience: mist rising from the damp ground, an occasional buck leaping across an open space, the deep echo of the hounds’ voices reverberating through the trees. 

Alistair Campbell (former joint-master), Baron von Pfetten and joint-master 

Prince Georg von Sachsen-Weimar with Baroness von Pfetten 

and one-year-old Charlotte at Selore

Moving off into the forest at Briffault

A typical forest track, to be taken at full gallop...

unless the sun comes out - a rare occurrence!

Blowing a fanfare at the pre-hunting Blessing of the Hounds

on St Hubert's Day in November

Nadia and Jean-Christophe at the Blessing of the Hounds

Jean-Christophe on Java at Selore, with Gallant, 

second at the World Dog Show 2011

Back at Château de Selore, dinner for humans is only partaken after the hounds have been fed, whereupon everyone repairs to a dining room now fully restored to its 18th-century splendour. Jean-Christophe and his Italian wife, Nadia, a trained architect, have restored the state rooms at Selore over 10 years, opening up the chapel, relaying the floors and repainting the decoration on the beamed ceilings in dining rooms, drawing rooms and ballroom in their original rich colours and delicate patterns. It is a process that has given them an ideal preparation for tackling Apethorpe, both in the technical expertise needed and in the patience required to cope with a lengthy, painstaking job.  

Château de Selore in Burgundy, where Jean-Christophe 

has restored the superb painted state rooms

Success in the field is matched on the flags: Jean-Christophe with

Colonel '08, the first foxhound to be crowned Champion of Champions 

at World Dog Show in Brussels, 2011

The summer puppy show at Selore: judges Pierre Astier (president 

of the French Hound Club) and Georg von Sachsen-Weimar with

Jean-Christophe and Fromen, champion bitch, and Faisant, champion dog

For those concerned by the idea of another dreaded ‘foreigner’ taking over an historic English house, fear not. There are already many strong connections between this ancient European family and their adopted country – the clincher being that they subscribe to Country Life, always a good sign. Jean-Christophe is well respected in the English hunting world and the Selore pack includes English hounds, drafts from packs such as the Duke of Beaufort’s and the Brocklesby. He serves as a joint-master of the Woodland Pytchley, the kennels of which lie not far from Apethorpe, and his small daughter, Charlotte, will no doubt soon be following in her father’s footsteps. An Anglophile French baron and local MFH: an ideal combination for the saviour of a Jacobean marvel. Ten years after the British Government intervened to save Apethorpe from total ruin, a new and happy chapter looks set to begin. 

Me, Jean-Christophe, Georg, Madame and Antonia Cosby

mud-bespattered and Champagne in hand!

Can cars be art? An honest thief, Lewis Hamilton's blistering drive and Silver Arrows at Carmel

Finding an empty space where your car should be is a horrible feeling, sending your heart to your boots and a cold hand to your stomach. Such was the case for a friend of mine when his car was stolen from a Nob Hill street recently, and the police were sympathetic but pessimistic as to the chances of finding it. But at 2.11am a couple of days later, heart and spirits were lifted by the news that his car had been found, undamaged, only a few blocks away, and would he come and pick it up. It had been left on a street that was being cleared for cleaning and when a traffic warden scanned the license plate, an alert came up that it was stolen. It was a reassuring example of a system actually working, and things got even better when he noticed a sticker noting an oil change. The garage confirmed that the thief had indeed, in the single day the car had been in his possession, changed the oil. A considerate criminal indeed!

Huntington Square, with the Pacific Union Club and the Fairmont Hotel 

crowning Nob Hill. Not a place one associates with car thieves

It’s been a good few weeks in the motoring world all round. Last Sunday, Lewis Hamilton took the driver’s crown in the Formula 1World Championship for the second time. The heat of Abu Dhabi and the glitter of the glamorous, almost vulgar, circuit meant nothing to him as he swooped his Mercedes around the track, not for an instant bothered by another car - and, thankfully, there was no artificial result from the double points on offer. It was a dominant end to a thrilling season that has defied the naysayers with all the ingredients of a great championship – bitter rivalry, brilliant mechanical design, young pretenders, a faltering old guard, dramatic crashes, political shenanigans, money worries and even tragedy, in the form of an horrific accident that put talented young Marussia driver Jules Bianchi into a coma. It was a reminder that, even if the bad old days of multiple deaths in tin-can cars are long gone, this is still a dangerous sport requiring lightning reflexes, unwavering concentration and untiring strength. People may grumble that Formula 1 is all about computers, a procession of machines fuelled by staggering amounts of money, and yes, it does have those elements, but no one who has watched Hamilton’s rise from karting king to the top of the podium in 2014 could deny that he deserves his crown. He’s unfailingly honest, sometimes too open but always genuine, and his rivalry with teammate Nico Rosberg had been compelling. Rosberg was a worthy opponent, despite the odd dodgy moment (puncturing Hamilton’s tire in Belgium), but in the end, 11 wins to five is pretty convincing. Further down the grid, cheerful Daniel Ricciardo brought the champion Sebastian Vettel down a peg or two, ‘Iceman’ Kimi Raikkonen never warmed up and English gentleman Jenson Button proved his worth – it will be a great disappointment if he finds no seat next year. Watching races, I still get the same thrill I felt hearing the engines from our television compound at Silverstone, where I worked for production company HayFisher during the British Grand Prix for several years. Whether under monsoon rains in Brazil or baking sun in Texas, Formula 1 is about more than machines, it’s about men, the fastest men in the world.

The entrance to the Formula 1 Paddock at Silverstone, England

The seat-of-your-pants excitement of the early years of the Mercedes team has been captured this year in a project that re-creates 12 dramatic scenes from the racetracks of the 1930s. The artworks commemorate 80 years of the Silver Arrows, a name that was coined when team principal Alfred Neubauer ordered the white paint stripped off his Mercedes cars to meet the weight limit at the Nurburgring on June 3rd, 1934. The Silver Arrows Project, led by Jan Rambousek and Tomas Kopecny, uses a combination of photography and CGI, not to mention a full cast of extras: an appropriate method to celebrate the blend of design and mechanical excellence that goes into a racing car. It seems likely that the Silver Arrows will continue to dominate, so perhaps, in 80 years' time, another dedicated group of enthusiasts will be capturing this spectacular season with some other newly invented artistic method.

The Legend is Born: Nurburgring, Germany, 3 June, 19234

Stoned to Life: Lasarte, Spain, 22 September, 1935

Do the Donington Hop: Donington, England, 2 October, 1937

A Dampened Victory: Spa, Belgium, 25 June 1939

I saw the results of the Silver Arrows Project in California this summer, at an event that is all about the beauty of automobiles, where art and mechanics combine. The golf course at Pebble Beach in Carmel is open on Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Easter Day and every other day of the year to wealthy local residents who spend their time between the links and the club bar. Except for one day. When the Concours d’Elegance circus comes to town, the manicured greens are hidden beneath glittering rows of chrome, leather and polished walnut dashboards. This is the jewel in the crown of the classic-car calendar, when enthusiasts from all over the world compare stories of restorations and discoveries. There are horseless carriages from the 19th century, long-bonneted tourers from the 1920s and sleek Maseratis from the 1940s. Men in Panama hats converse knowledgeably about cylinders and hubcaps and go into raptures over the smallest detail, from Lalique crystal radiator covers to fretworked door panels. Elegant (and some underdressed) ladies sip Champagne and Campari, judges in dark-blue blazers peer into the depths of the dashboards and the roar of Bugatti and Ferrari engines echo from the displays of 21st-century power on the other side of the clubhouse. It's all in a good cause - it has just been announced that the amount raised for charity this year was a record $1.9 million, all of which goes to local groups such as the Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County, the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula and the Animal Friends Rescue Project. Philanthropy is alive and well in California, especially when there's a chance of a good day out at the same time.

A 1910 American Underslung Traveler Toy Tonnneau, 

winner of the Antique class

2014 Steve Burton/Used courtesy of Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

Lord Bamford's Rolls-Royce, 1937 Rolls-Royce 

Phantom III Vanvooren Sports Cabriolet, first in its class

2014 Steve Burton/Used courtesy of Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

The Rainbow Ruxtons, the result of a turbulent and ultimately abortive 

collaboration between architect-turned-set-designer Joseph Urban 

and William J. Muller to design the first front-wheel-drive passenger car. 

In the end, only 100 were made and only 19 still exist

1954 Ferrari 375 MM, Best in Show

Courtesy of 2014 Kimball Studios/Used courtesy of Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

My favourite car at the show was the epitome of mechanical beauty. Impeccably restored by Essex-based, family-run company P&A Wood (who also worked on Lord Bamford's Rolls-Royce), it was a vision of elegance in duck-egg blue and silver, with cut-glass carriage lamps and butter-soft leather seats. One of the oldest Rolls-Royce Silver Ghosts in the world, it was produced in 1908 and first owned by Charles Angas, who drove it all round the UK before taking it to his native Australia shortly before the First World War. Known as the Silver Dawn, its Roi des Belges tourer body was built by Barker coachbuilders, the company of choice for early Rolls-Royces. Still retaining its original chassis, engine, gearbox and axles, the Silver Dawn completed the 1,800-mile Centenary Alpine Trial last year, an event that commemorated the first Alpine Trial held to prove the Silver Ghost's reliability. No performance was sacrificed in the pursuit of beauty here.

The 1908 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Barker Roi des Belges, known as Silver Dawn 

Can I take it home, please?

The Top Gear boys have approached the question of whether cars can be art a couple of times in typically rumbunctious fashion, cobbling together an art gallery on one occasion and facing a panel of stony-faced art experts on another. Despite their fooling, they were all three convinced that yes, cars can be art, and I wholeheartedly agree. There is something beautiful in an object designed purely to perform as well as possible, whether a bridge, an aeroplane or even the wholly mechanical method of opening and closing the cell doors on Alcatraz. Honda picked up on this a few years ago with their sublime advertisement for the Honda Accord, in which every single part of the car is laid out to act in a domino effect to illustrate the slogan 'isn't it nice when things just work?'. With automobiles, aerodynamics and safety determine much of design (the new Minis might be safer with their endless supplies of airbags, but they're not nearly as attractive, or mini, as the originals), but within the bounds of performance there is infinite scope for beauty. At Carmel, the 100-year-old Daimlers and Bentleys were very different to the sleek, powerful concept cars of the future, but equally pleasing to the eye. If only I could be like American television host Jay Leno and fill a garage with examples of the most gorgeous cars ever made: vintage Rolls-Royces, E-types, battered Land Rovers, proper Minis... all testaments to their creators' visions of form and function. 

One of Silver Dawn's exquisite carriage lamps

The Spirit of Ecstasy and variations thereof: turning the humble 

bonnet/hood ornament into a thing of beauty

 

I'd be quite comfortable driving or reclining in these interiors!

Who said bodywork had to be plain?

Not sleek, but definitely stylish. The 1904 Turner-Miesse 10hp Rear-Entry

Tonneau, a steam car built by Thomas Turner & Co of Wolverhampton, England

American beauty: the classic Thunderbird lines of a Chevy convertible

Jay Leno with a bubble car at the Concours d'LeMons, the alternative

event at Carmel that celebrates the quirky, the odd and the downright bonkers

21st-century styling: the concept cars of McLaren and Mercedes

Me with my dream car: a buttercup-yellow E-type at Silverstone Classic

It will be fascinating to see if the Silver Arrows can streak away from the others in next year’s Formula 1 World Championship. Will McLaren find their form? Will Vettel return to the front? Will any of the smaller teams survive? Whatever happens, it’s a safe bet that the golf course of Carmel will become once again the magnet that draws the finest examples of automotive design in the world. 

Remembering the fallen at Grace Cathedral, celebrating Houghton Hall and tackling wild boar

The poppies fell, turning and twisting, catching the light as they tumbled down from the beams high above. The sweet strains of Amazing Grace filled the cathedral, voices lifted in a song of thanks for all those who fell where the poppies now grow in Flanders Field. I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat, thinking of friends in the British Army and the US Marines, and all those countless millions who went before them, fighting for our freedom.

The ribbons of Graced with Light by Anne Patterson,

through which the poppies fell

This was the Royal British Legion’s 36^th Annual Service of Remembrance at Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill in the heart of San Francisco. Representatives of The Queen, uniformed veterans  and members of British Commonwealth Associations joined the clergy in the procession, which entered through the splendid Doors of Paradise (replicas of those Ghilberti created for the Baptistry in Florence), and followed the Dunvegan Pipe Band up the aisle. Led by a solo piper, Honor Guards bore the Union Flag and the Stars and Stripes, together with the Wreath of the Unknown Warrior, and laid them reverently atop and before the altar. Acting Vice-Dean the Rev Canon Lesley Hay, Priya Guha, Her Majesty’s Consul-General to San Francisco, and Ewen McKechnie, vice chairman of the California branch of the Royal British Legion, welcomed the congregation, and readers included Nicholas Unkovic, president of the British American Business Council. The voice of the magnificent Alexander Memorial Aeolian-Skinner organ was augmented by the Salvation Army Band to lead Jerusalem and the National Anthems. The Navy Hymn, Eternal Father Strong to Save, was especially moving, as one of the last times I had sung it had been at my grandfather’s funeral, a great yet humble man who served with distinction in the British Admiralty. I had been concerned that I would be unable to mark Remembrance Sunday as fully as I usually do (in past years, I have attended memorable services at Hyde Park Corner and Holy Trinity Sloane Square), but I needn’t have worried. This is San Francisco, beloved of the British, and there are enough representatives of the old country here for me to feel right at home.

The noble bulk of Grace Cathedral with the Doors of Paradise

Looking down from the rafters to the altar

Links between Britain and the UK have been strengthened recently by an excellent exhibition at the Legion of Honor art gallery: ‘Houghton Hall,Portrait of an English Country House’. It opened at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, in June, is now in San Francisco (until January 18, 2015) and will then travel to the Frist Museum in Nashville, Tennessee (February 13 - May 20). At the Legion of Honor, the lower-ground-floor exhibition space has been transformed into Houghton Hall in miniature, with certain rooms of the Norfolk house evoked by backdrops replicating actual walls and a superb collection of artworks, silver, dress robes and furniture. It is an extraordinary and admirable collaboration between a great country house and the American art world. Built by James Gibbs and Colen Campbell for Sir Robert Walpole in the early 18th century, Houghton Hall has superb interiors by the sometimes undersung architect and designer William Kent, who considered every detail, from wall sconces to gilded armchairs, and whose clearly drawn plans are also on display. The rooms are set off by notable paintings, including works by Gainsborough and Velazquez, plus John Singer Sargent’s gorgeous portrait of Sybil Sassoon. Sybil, Marchioness of Cholmondeley, was the wife of Lord Rocksavage, 5th Marquess. The 4th Marquess had let Houghton out to paying tenants, taking advantage of the new-found fashion for Norfolk in the wake of the royal presence at Sandringham, and it was Sybil and 'Rock' who took back the Hall at the end of the First World War and set about making it ‘a divine place’. Their passion, together with Sassoon money, saw Houghton Hall transformed from a neglected house into an idyllic country home, full of beautiful things and alive with people, both the Cholmondeley’s growing family and endless guests. As early as 1921, Country Life published a series of four articles by venerable architectural editor H. Avray Tipping that show a house already restored to Rock’s vision of ‘comfort with style and elegance’. Today, Houghton Hall is home to David, the 7th Marquess, his wife Rose and their children, and their continuing custodianship ensures that this perfect Palladian house is both preserved and brimming with life. A magnificent and pleasingly readable book by Lord Cholmondeley and Andrew Moore accompanies the exhibition, the perfect accompaniment for a long winter evening by the fire.  

The superb book telling the story of Houghton Hall.

Calling it a 'catalogue' doesn't do it justice

I must confess to having one quibble: on the gallery website, a special ‘English tea service’ is listed as an addition to the (excellent) café’s usual menu, ‘complete with mini scones with marmalade and clotted cream’. Marmalade?! At teatime? Please no, strawberry jam only! Fyi, Americans, marmalade should only be consumed at breakfast. Thou shalt not mess with afternoon tea. 

The entrance court of the Legion of Honor

I have heard people sneer about the new tradition of theatre being shown as a live broadcast, but, watching a National Theatre Live Encore showing of Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller in the heart of San Francisco, I could only be thankful for whoever had the idea in the first place. Anything with Mr Cumberbatch is sold out instantly these days and not everyone can get to London in any case, so for those unlucky souls in the wilderness, these screenings are a godsend. Danny Boyle’s 2011 production was a triumph, the actors superb and the audience in tears, so to have it recorded for posterity is a joy. Nothing can compare with actually being there, with all the visceral emotion and atmosphere of live theatre, and a standing ovation feels odd if the actors can’t see you, but when you’re 5,000 miles from the stage, it’s a joy just to be able to see such a high-quality production. This may be California, but there many corners of this foreign field where England thrives.

A corner of England: Bath on a September afternoon

As I might have mentioned before, hunting is my preferred way to spend a winter’s day in the English countryside. I have been having serious pangs every time I glance at Facebook recently, as seemingly everyone I know has been attending opening meets and posting evocative photographs, so booking a day with the Santa Ynez Valley Hounds was imperative. Accordingly, I arranged the hire of a brave little black quarter horse called Tuff and set off behind huntsman Claire Buchy-Anderson and her pack of French blanc-et-noir, English and American hounds for some fantastic sport. Steep hills, thick sage brush, inviting coops (jumps) and wild boar rampaging in all directions made for a thrilling couple of days, with hounds giving tremendous voice and a soft drizzle obligingly improving the scent. There’s nothing like the feeling of a good horse under you when you’re crossing challenging country and there really is no better way to spend a day than in the saddle. You can take an English country girl out of the English countryside, but she’ll always find a way to get back there, even in California!

Huntsman Claire Buchy-Anderson

Tom Le Pley on point

Let's go! 

 

Spot the boar? Well hidden from the paparazzi

I've said it before, but it works: the finest view in California

The brilliant Tuff before the off

The view when the sun came out for an afternoon ride

Hound puppies! 10-day-old blanc-et-noir hounds

Claire Buchy-Anderson with one of the puppies, proud mum Egypt looking on