Connoisseur Study Day Burton Constable Hall 16th October 2018

To celebrate the Chippendale 300 Festival a party from The Arts Society Wensleydale visited Burton Constable Hall, near Hull. On arrival at the front of this stunningly beautiful Elizabethan Mansion, we were greeted and given coffee in the great hall.

The morning was spent being shown the Chippendale furniture in the house by Dr Adam Bowett (Chairman of the Chippendale Society and author of books on the craftsman). With the detailed letters and bills the history of pieces was built up, some commissioned for the Constables' town house in Mansfield Place, London, and other designed especially for the hall.

After a delicious homemade lunch we were able to spend the afternoon exploring the house, Capability Brown parkland, and stable block, which houses the 58' skeleton of a sperm whale washed up on the shoreline in 1825: maybe the inspiration for Moby Dick. The hall houses fascinating collections of art and furniture, decorations, instruments and family curiosities. It is the most welcoming home, as are the helpful staff, and we had a most enjoyable day with them.

                                                                                                                        J H-V

                                                                                 Photographs by courtesy of Robert Hall