The stable block was designed by James Gibbs in 1736. It has been converted to private dwellings.
10 Comments CherryPie on Mar 20th 2013
[Capability] Brown changed the direction of the approach to the house and merged the five separate pools into the central lake, which he crossed with two new bridges. The Upper Bridge of 1770, guarded by four lead sphinxes, is thought to have been designed either by Brown or by architect Robert Adam.*
*From the Compton Verney Grounds leaflet.
10 Comments CherryPie on Mar 19th 2013
The house at Compton Verney is quite different from the stately homes I usually visit. The house has been transformed to its former glory, but within the walls you will find an art gallery rather than seeing the house as it would have been when it was inhabited.
Until the early twentieth century Compton Verney was home to the Verney or Willoughby de Broke family for almost 500 years. It has now been transformed from a derelict eighteenth-century mansion into a gallery of international standing, offering a combination of high quality attractions and facilities. The project took ten years to complete and over twenty gallery spaces have been created. Compton Verney is unique in that it is a place where art, architecture, landscape and learning fuse, to offer the visitor an experience that is completely integrated and accessible.
The project worked for me, but that doesn’t mean I like all of the art that is displayed there 
10 Comments CherryPie on Mar 18th 2013
The wave is not the water.
The water merely told us about the wave moving by.
R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983)
14 Comments CherryPie on Mar 17th 2013
A sign board near to the Ice House gives the following information:
Lancelot ‘Capability Brown’ started work at Compton Verney for the 14th Baron Willoughby de Broke in 1768.
This Ice House was built as a picturesque incident on the new drive in 1772, almost certainly to Brown’s dosing. Positioned amidst shrubbery in order to shade the building from the heat, the final payments for the structure in November 1772 included 15s 2d to a William Harris for thatching the roof.
During the winter, servants would cut blocks of ice from the lake and store them below ground in the ice house, between insulating layers of straw. Ice would then be removed as needed for cooking and entertaining during the summer month.
The Ice House’s roof was removed in the nineteenth century, and the opening covered with a brick dome. In 2010 the building was expertly restored thanks to generous financial support from Natural England.
10 Comments CherryPie on Mar 16th 2013
A Light Exists in Spring
A light exists in spring
Not present on the year
At any other period.
When March is scarcely hereA color stands abroad
On solitary hills
That science cannot overtake,
But human nature feels.It waits upon the lawn;
It shows the furthest tree
Upon the furthest slope we know;
It almost speaks to me.Then, as horizons step,
Or noons report away,
Without the formula of sound,
It passes, and we stay:A quality of loss
Affecting our content,
As trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a sacrament.by Emily Dickinson
The ‘light’ gallery can be found here.
4 Comments CherryPie on Mar 15th 2013
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