to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it toward others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will be in our troubled world.

Etty Hillesum

The Landscape at Croome was not made as an afterthought. House and garden here form an integrated design. The park may be in the naturalistic style, based partly on the landscape paintings of Claude Gellee ‘le Lorraine’ and Nicolas Poussin and partly on ‘Capability’ Brown’s native Northumberland scenery, replacing the formal patterns of earlier periods, but every element in it is in fact orchestrated. The house and the lake, the follies, temples and statues, the parkland and the river are all carefully arranged in relation to each other.*

*From the Croome guide book

Within the Church of St Mary Magdalene shrubbery, the ice house that served Croome Court can be found. The ice house became overgrown and filled with rubble when it ceased to be used in 1915.

The thatched roof was partly a decorative touch to make the building blend in with its surroundings but it also fulfilled a practical function of keeping it cool. More than two thirds of the building is below ground. The depth of the Ice House is 24 feet which is a surprising drop. The Ice House worked rather like a thermos flask. The walls are double-skinned, and ice would have been taken from a nearby pond in winter and packed into the chamber, which was lined with straw for extra insulation. Throughout the summer the ice from the Ice House would have been used to preserve food and cool drinks as well as to create ice creams and sorbets.*

*From the National Trust Croome Handbook

The original medieval church was considered, by the 6th Earl of Coventry and Capability Brown (who landscaped the estate) to be too close to the house and was demolished. A new church was built in 1763 which incorporates interior masonry and timbers from the old church. The exterior of the church was designed by Capability Brown in imitation of the ‘Gothic Style’, whilst the interior was designed by Robert Adam in a ‘Georgian Gothic’ style. As part of his design Adam had suggest stained glass windows but instead the church has clear glass in its windows.

The Coventry family cared for the church until 1949 when the house passed out of the family, and they are commemorated by a series of magnificent monuments. By the late 1960s the building was no longer viable as a parish church and was placed in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust in 1975.*

The 6th Earl had the tombs of four of his ancestors moved here from the demolished church and installed in the chancel. The bodies of the Coventrys, including the 6th Earl, are buried in a vault beneath the Church, which could be accessed via a secret passage at the side of the building, marked with the words Candide et Constanter, the family motto. Not all of the ancestors appear to have been moved, so it is assumed that there are many more still under the soil near the house.. **

The new Church was built on higher ground so that it could be visible from many parts of the estate.

*The Churches Conservation Trust

**From the National Trust, Croome handbook