On Thursday my friend Gladys Nott (pictured above) and I went on a trip organised by Gainsborough’s House to Kenwood House in London and Copped Hall, which is close to Epping Forest , just off the M25.
The two houses offered great contrast. Kenwood of course is fantastically opulent, with many of the rooms decorated by Robert Adam and hung with absolutely top draw paintings. There are several stunning Gainsborough’s, including a wonderful picture that was found in his studio after his death of hounds hunting a fox. Gladys, it must be said, was more excited by the works by Joshua Reynolds, thinking that they demonstrated more variety of mood and technique. As a volunteer at Gainsborough’s House I cannot of course agree and thus support Thomas’s old rival. Anyway Reynolds, unlike Gainsborough who was an absolute perfectionist, didn’t mix his paints properly, which means that some of his paintings are now showing the effects of time.
Copped Hall is something completely different, and yet, despite the fact that it remains very much ‘restoration work in progress’ the sense of the skeleton of a fine stately home remains. A burnt out ruin in the mid 1980’s the Palladian Mansion (which is Grade II listed) was thought to be a lost cause. Alan Cox, the architect responsible for the recent renovation of Gainsborough’s House, has moved heaven and earth to rescue the mansion and part of its 800 acre park from the depredations of developers and the elements. It has been slow work, and has involved a good deal of lobbying of heritage groups, but thirteen years on it is now possible to discern the room plan of the original house. I last visited some four years ago, and initially thought that little progress had been made. Once inside, however, it is clear that a lot of work has been done, although there is nothing that yet resembles a finished room!
The Gardens have been massively improved, and it is alone worth a trip to Copped Hall to see the fantastic herbaceous border that stretches along the outer margin of a beautiful walled garden complete with fish pond.
Copped Hall is open to the public from time to time. For details visit the website: www.coppedhalltrust.org.uk.
Other pictures: The front of Copped Hall. Alan Cox in the main bedroom. Much work still to be done! The roof of the 'Grand Saloon'.
