The Stately Homes of North Norfolk

Private tour with a curator of Holkham Hall, created by Thomas Coke who became the 1st Earl of Leicester in 1744. See Norfolk’s largest private estate of over 25,000 acres owned by the present heir, Tom Coke, who is the 8th Earl of Leicester. Holkham sprawls majestically a mile from the windswept coast. This ‘palace’ is unique in the UK and complete with its original superlative paintings collected by the young Thomas Coke who, aged 15, had set off on his 6-year Grand Tour. Enter through the magnificent Marble Hall with its amazing coffered ceiling and continue to the opulent Saloon and principal reception rooms. Each sumptuous room delights with treasures, tapestries and fabulous paintings (Batoni, Claude, Poussin, Gainsborough and Hondecoeter). With his vast fortune, a keen eye and a deep love of the arts, Thomas Coke also assembled a remarkable gallery of Roman sculptures. See the Library designed by William Kent and its Roman mosaics. Time permitting, walk by the lake to the 18th-century restored vegetable garden and the beautiful Grade II Victorian Vinery by Samuel Wyatt where citrus trees overwinter.

Lunch privately with Sarah, Countess of Leicester, former chatelaine of Holkham Hall. She lives on the estate at Model Farm some fields away. See Sarah’s Sculptures (personally made by Sarah) – these are highly finished reproductions of the original Roman sculptures at Holkham. Return to Burnham Market. Light dinner at a local restaurant.

Private tour with a curator of Houghton Hall. See the finest example of palladian architecture in the UK – the stately home of the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley. Built without regard to cost in the 1720s for Sir Robert Walpole, Britain’s first Prime Minister, all the furnishings and interiors by the supremely talented William Kent are unusually well-preserved in the sumptuously English baroque State Rooms. Kent’s masterpiece is the cube-shaped ‘Stone Hall’ with a remarkable plaster ceiling. See rare tapestries, exuberantly carved marble fireplaces and the White Drawing Room with Louis XV tables laden with Sèvres porcelain. This lavish country seat, surrounded by a 7,500-acre estate, is one of England’s priceless jewels – a temple to classical sculpture. In 2013, the Exhibition Houghton Revisited was the focus of world attention when Walpole’s famed art collection (sold in 1779 to Catherine the Great for her Hermitage) returned to hang in their original settings at Houghton Hall. The park is famous for its white deer and has become famous for its changing display of striking contemporary sculptures and art and installations. See the award-winning 5-acre walled garden winner of the Historic Houses Association / Christie’s Garden of the Year Award.

Lunch privately, very close by, with the Earl and Countess of Romney (Julian and Cici) in their converted farmhouse. Return to Burnham Market. Time at leisure to explore Burnham Market. Dinner under own arrangements.

Visit Sandringham House – the house that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert bought in 1862 for their son, the Prince of Wales, and which has remained the much-loved home of the Royal Family. The rooms and furnishings have been left as when H.M. The Queen and H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh used them when in residence (December to January for the pheasant shooting and Christmas). See the fine family portraits by Winterhalter and Luke Fildes, court painters of their era, in the drawing room. King Charles has had a new climate-friendly Topiary Garden planted (by the award -winning landscape designers Landform) on the west side of the house. Once the site of a formal ‘Parterre’ Garden and afterwards used for crops as part of the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign during WW2, this acre of garden now has a decorative aspect. Walk to St. Mary Magdalene Church where the Royal Family worship when in residence. The pretty medieval church is one of the finest examples of carrstone buildings in north west Norfolk. Of note are the carved wooden angels framing the 17th-century silver altar, the 9th-century Greek font and the striking late 16th-century stained glass windows.

Lunch under own arrangements at Sandringham’s café. Group transfer to King’s Lynn Station. Suggested train departing King’s Lynn at 14.42 hrs arriving King’s Cross St. Pancras at 16.32 hrs.