Welbeck Abbey will open its doors to visitors over three seasons this year, giving unprecedented access to this stately home.
Now taking place in spring, early summer and late summer, the Welbeck Abbey State Room Tours offer visitors the opportunity to see the beautiful interiors at Welbeck Abbey. The guided tours include six of the State Rooms that were used to entertain royalty, dignitaries and politicians.
Highlights from these rooms include a spectacular soaring Gothic plasterwork ceiling, the vibrantly coloured, tapestry-lined ‘Red Drawing Room’, and the De László room, named after the famous society painter Philip de László (who was a regular visitor).
The tours also include rooms used by the Cavalier and Royalist, William Cavendish, in the 17th century. The tours lead through to an extraordinary curved corridor, library, and chapel – regarded as the greatest decorative ensemble from the Arts and Crafts movement in an aristocratic house in Britain.
As well as viewing the architecture and interior design in the Abbey, visitors will be able to see works from the historic Portland Collection of art in situ. Works on show in the tour include:
- An Angel Contemplating the Cross, by Sir Joshua Reynolds. This beautiful painting is hung above the altar in the Private Chapel at Welbeck Abbey and was part of a design for a window in the chapel at New College, Oxford.
- The Greendale Oak cabinet, 1727. This cabinet is made from wood from the enormous Greendale Oak, which had a circumference of over 35 feet. Lord Harley made a bet that he had a tree so large that a coach could be ridden through a hole cut through its trunk. This piece was made from the wood removed from The Greendale Oak for Lord Harley to win this bet. The cabinet is inlaid with scenes of a carriage being ridden through the tree. See it in the Entrance Hall.
- Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles Harley, by Godfrey Kneller, 1714. See this towering portrait of Lady Henrietta out riding, on show in the House Library.
With just 16 tickets per tour and allowing ample time to spend in each room, The Welbeck Abbey State Room Tours offer a very special experience to explore this historical hidden gem.
Tours run twice daily at 10.00am and 1.30pm. Spring tours run from 29th March to 16th April, early summer tours run from 21st June to 12th July and late summer tours run from 23rd August to 11th September. All dates exclude Mondays. Tickets cost £30.00 per person; visit www.harleygallery.co.uk for further information and to book.