Though these are primarily from a trip to Europe made over January-February, they are the centrepiece of my love for European - largely British - houses and palaces. They are hugely interesting to me, if not for just the people who have inhabited them over the ages, but for their architectural beauty too.

Britain



Peering over the Atlas Fountain to the south front of Castle Howard. Many of you will know that the house was used as the setting for the 1981 miniseries 'Brideshead Revisited'. In reality, it was commissioned in about 1699 by the 3rd Earl of Carlisle to a design by the playwright John Vanbrugh who with the assistance of Hawksmoor, built Castle Howard and it has become known as one of the finest examples of English Baroque.

Most peculiarly, the Earls of Carlisle have done little since then to warrant many pages in history, at least compared to their Whig cousins the Dukes of Devonshire. The house is still lived in today by the Hon. Simon Howard, his wife (whom I swear I saw peering at me from the windows of the gallery - I half-heartedly hoped that if I looked downtrodden enough she might let us in) and their two lucky children.



Blenheim Palace, built by and still lived in by the Dukes of Marlborough today. Like Castle Howard, it was designed by Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor, after Queen Anne created John Churchill a Duke and gave him 240 000 pounds to build a house for himself for winning the Battle of Blenheim in 1705. The rather more famous Sir Winston Churchill was born in the house.

The present Duke is in his 80s. We came across a photographer who told us that the Duke has been married four times and one of them, a Spanish or Italian countess has her own house on the estate. By the lake there was a run down house and as we walked up the path we came across a rather disgruntled looking old woman. We amusingly suggested to ourselves that perhaps this was the Duchess. It must be difficult having to live there with the epitome of splendour across the lake.

Additionally, we learned that in 1994, the Duke publicly disowned his son the Marquess of Blandford for his wild lifestyle. While the Marquess will inherit the title, the actual ownership and management of the estate will pass into the hands of the Duke's grandson, the Earl of Sunderland. Doubtless this is annoying for Blandford.



(From Wikipedia).

Chatsworth House is still today one of three houses inhabited by the Dukes of Devonshire. It grew to splendour during the days of Bess of Hardwick, arguably the most cunning woman of her age and not the sort you'd want to marry. It was expanded over the centuries as each Earl of Devonshire, and then Duke, grew massively richer. Some of you will know the fateful story of Georgina and the Fifth Duke of Devonshire, which I believe was made into a film not that long ago. The succession of the Sixth Duke saw a revival of the gardens under the guidance of his Head Gardener Joseph Paxton who was later the architect of the Crystal Palace.

Chatsworth played host to lavish dinner parties and balls. For much of the 18th century the Dukes of Devonshire represented the Whigs and through their complicity in the English Revolution of 1688, they were the epitome of that Whig ideal of consitutional monarchy.

Germany



Nymphenburg Palace is big, really, really big. There is an excellent sky view of the Palace on Wikipedia. I know little about the Palace's history except that it is the principal residence of Duke of Bavaria of the Wittelsbach family, provider of European monarchs for the last thousand years. The central part of the house is open to the public, but there also appeared to be a section occupied by a school and a series of apartments lived in by lesser beings.



Sanssouci is a neat little rococo house that was the former summer palace of Frederick the Great. It looks fantastic in summer, but it was unbelievably cold and miserable when we were there. The name comes from the French sans souci - meaning 'without worries' and one can see why. It's extremely pretty inside and just the sort of holiday house I could do with.

Frederick the Great was, of course, a military genius and was also the man responsible for making Prussia a slightly nicer place to live - if that were possible.


I do have various other houses to post about, but I'm extremely tired. I would welcome any of you to do the same though.