Felbrigg Hall, Gardens and Estate (National Trust Guide)

The sumptuous interiors created by James Paine for the Grand Tour collection of William Windham lie within a largely 17th-century building set within a beautiful park. An unusual feature of the house is the startling contrast between the Jacobean south front and the classicism of the late 17th-century west wing by William Samwell. The book introduces the various characters who have left their mark on the estate and its ancient church, the house and its contents: the feuding Wyndhams and Felbriggs; the Wyndham who captained the short-lived Mary Rose; William Windham I who planted thousands of trees under the influence of John Evelyn; the amorous entanglements of three William Windhams—the last fatal to the family’s ownership of the estate; and its salvation through the determination of Wyndham Ketton-Cremer and the last squire and scholar of 18th-century culture, Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer. The rooms and their principal contents are described and richly illustrated, and the final pages are devoted to the large walled garden with its octagonal dove-house, the park, and St Margaret’s church with outstanding medieval brasses.