WEEKEND REFLECTIONS- Castle Coole (2)

This is Part 2 of the post about the National Trust property, Castle Coole.  I suggest, if you have not read yesterdays, you should start there as they are intertwined.  The 8^th Earl still resides on the Estate but in what was the Head Gardeners house although I am sure it has been up dated since then! Today, I will start back in the stable yard and this is the Belmore coach.  Notice the reflection of the fence in the wonderful refurbished paintwork.

Castle Coole is a magnificent neo-classical house that took ten years to build. It was completed in 1798.  Richard Johnston, an Irish architect, was initially commissioned and completed the design of the basement. Johnston however was later dismissed in favour of the more popular and fashionable English architect James Wyatt, who, rather than starting the project afresh, began at the point where Johnston left and completed the mansion design from the ground floor upwards. Wyatt adhered closely to the Georgian ideal of near-perfect symmetry throughout, with an Ionic portico and flanking Doric colonnaded wings. Wyatt also designed some of the major furniture items in the mansion, but furniture of that Georgian period is relatively rare. Much of the furniture was provided later by the second Earl, when the Regency style was in vogue.

 Detail of Castle Coole portico, with Ionic columns. 

 A major stonework restoration programme was completed in 1988 after seven years of work. her Majesty, the Queen Mother, re-opened Castle Coole to the public.

The interior of the house was created by some of the leading craftsmen of the late 18th century with chimney pieces carved by Westmacott, plasterwork created by Rose, scagliola columns and pilasters created by Bartoli.

As you will know (from yesterday's post) I was not able to photograph the inside of the house, however I can tell you the highlights of a tour of Castle Coole are the magnificent state rooms with their sumptuous Regency furnishings. These include the State Bedroom said to have been prepared for a visit by George IV in 1821.

This window in taken from inside the kitchen and 

you can just see some reflection in the glass.

This tunnel has many side arched store areas off it when coal and many other provisions were stored.

Am afraid today, my ‘refelctions’ are more subtle and hard to find.  Look at the car!

It was a bit of a dull day but no blue skies and these last shots were taken as I walked round the beautiful lake.

I hope you enjoyed the walk around Castle Coole with me and I have just discovered on You Tube a video about all 3 National Trust properties in County Fermanagh area of Northern Ireland and I am going to show you it here.  I have visited and photographed all 3 properties and (eventually) will be posting on Florence Court and Crom Castle.  You do get a peep into the inside of 2 of these properties on this video as most of you said yesterday, you were disappointed not seeing that.

You can access the video at

http://youtu.be/deOaZXB3lDQ

If there is a black space below, click it and the video will appear.

I hope this video has whetted you appetite to see my photographs of Florence Court and Crom Castle at a later date.  Tomorrow, I will have me final post about Castle Coole when I will link it with Eileen’s meme Saturday Critters.  So until then, have a good day/evening.

I am linking this post with James's meme- WEEKEND REFLECTIONS

Thank you for visiting.

Many thanks for comments you left on any of my posts.  I am away for this weekend to my old caravan (without Internet) so will catch up on your posts from Weekend Reflections and Saturday Critters when I come back.