Monday 20 April 2015

Mount Stewart House Reopend

This is a grand day for Mount Stewart as it is opening its doors once again to a £8 million refurbishment of the inside of the house.  It has belonged in the past by the Marquesses of Londonderry, but it has been in the hands of the National Trust since 1977.  I was fortunate to be allowed to photograph some of the rooms before the public opening and today I will just give you a taste of how wonderful this refurbishment has been undertaken.



It has been completely rewired, repainted and transformed to look like it did in the 1950s when it belonged to Lady Edith, the seventh Marchioness.  Her family has lived at Mount Stewart since the 18th Century.  This is the main entrance hall and to see what is was like before the refurbishments CLICK HERE and this blog will also give you a bit of the history of the house and family.  The statue is Venus.


This matching Ionic column of a classical nude is at the other end of the Hall as you walk into Mount Stewart and is probably Eurydice.  It is signed by Lawrence MacDonald and carved in Rome in 1856.


In the Entrance Hall there is this magnificent chandelier and the beautifully restored gallery above.


This is the Dining Room and this carpet is new and has the Londonderry Coat of Arms on it.   Every single item in the house, right down to dining chairs, were cleaned, reclothed and repainted.




This is the Breakfast Room.


A wonderfully impressive staircase leading up to  a Stubbs painting.


Visitors can now expect to see are world-class art collections, refitted stained glass artwork as well as entry to a selection of rooms that have never been opened to view before.  They will now be able to see the butler's silver store, the billiards room as well as family and guest bedrooms.


 This is the Drawing Room and there are many more fascinating things I can show and tell you about this fabulous house but that will have to wait for another day. 

Tomorrow I am very excited to be able to show you a bird that I am sure not many or any people have seen and also a video of a Mute Swan sitting and tending her 5 eggs.  Please join me then.

I hope you enjoyed this little taste of this fantastic house.  All this week I will be featuring other aspects from the house and beautiful gardens.

Thanks you for visiting and also to those who leave comments.

19 comments:

  1. Looks like they've done a great job with this magnificent place. Have a great week.

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  2. Wow. What an amazing restoration. Looking forward to future posts about it too.

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  3. What a stunning place! How very fortunate you were to be able to photograph without crowds. I can't even imagine what it would be like to live in such splendor.

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  4. Excellent, it looks good for another fifty years or so.

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  5. Good morning Margaret.
    Beautiful pictures of this building.
    The restoration is very pretty successful.
    Chandelier I find really great.

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  6. The interiors are magnificent and the outside as well. What a grand building.

    Mersad
    Mersad Donko Photography

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  7. Hello Margaret, what a gorgeous place.. They did a wonderful job on the restoration..Thanks for sharing your tour.. Lovely photos.. Have a happy day and new week ahead!

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  8. Love the Stubbs painting :o)

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  9. incredibly grand. i'd never eat in that dining room, though. :)

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  10. Such a stately home. Thanks so for sharing with the blogger world.

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  11. Oh how I would love to tour that home with my camera!!

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  12. How grand! The outside is my favorite. So impressive. But they sure did a great job on the inside too.

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  13. It looks lovely Margaret, great photos, which I am very happy they let you take so that we could enjoy it too.

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  14. Wow wow, and wow again! You must be very special to be invited before the public! LOVE the black and white hall with the marble columns! The dining room rug and walls are gorgeous! Also the tapestries and the grand staircase that goes both right and left at the top. A wonderful decorating job! I imagine they would charge quite a bit for tours.

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  15. Those older homes are so elegant.

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  16. What a grand mansion though I can' imagine feeling comfortable living there.

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  17. What a marvelous structure. it's hard to imagine what it would be like to actually live in such a magnificent house. Thank you for showing us around.

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  18. What a lovely place! Love the stairway colors, just beautiful.

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