Holkham — Blog — Roaming with Roth

“IF YOU’VE SEEN ONE…”
August 29, 2023

We are all familiar with the phrase (and the intention behind it), “If you’ve seen one (church), you’ve seen them all”. You may, of course, substitute for church mansion, castle, house, garden etc. all by way of saying that the attester has little interest in history, context, nuance, subtlety, nor has the patience to choose deliberate discernment over imprecise impression. I was one of those who, in my youth, relied on my intuition, simply bored by detail, possessed not the wherewithal to care about nuance and philosophically was more inclined to the big picture than particulate matter.

I have changed in my latter meditative decades, yielding to small things despite child-like intransigence, paying greater attention as if it were forced labor and, finally, extrapolating from the tiniest to the grandest, giving smallness its due and finding surprising joy in that expansion of awareness. This came to mind as we explored one of the grandest of UK estates, Holkham, about 1/2 hour from Norwich, England, near the sea. The building, rooms, carvings, paintings and, finally, the gardens were all things Adele and I have experienced many times before. Originally a 42,000 acre estate, it is now, like all of the historical ‘royal’ land holdings and properties, in family trust and run by a Board that administers the business of all things Holkham et.al.. This is the only way the family can continue to maintain these holdings, by offering them to the Trust and making them available to the public that supports them through significant entrance fees.

The former would suggest that there would be great resentment of the owners who still live on these properties in royal fashion. But, there is rightly not. Not only are they upholding a tradition that is uniquely British, but the families have for the last half century been able to provide improvements to the physical properties and all the contents which represent this rich history. As well, the families enable and financially support all sorts of programs for the arts and on behalf of contemporary artists. Furthermore, the estates have staffs of hundreds of people, from landscapists to art restorers, who earn substantial livings maintaining the properties. Then there are those staff providing tours and commentaries. Every two rooms or so a docent, a trained person who literally becomes somewhat of a historian, offers detailed information that makes the visit exceptionally worthwhile.

I hope this visit to Holkham and to the even grander Chatsworth Estate worth your while.

[I took all the pictures as I do in all my blog posts}