Country Life Magazine – Country Houses Foundation

Editorial feature for Country Life magazine on the Country Houses Foundation (written by John Goodall/photography by Jonathan Pow).

Featuring

Jake Duncombe of Duncombe Park, North Yorkshire (with Nelson Gate, the Ionic Temple and Tuscan Temple.
Lucinda and Richard Compton at the orangery, Newby Hall, North Yorkshire

and

Claire birch with the tapestry restoration in progress at Doddington Hall, Lincolnshire

The shoot

This was an interesting magazine shoot, for Country Life, involving travelling to various country houses. Photographing the amazing restoration work done with the help of the Country Hoses Foundation. The aim of the organisation is to give grants for the preservation of historic buildings and their grounds. The organisation has given more than £9 million to help restore and preserve more than 170 buildings. This money has gone to private owners, councils and the National Trust and Landmark Trust.

The stone work on the Tuscan Temple at Duncombe Park was incredible, restoring huge structural pillars using traditional techniques (and if I remember correctly, only two men). The sarking and metal rafters at in the 1770s Robert Adam Orangery were beautiful (with the woodwork looking very warm under the spotlights). And the tapestry work at Doddington Hall was immensely painstaking, and, as a bonus, can be seen first-hand by visitors to the hall.