Pictures of the floating world

In love with the Wimpole Hall

Explore the Wimpole Hall, the biggest estate near Cambridge, England!

By Anna Purpurpurpur

Last year we’ve spent a wonderful day at the Wimpole Hall, the biggest Estate of Cambridgeshire, England. Mansion, garden, farm, castle – and a pretty big piece of story all make it worth visiting indeed!

Wimpole Estate, England Wimpole Estate, England Wimpole Estate, England

 

The History of Wimpole Estate

The house welcomes you with a huge introduction into Wimpole Hall’s history. In the 11th century ‘Wimpole’ was listed in the Domesday Book but there is evidence that the Romans lived in this area too. Many families have lived there later on: The Checheleys who lived in Wimpole (actually this family owned Wimpole since 1420s, and the mansion itself was built in 1640 under their direction), The Cutlers, The Holles, Earls of Hardwicke, Agar-Robartes…

Our travels around the UK Wimpole Hall, Cambridge


Now it is a part of the National Trust which was gifted to it by Elsie Bambridge, a daughter of Rudyard Kipling, and her husband George. They were the people who maintained, partly rebuilt and refurbished the house after the previous owners had left it almost empty.

Interesting: Even Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited the Estate in 1843. 

 

What to see in the Wimpole Estate?

First, we started with the mansion itself. You can spend hours exploring the history of each object and each room and the real people who stand behind them. 

Wimpole Estate

The Yellow Drawing dating back to 1793 room is the most well known space of the mansion. The Dining room was turned into the kitchen by the Estate’s last owners. The Ante-room has a large collection of ceramics, the South Drawing Room is touched with a feminine fashion of the era, the Long Gallery… My favorite was the Red drawing room with a library.  It contains the most stunning collections of printed books – and the books were collected by different families owning the house since the 1700s. 

Apart from the halls and rooms of different purposes, it also has a chapel, and a bath house inspired by Roman bath houses. Visiting the part of the mansion where the servants lived felt like attending the Downton Abbey  film set!

 

What else?

Although the weather wasn’t at its best (well, typically British weather), we enjoyed the scenery (and the silhouette of the Wimpole’s Folly tower looking like a medieval ruin and then proceeded to the Pleasure Grounds and the Walled Garden. 

Wimpole Hall, Cambridge, Farm animals

There are the stable block and St Andrew’s Church among the other notable buildings on the territory of Wimpole mansion.

And of course, the Home Farm is a magnet that attracts all the children to the Estate because there are piggies, horses, sheep, donkeys and many other farm animals! And, finally, there is a cafe on the territory too. Just scroll down!

Farm animals Farm animals Wimpole Hall, Cambridge, Farm animals

 

Hope you enjoyed my blog!

Yours, Anna

xxx

 

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

Qatar Museum
Middle East

Doha, Qatar, in 15 sights

Doha came as a big surprise for me: although I’ve travelled around the Middle East before, I never felt so deep in a truly Arabic vibe (even if it was

Read More »
Berlin Wall Germany
Europe

35 years without the Berlin Wall

On November 9th, 1989, Germany had one of its happiest days: the border between GDR (East Germany) and FRG (West Germany) started being demolished after being up since 1961.  The

Read More »
Dammam Saudi Arabia
Middle East

Dammam, Saudi Arabia, in 5 sights

Dammam is one of the main administrative centres of Saudi Arabia, thanks to the oil industry. It’s not precisely a touristic city and I don’t think we’ll return there but

Read More »
×