The Ickworth Rotunda: "A Stupendous Monument of Folly"

After touring the amazing Victorian kitchen, and enjoying the beautiful simplicity of the servants' quarters of the Ickworth house, it was time to go upstairs and see what it was all about.   Talk about a study in contrasts!  We climbed the staircase, and came into this amazing hallway.  There were three stories, with the glass ceiling so high up!
This was also a great foyer, where the stairs come up to and where the front door of the rotunda are. Some volunteers greeted us and hooked Amelia up with a guide of things to look for in each room.  I'll be honest-- this sort of thing would have bored me to tears at her age!  But she was really into it, which is just one more reason to love this kid.

From here, we visited the library.  We had a library in my house as a kid... But it didn't look quite like this.

I couldn't help noticing that the designs on the walls match the color palette of the gorgeous antique books.

From the library, we went into the drawing room.
  So many wonderful paintings!
I loved looking out the windows, seeing what are likely a very similar views to those seen by the Ickworth guests. By the way, the building slightly hidden in the picture above on the right was the house actually lived in by the Herve family (now converted into the Ickworth Hotel.)  The rotunda we're touring was the guest quarters and place to host parties! Views out the front of the house:

By the way, did you catch the tour of the gorgeous grounds at Ickworth, including the kitchen gardens and vineyard?
Next, we visited the extravagant dining room.  Look at that chandelier!

 I also loved all of the portrait paintings.

Back out in the main hallway, I snooped around but found that all of the bedrooms had been "put to bed," with custom made slipcovers put over every piece of furniture. 

 This was one of my favorite paintings there.
There were also a couple of rooms showcasing collections of interesting things-- alas, the lighting was too dim for any good pictures.  But I loved the color of this room!
I have to tell you, it was very surreal to be in what I imagine as the perfect setting for a Jane Austen novel! It was so ornate and beautiful-- and so over the top!  We had to take a picture to prove that we were really there...

 I have one more post about the Ickworth house coming... But now that you've seen both upstairs and down, which one would you choose to live in? (Job descriptions and social standing aside, of course!)

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