Burghley House 1

We missed Burghley House entirely in 2009. We didn't know of it when we traveled north along the east side then, and we came back down, weeks later, on the west side. This year we went up the west side and were sure to visit Burghley on the east-side rebound. We did. It is another of the Elizabethan great houses, an independently owned house, held by the Cecil family since it was built in the later 1500s. William Cecil, the first Lord Burghley, was Elizabeth the Queen's Treasurer and principal adviser in the earlier years of her long reign, and she rewarded him with both a title and a vast estate. In age it is comparable to Hardwick. But the comparisons don't go far beyond that. Burleigh House was lived in, frequently remodeled and refurnished. If anything, it is an Elizabethan outside with a largely Georgian inside. The long gallery that Bess of Hardwick envied in 1580 was chopped up thoroughly in the 18th century to make more rooms with more walls to accommodate the growing picture collection.

View of Burleigh House from the ha-ha

Closer up

And a slightly different angle, hoping for more sunlight; I don't think Lord Burleigh
had photographers in mind when he sited the house

The trick gardens--modeled perhaps on such 17th century trick gardens as the
Archibishop's at Hellbrunn near Salzburg; very popular with the kiddies,
especially on a warm day such as this

Beyond, a great number of contemporary sculptures are in the park; I actually liked
many of these...

A first for me

More I liked

Ditto

Ditto again

The grounds are another by Capability Brown ("move that hill there, and that hill
there, divert the river into the consequent valley and add three dams for cascades;
the bridge goes there, the boathouse there; the deer park there, clumps of trees here,
here and here, with meadows; and, oh yes, the village absolutely has to go")