Nunnington Hall - Nunnington, North Yorkshire
Nunnington Hall is one of several properties under National Trust ownership in North Yorkshire. The hall dates back to the seventeenth century althought there are several references to a hall on the same site by the River Wye dating back as far as the thirteenth century.
Although Nunnington Hall was extensively renovated and changed in 1685 and later by the Fife family in 1920 much of the original oak pannelling and original features can still be seen today.
On entering into Nunnington Hall via the main entrance room you come to the Giant Hall, with its massive fireplace, large oak table and original oak pannelling which was stripped down in the 1920s but if you look closely you can still see the some of the original red paintwork.
The first floor bedrooms are quite impressive especially the original rooms that date back to the 1600's and feature some very old furniture such as four poster beds with ropes which acted like today's bed springs. In the seventeenth century four poster beds had a mattress that usually consisted of straw which was kept in place by ropes that went up and down the bed. These ropes would slacken overnight and had to be tightened by servants every day. It is from these sorts of beds that the phrase "Sleep tight mind the bed bugs don't bite". The last part of the phrase refers to bugs that used to nest in the roof rafters. It was for this reason that four posters beds used to have a cover on the top so that the bugs would fall on it rather than onto the person sleeping in the bed.
There is also a bedroom at Nunnington Hall that is reputed to be haunted and many guests who have stayed have given accounts of a prescence in the room which prevented them from sleeping.
One of the main attractions at Nunnington Hall, the Carlisle Collection can be found in the attic which used to be the servants quarters. The Carlisle Collection at Nunnington Hall consists of a large number of 1/8th scale rooms from periods such as William and Mary and Queen Mary. The attention to detail is quite amazing and was the work of Kitty Carlisle who commissioned many craftsmen to build her collection which she gave to the National Trust in 1970.
The walled gardens at Nunnington Hall is very impressive and is home to several peacocks who roam the property.
Nunnington Hall is usually open from mid March to late October but it is advisable to check the National Trust website for up to date information if you are planning to visit. As with most National Trust properties, Nunnington Hall has a fantastic and recently renonvated tea room inside the house which comes highly recommended.
This entry was posted on Monday April 7th, 2008 at 1:29 PM and is filed under Places to Visit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.
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