Norfolk’s jewel: Holkham Hall

Steep sand dunes punctured by clusters of beachgrass, frothy sea depositing razor clams and small conches for the eagle-eyed to eagerly gather along tranquil stretches of beach, and towering pines that buffer peerless coastline from swathes of parkland, a trip to Norfolk has long been de rigueur for holiday makers who appreciate its quaint chocolate box villages, abundant countryside and proximity to the sea. 

The popular county is also the palatial setting for Holkham Hall, an eighteenth-century Palladian-style mansion whose imposing sandstone grandeur would astonish even the most frequent of visitors to English stately homes. Commissioned by Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester, who’d spent extended time scouring Italy for antiques, sculpture and manuscripts as a young man, the house was designed by William Kent as both a home for the Earl and his family, and a fitting gallery for the treasures Coke accumulated.

The hall was so ambitious and costly it took years to complete, in fact, the Earl did not live to see the property reach full fruition. His widow Lady Margaret spearheaded the project after her husband’s death. More prudent with finances than lavish Coke, she was the steady tiller who steered Holkham to completion. ‘She’s a bit of a hero to us, because although Coke was the vision, he was a bit reckless, whereas Lady Margaret was the anchor’, remarks Katherine Hardwick, Holkham’s collections coordinator, who having completed her masters thesis on how this grand home would have functioned as an entertainment space for the aristocracy, has spent years becoming acquainted with every inch of tapestry; delving into Holkham’s archive and scouring through reams of materials to discover the provenance of a Claude Lorrain