Lectures: Tuesday 21 September 2010
Meet at: The Brompton Library, 210 Old Brompton Road,  London, SW5

5.30 pm
The House and Park at Hartwell
Sarah Bowles

6.45 pm
“Such a work as the world never saw”: Rococo Fantasy at Claydon
Philippa Barton

Visit: Saturday 25 September 2010
Meet at: Marylebone Station

8.57 am
Train departs from Marylebone Station for Aylesbury

10.30 am
Visit to Hartwell House and its gardens with Richard Wheeler, Garden Curator for the National Trust

The house and park at Hartwell were successively transformed through the eighteenth century for the Lee family. Stunning interiors were created, which were triumphantly restored in the 1980s when the house was converted into a hotel. In the landscape park are surviving garden buildings including the Folly Bridge and the ruined gothic chapel by Henry Keene.

12.30 pm
Lunch in the Doric Dining Room at Hartwell House

2.30 pm
Visit to Claydon House

Claydon House, celebrated for its fantastical rococo interiors, was built by Ralph, 2nd Earl Verney between 1754 and 1782. Much of the decoration was carved in wood by Luke Lightfoot, whose masterpiece is the Chinese Room, with its extraordinary alcove for taking tea.

3.30 pm
Visit to the private Walled Garden at Claydon with the Head Gardener

4.30 pm
Tea

6.05 pm
Train departs for London, arriving 7.05 pm