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Holkham Hall Review

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Holkham Hall

Address: Off A149, Wells-next-the-Sea
Phone: 01328/710227
www.holkham.co.uk

Category: Houses/Mansions
Location: Wells-next-the-Sea

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Fodor's Review:

The Palladian Holkham Hall, one of the most splendid mansions in Britain, is the seat of the Coke family, the earls of Leicester. In the late 18th century, Thomas Coke went on the fashionable grand tour of the Continent, returning with art treasures and determined to build a house according to the new Italian ideas. Centered by a grand staircase and modeled after the Baths of Diocletian, the entryway, the 60-foot-tall Marble Hall (mostly alabaster, in fact), may be the most spectacular room in Britain. Beyond this hall lie salons brilliant with gold and alabaster, each filled with works from Coke's collection of masterpieces, including paintings by Gainsborough, Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Peter Paul Rubens, Raphael, and other old masters. Surrounding this transplant from neoclassical Italy is extensive parkland landscaped by Capability Brown in 1762. The Bygones Museum, in the stable block, has more than 5,000 items, from gramophones to fire engines.

Cost: Hall £6.50, museum £5, combined ticket £10; deer park and grounds free
Open: June-Sept., Thurs.-Mon. 1-5; call ahead for open days in late Mar., early Apr. and May

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