We've just spent a few days away in North Wales, mostly on the island of Anglesey. To get there we drove up to Bangor and decided to spend the afternoon at nearby Penryhn Castle. We'd visited before, a few years ago but hadn't been inside as the castle was closed and just the grounds, garden and railway museum were open.
This time the whole of the property was open. When describing the interior words and phrases beginning with 'O' come to mind.
Ostentatious, opulent, over the top and gloriously outrageous. In contrast the exterior looks rather plain and severe.
The castle overlooks the Menai Strait, the stretch of water which separates the island of Anglesey and the mainland.
The castle was built of Anglesey limestone and designed by the architect Thomas Hopper between the years 1820 to 1837. The owner was George Hay Dawkins who inherited the estate from his cousin Richard Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn. This new castle built in the Romantic style of Norman revival replaced an early one built fifty years earlier in the Gothic style.
Shall we look inside?
The Grand Hall
The Library
The Drawing Room
The Ebony Room
The Grand Staircase
Reveals one more extravagance after another.
It was carved by local masons recruited from the Pennant family quarry.
The work is of the highest quality
It took ages to reach the top
The stair carpet was equally opulent.
The face carvings were amusing
and yet I'm sure, might be a thing of nightmares too.
As were those in the library.
By the time we reached the bedrooms I was feeling just a little confused between the State Bedroom and the Slate Bedroom. Above the State bedroom which Queen Victoria used in 1859. According to the room guide she preferred this room to the Slate room below.
The bed foot and columns in this room are made of local slate. Queen Victoria didn't like the bed as she thought it was tomb like.
Let's have a quick dash through some of the other rooms.
Dining Room
Chapel
Kitchen
After tea and scones in the tea rooms and an obligatory visit to the shop and second hand book shop it was time to look at the gardens and the trains.
The bog garden was lovely with huge Gunnera plants
It was a haven for wildlife especially butterflies and dragon flies.
The day had suddenly become warm
Both insects and humans were feeling lethargic.
Super set of photos.Hope you are going to Beaumaris.Visit the Janet Bell shop and galleries.I love her work.Enjoy.Barbarax
ReplyDeleteThank you Barbara. We did visit Beaumaris went around the castle, into the castle garden on the high street and the information centre in the town hall. We looked at a lot of shops and lovely buildings as we walked around. The gallery sounds lovely:)
DeleteWhat a fantastic place to visit!!!!! Wow!!!! That's my word for there. Wow!!!! :-)
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Thank you WoW, yes Wow is certainly the word to describe the inside of that castle:)
DeleteI loved my visit to Penryn castle last year. As you say a truly opulent place. I’ve been reading about Queen Victoria recently and I gather she took her own bed with her wherever she travelled, even to the south of France. She must have been a very difficult guest!
ReplyDeleteThank you Barbara. It's something special isn't it? Have you read 'The Greedy Queen' by Dr Annie Gray the food historian? It's fascinating read. She does sound difficult to please but I don't think I'd have liked a slate bed either:)
DeleteOh indeed! What an amazing place, look at that staircase! Thanks for the wonderful photos Rosie, I really enjoyed the post. 😊
ReplyDeleteThank you Karen, I'm glad you enjoyed the post, it is a fascinating place:)
DeleteI've never been to Penrhyn Castle, largely because for years we visited North Wales during February half term when it's closed, so I'm very please to finally have had a nose round - thank you! It really is ostentatious, Mr Dawkins must have had pots and pots of money. I'm looking forward to reading about Anglesey. x
ReplyDeleteThank you Mrs T, it was good to catch the place fully open and an eye opener to see inside. He must have inherited oodles of money made from the hard work of the miners in his quarries and the slaves in his sugar plantations. I tried not to think of that as I walked around and focused on the work created for locals during the buildng and afterwards in the maintaining and servicing. Hope to write a couple more posts about where we visited on Anglesey:)
DeleteThe castle is certainly opulent inside and very decorated! I would love to have had a wander around. I would have equally enjoyed the gardens and must get a Gunnera plant one day even though I don't know where I would put it! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Simone,everywhere you looked was carved or decorated in some way, all contrasting and yet working together too. I love the huge Gunneras that you can stand under to shelter from the sun:)
DeleteA wonderful post Rose - we didn't visit Penrhyn Castle when we went to Anglesey earlier this year so it was was great to see your photos. What a super super place - will have to try and visit next time. The house is so opulent and I just adore those face carvings. The gardens look so beautiful too. A great set of images :)
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see the rest of your posts :)
Thank you RR. I thought you would like the face carvings, there were lots of them. Both gardens and views were lovely too. It was good to have dry and bright weather for a couple of days at least:)
DeleteExquisite and beautiful!
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is, William:)
DeleteWhat an amazing place to visit. You were so right lots of words beginning with 'O' indeed do spring to mind.
ReplyDeleteThank you MM, I think the 'o' comes from standing looking upwards, mouth open:)
DeleteA lovely setting for a stately home. An amazing staircase! The gardens would have been relaxing on the eye after looking at all those patterns on walls and furnishings in the rooms of the castle. So good to see the butterflies and the dragon flies.
ReplyDeleteThank you Linda, the staircase was spectacular and seemed to get better and better as you went upwards. It was a joy to see all the wildlife in the garden:)
DeleteJust done a quick catch up of posts & you've seen some amazing places of late. This post had some wonderful photos of the castle interiors which are very extravagant. We nearly visited Biddulph Grange, but ran out of time, so thanks for telling about it. Have a good week & take care.
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan, glad you enjoyed the photos. I didn't realise you were so close to us here. There is never enough time when you are visiting places as there is always just one more thing to see around the corner:)
DeleteOpulent is the right word. This is certainly a very ornate and extravagant place. A stop at the tea room was certainly required after viewing this stunning castle. Thank you for sharing your visit. Marie x
ReplyDeleteHello Marie, lovely to see you here. We always enjoy a stop at the tea shop when we visit these places. Glad you enjoyed the visit:)
DeleteWhat an amazing castle! Because I am usually with a certain Labrador when visiting castles I never get to go in...or we just visit ruins. :) So your post is wonderful to see. Very enviable views too over the menai straits. Love be the stairs carpet! X
ReplyDeleteThank you shazza, the views were amazing. We visited a super cafe/restaurant on Anglesey which encourages dogs to be inside with their owners, I'd never seen so many in one place of every size and all enjoying themselves - owners too, I will include it in a later post:)
DeleteWhat a beautiful castle, and the gardens looks great too!
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