Farnborough Hall

Entrance

The area where the borders of North Oxfordshire, South Warwickshire and Northamptonshire meet is one of the hidden gems of England with rolling wooded hills where the tail end of the Cotswolds meets the Warwickshire plain and the Burton-Dasset Hills. It is largely off the beaten track but contains rich fertile rolling farmland interspersed with river valleys, lakes and ancient villages with atmospheric stone cottages, village greens and old churches often clad in the distinctive red Hornton sandstone so characteristic of the area. So it was with a sense of anticipation I headed north on the A423 about five miles from Banbury (M40 Junc. 11, then A422, then A423) and following the signposts about half a mile on a single track road towards Farnborough Hall. The location seemed reassuringly rural and off the beaten track but the property gets only a small entry in the National Trust Handbook (confusingly listed under the “West Midlands”) and contains the endorsement “Farnborough Hall is occupied and administered by the Holbech family” so I half wondered were visitors welcome? I need not have worried because at the end of the narrow road what awaited was a wonderful welcoming property full of family artefacts lovingly displayed, marvellous but homely interiors and a garden which contains a feature of pure genius.

Garden Front

Farnborough Hall is a beautiful stone house, richly decorated in the mid-18th century, which has been the home of the Holbech family for over 300 years. The rooms, decorated with Rococo plasterwork by William Perritt, are quite outstanding and house a collection of paintings and furniture. The hall displays one of the largest collections of Roman busts. The landscaped gardens contain 18th century temples, a terrace walk and an obelisk. A superb 1740s landscaped garden remains largely unchanged, containing a broad ornamental terrace with temples.

Ice House

It is a country house just inside the borders of Warwickshire, England near to the town of Banbury, and with an Oxfordshire postcode (OX17 1DU for satnav junkies). The property has been owned by the National Trust since 1960, but is administered and occupied by the Holbech family. The Holbech family acquired the Farnborough estate in 1684 and the honey-coloured two-storey stone house was built soon after. Major changes to the property occurred between 1745 and 1750 when the entrance front was remodelled and the rococo plasterwork was added to the interior. This work was carried out by William Holbech who wanted a suitable setting for the sculpture and art he had brought back from his Grand Tour. He most likely used designs by his close friend Sanderson Miller, an architect, who lived a few miles away. Long Palladian facades with sash windows, pedimented doorways and a balustrated roofline were added to the earlier classical west front.

Hallway

Interior of Oval Pavillion

Unlike many of its contemporaries, Farnborough Hall and its landscaped gardens have experienced little alteration in the last 200 years and they remain largely as William Holbech left them. The entrance opens straight into the Italianate hall. The walls are adorned with busts of Roman emperors set into oval niches and the panelled ceiling is stuccoed with rococo motifs but for me the highpoint was the family baby grand piano with a notice saying “please play me!”. The dining room on the south front was especially designed to display works by Canaletto and Giovanni Paolo Panini. The original works are long gone, being replaced by copies. The drawing room has panels of elaborate stuccowork featuring scrolls, shells, fruit and flowers; these serve as a framework for more Italian works of art. A stucco garland of fruit and flowers encircles the skylight above the staircase hall and on the top landing a local guide explained the history whilst showing a charming collection of family cradles.

Arbour

In the mid 18th century the gardens were significantly enhanced by Sanderson Miller to dramatic effect. The land at the front of the Hall slopes downward to give a view of lake below. To the left of the house a grassy Terrace Walk is flanked by trees and excellent views of the Warwickshire plain can be had from here. The terrace leads past an Ionic temple and an oval pavilion, which has two storeys and elaborate plasterwork, to an obelisk at the end of the walk. There is a great S-shaped terrace with two temples giving outward views. As the Oxford Companion to Gardens notes 'This majestic concept was conceived in the early days of the English landscape movement and ranks with Rievaulx Terrace and Castle Howard as steps toward the landscape parks of the late eighteenth century'. However, a keen gardener told Graham Stuart Thomas that 'There is only a grass walk, and a couple of temples. There is no real garden'. The two pools at Farnborough Hall, now dredged, would give him something else to look at. A series of waterside and woodland paths have been created in the Sourlands area of the park.

Cascade

For me the gardens with their naturalistic human scale are the most satisfying I’ve ever experienced in an English country house, a judgement no doubt prejudiced by the beautiful clear May Day on which they were viewed. For the devices employed are both simple and satisfying and still impress after over 250 years. In front of the house the river had been dammed to create a scenic lake, one of five originally in the grounds of which 3 are still extant. Following the path down you come upon first an arbour and then “Grannies Rose Garden” where the roses are enclosed in box hedging. Following the path down you come to the Cascade, where an ornamental waterfall was created when the river was dammed. There was a nesting swan at the foot of the cascade looking wonderful as she turned her eggs carefully before continuing to incubate them.

Nesting Swan

But the work of genius is the naturalistic terrace which follows the contour of the land on the far side of the house. Rising gently in an “S” shape for two thirds of a mile on the contour overlooking the Hanwell Valley (which unfortunately today contains the M40 motorway) it is a 30 wide grass strip enclosed by laurel bushes on the with bastions each planted with a tree on the slope side and on the other side it has a shaded woodland return walk. You can imagine the ladies with their parasols embarking on this post prandial excursion. As you ascend the landscape and vistas unfold before you and there are punctuation marks to mark the waypoints in your perambulation. The first is a door in a wall marked “Game Larder.” On entering there is the dramatic surprise that Sanderson Miller no doubt intended. For what unfolds is a view of Farnborough Village and Church and the Game Larder has been embellished into a viewing pavillion to take in the vista. Further up the terrace you come to an Ionic Temple providing another shelter and viewpoint for it was important Georgian ladies neither sweated nor got wet! Further on you come to The Oval Pavillion which in its open base has seating and a stone table and above a delightful circular viewing room with ornate plastered walls and ceiling. Finally at the crest of the terrace walk is an imposing obelisk dating from 1751. To return you take the aptly entitled return walk which is a parallel woodland walk and on this day the woodland floor had a delightful carpet of bluebells which had replaced the daffodils of a couple of months previously. The return walk to the house also allows use of the pavilions.

Game Larder

Oval Pavillion

Ionic Temple


Obelisk

There is no catering at the house but they encourage you to stop in the (National Trust) village of Farnborough where the village hall and the community raise funds by having afternoon teas. The village has changed little since this description of 1868.

FARNBOROUGH, a parish in the Burton-Dassett division of the hundred of Kington, county Warwick, 6 miles S.E. of Kington. Banbury is its post town. The Fenny Compton station on the Great Western railway is 1 mile N. of the village. Farnborough is situated near the foot of Farnborough Hill, and the Oxford canal passes in the neighbourhood. In the Domesday Survey it is called Fernberge, and afterwards passed to the families of Say and Raleigh. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Worcester, value £304. The church is dedicated to St. Botolph. The parochial charities produce about £50 per annum, £40 of which are an endowment for the free school. W. Holbech, Esq., is lord of the manor. Farnborough Park is the principal residence. Here is a meet for the Warwick hounds.

The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)

Farnborough is a delightful village but not as delightful as the cakes served in the village hall. As you enter the tablecloths, good crockery and teapots and nice chairs indicate this is a better class of tea and cake and so it proves. £1.50 buys you a masterpiece of the cake maker’s art with a wonderful selection laid out. Tea is served on proper china from generous pottery teapots. All is well in the land! The Victoria sponge is a proper eggy colour but for myself I wish to propose marriage, sight unseen, to the baker of the ginger cake with stem ginger icing! There are displays of village life all round the hall and the overriding feeling is if this is how good it is in the Shires we should all grow hairy feet and become Hobbits!

Village 1920

Farnborough Village

No doubt in 1751 William Holbech could look over his lands and admire his handsome seat filled with treasures from the Grand Tour set snugly in the midst of this fertility with the wonderful vistas created by the genius of Sanderson Millers landscaping scheme. This wonder is still there 257 years later and we owe some gratitude to the National Trust and the Holbech family that it is still there for us all to enjoy.




See also nearby Upton Hall;



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