Spencer House

This morning I went on a tour of Spencer House. You may have noticed it from Green Park as you were hurrying for the tube, and even wondered what it was like - it is well worth going inside.

The house was built in 1756 for the First Earl Spencer as a London residence, and it is one of the few Palladian mansions that still remain in London today. Spencer House remains in the ownership of The 9th Earl Spencer, the brother of Diana, Princess of Wales.. However, since World War II, the house has been continuously let out. In 1948 it was leased to Christie's auctioneers; in 1956 to the British Oxygen Company, and in 1963 to the Economist Intelligence Unit. In 1986, RIT Capital Partners, the family company of Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, secured a 96-year lease (with an additional 24-year option), and in a highly acclaimed restoration, returned the state rooms and garden to their original appearance.

Today it can be hired for private parties and functions....hmm, that's an idea for our 25th wedding anniversary!

The tour was very interesting and I can highly recommend it.

I am about to dash off, tonight there is a Jazz Concert at Thomas' school and we were able to book tables of 10 and bring along a picnic supper. Thomas is in the senior Jazz Band and leads the Brass Quintet so he will be performing a few times. I have just finished preparing the food for the picnic supper and am about to go meet our friends for a drink in the pub before the concert.

And it's a Bank Holiday weekend, which means bad weather :(