How the Other Halves Lived

We were invited to view the house at Weston Park this morning.  This was primarily to get a feel for the type of historic objects they want photographing for an upcoming project to catalogue their collections, but we were also given an insight into how the house was used when the home of the Earls of Bradford and their families.

In this image are two rooms.  I'm standing in the doorway between the rooms turning 180 degrees between taking the first and second images with the library to the left, the drawing room to the right.  

Imagine a grand weekend with guests, dinner is served in the dining room and then the guests would retire to their respective rooms.  The men to the library, the ladies to the drawing room.  The men in their very masculine library, with wooden panelling and deep rich colours of the furniture, where all of the portrait paintings are of male ancestors; the ladies in the light and airy room where all of the portraits are of female ancestors.

It's worth viewing large to see the detail.