Ickworth

A stunning looking building full of strange and wonderful things (and lots of stairs). A room full of things made of silver, including a case full of silver fish (not the insect), very impressive but not to my taste.
The Italianate garden had beautifully stylized planting and the park is full of old conifers, including a Cedar of Lebanon with its huge flat branches spreading out from its main trunk.
The whole place oozes class and style and history. What is not so clear is the history of the family responsible for the buildings and the collections of treasures inside. From what the guides told us it is more likely to have been written by the scriptwriters of Eastenders than Jane Austin. Real scandal