Petworth Panic

Bigger version available here

Staycation Day 2: Petworth House and Park.

Not the greatest photo, but it captures a nice moment today when the resident fallow deer at Petworth Park were spooked by a car and ran in front of the house. The park was designed by Capability Brown and the deer are the largest (700) and oldest herd of fallow deer in England.

Petworth House is a rather severe and unattractive stately pile, but it houses a fantastic art collection - a room of Van Dycks, lots of Turners, sculpture from the Grand Tour, the earliest globe in England, an over-the-top trompe d'oeil staircase, a very early illuminated edition of the Canterbury Tales, and a room full of intricate Grinling Gribbins wood carvings.

The usual National Trust guides were on hand and as knowledgeable as usual. I learnt that van Dyck only ever painted heads and hands - he had a team to do the rest. That explains why his portraits look a bit false to me. It's also the derivation of something costing "an arm and a leg" - it cost you double if you wanted van Dyck to paint your arms/legs as well as faces!

All polished off with the usual National Trust cream tea!