Rival Reviews: Hardwick Hall
More glass and than wall, more door than floor.
Hardwick Hall gleams in the morning sun
Hardwick Hall screams girl power. It also screams ‘I love tapestries!!!’ and ‘I heart rafetta flooring!!’
Of course before visiting, you might be more familiar with Bess of Hardwick’s love of windows, though perhaps this affection could be attributed more to their status symbol than to the lovely view they afforded her. Though the view from up there on the hill is very lovely. Oh look, you can see Belsay Hall! More on that another time, perhaps.
Hardwick Hall, or more particularly, Hardwick New Hall, is notable for being one of the few country houses throughout this period to have a recorded female builder. At this time women were not permitted to sign contracts, so we cannot say with any certainty how many great houses can in fact be attributed to women, and not their more penworthy husbands.
This house is also the first to commission an architect, Robert Smythson, in 1590. This was a good idea, which is why a woman thought of it. Smythson utilised new ideas of symmetry that made Hardwick Hall really quite nice to look at from the outside, even if when you go inside you will notice some windows are blocked by walls or flights of stairs. Nevertheless, architects have mostly been used more often than not since this time, so it probably seemed like a reasonable enough idea to catch on.
Hardwick Hall really does have a lot of windows, like a lot a lot, especially for the time, when glass was basically as rare and expensive as something expensive, like diamonds, and rare, like a low energy bill. The window sizes can be directly correlated to how important the rooms beyond are, a common feature of country houses. The biggest windows belong to the royal, or state, apartments, the second the families, and down and down.
Raffeta flooring and tapestries galore.
Elizabeth, or Bess, as she is better known, was able to afford so many windows because she was married four times, surviving all four husbands, and each time inheriting their money and estates. This gave her funds, but perhaps more importantly it gave her freedom and agency that many women of her era were without. This, really, is the origin of Hardwick Hall.
Many women since have defined Hardwick. For example, Lady Arbella Stuart, niece of Mary Queen of Scots, who was to die in the Tower of London, spent her childhood at Hardwick and her presence remains visible. Likewise, Duchess Evelyn Devonshire was the last of the Cavendish family to call Hardwick her home, she died in 1960 at the age of 90, meaning she was born in Victorian England and lived to see the swinging sixties. Weird. Thank Evelyn for the wealth of tapestries you can see walking round this grand hall, because she restored a lot of them herself.
And so, into this auspicious line of female notables, we arrive on this crisp October morning. Gemma is here of course, and so is a new arrival, Emma. We are excited, we are ready, and I, at least, have bought my National Trust membership card.
What is a home without an extremely large portrait of your monarch and girlboss bestie?
First stop, the house. It is truly beautiful, the sun is out today and it hits the yellow stone of Hardwick and reflects off the glittering windows, turning the whole visage gold. Now that is showmanship, bravo! Hats off to Elizabeth. We start outside, with a short talk on Elizabeth’s life, from humble beginnings to bestie status with Queen Liz 1; it is well worth a listen, Bess’s story is extraordinary for a woman in her age. To explore the house, we start through the Great Hall and immediately are led upstairs to the State rooms, on the top floor, following the style of Bess’s time. It’s a little strange, but makes for interesting, and probably more cohesive, viewing.
Let's be honest, country houses are automatically associated with the Georgian period, or the long 18th century if you know what you’re about. A time for great building, perpetuated by authors like the inestimable Jane Austen. We think of these houses full of excess, which they always have been, and Hardwick is, but this is Tudor excess, not fussy Georgian trinkets and Victorian clutter. Furniture is large, heavy and imposing, colours are bold and patterns intricate, and of course, there are tapestries. Absolutely. Everywhere. (Keeps the heat in, and decorative - what a solution!) This creates a different experience that feels refreshing, and the fact that Bess had created a thorough inventory, kind of like the Doomsday book of interior design, of her furniture and belongings that the curation refers to in almost every room, adds needed context. You feel like Bess has in some way contributed to your tour.
The remaining sketchlike ruin of Hardwick Old Hall.
There are moments of contention however. At one point, Emma gets agitated, there are a lot of doors in this house, and to be frank, it’s freaking her out. But I mean, there was no such thing as corridors in the Tudor era, how else were these people meant to get about? Chill out Emma.
Worth a visit after exploring the house is the skeletal remains of Hardwick Old Hall, directly next to the new build, and striking in a way that ruins are. More of a sketch than a completed home, but still intact enough to climb up and admire the view over the rolling hills beyond, onto the M1. Beautiful.
Amenities:
Lunch
Do not get the cheese and tomato chutney sandwich under any circumstances. It’s too late for me but not for you.
Stables or Kitchen?
Stables, the terrace round the back offers particularly beautiful views, just dont look down at the car park below.
Can I take my dog?
Dogs in the gardens and old hall? Yes. Dogs in the 500 year old Tudor House? No, of course not.
Can I take my kids?
Kids may not find the house as interesting as they find the Tudor’s bloody legacy. Old Hall offers a good explore however.
Walks
The area is beautiful, well worth a stroll.
Well, what did you think?
8/10 - I have wanted to go to Hardwick Hall for a long, long time, and it was very different from what I expected. This is a very pleasant surprise. Curating the route so visitors explore as contemporary visitors would have seems in retrospect a simple and obvious idea, but it does add something genuinely distinct to the experience. The guidebook suffers from this however, with far too much first person descriptive language to genuinely facilitate understanding (don't you dare say anything about me). To see the Hall when the sun shines on it is something else, and well worth the price of admission if such aesthetic value affects you in any way. The Old Hall offers great views that cannot be seen from the house, with its windows covered to protect the precious fabrics inside. Like it’s owner, this is something different.