Old Castles, Spring Gardens and Stella McCartney's Crystal Horse Pt. 2

Carrying on from yesterday's post (hence the 'Pt. 2' in the title), here are more photos of my visit to Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens in Northumberland, north east England.

 The stables at Belsay

Belsay Hall is an early 19th century mansion with a Greek doric style slanted roof. It's not the most gorgeous of exteriors, it's very stark but the interiors were interesting. A family by the name of the Middletons actually lived here until 1962. It is now a proper of English Heritage.  

 

 

These Delft tiles lined both sides of the fireplace in one of its large rooms

Belsay Hall from the rear

The scenery from the side of the mansion:

 

Back to Belsay castle, a 14th century medieval castle. The main structure, a substantial three storey rectangular pele tower with rounded turrets and battlements was constructed about 1370, and was the home of the Middleton family. I cannot believe people lived in this, oh how mighty cold it must have been (see photos below). Future generations of the family resided here until the early 19th century when they built and moved into Belsay Hall. 

I have no idea what this is, it was in the ruins part of the castle. Some kind of oven? Maybe Wendy Brandes will know.

The spiral staircase from beneath

This is the room where Stella McCartney's crystal horse was displayed

You could go out onto the roof by the turret and take in the view of the countryside.

The view from the top. Those white specs on the grass are sheep.

 

 

I am going to have to do those glorious gardens in another post as this one is getting long, but I have to show you more of Lucky Spot, the horse that was conceived of by Stella McCartney as part of English Heritage's project to transform Belsay in 2004. It is made of 8,000 Swarovski crystals and when the light floods in through the medieval windows the crystals produce brilliant prismatic patterns across the walls.

 

 

 

I've gathered some images of the other installations that were commissioned for this project and I'll post those tomorrow. It includes Viktor & Rolf.

Comments

[Su]

That horse installation art is amazing!

[Wrecked Stellar]

Wow, I was going to say my favorite photo was the Delft tiles but then I saw the horse/unicorn in crystals and am left amazed. These are all such stunning photographs!

[VintJunky]

Oh WOW! Incredible, just incredible. Two of my favourite things combine, sparkle and horses!

[Couture Carrie]

Absolutely gorgeous photos, darling!
Especially loving the Delft tiles!

xoxox,
CC

[Sabine]

So beautiful! Just imagine you could use them as background for photoshoots... I will have to discover a few more castles this summer, too.

[Reanna]

Seeing these make me want to jump on a plane bound for Europe. At first I was all "ooohhh ahhhhh" over the Delft tiles and then I nearly fell off my chair when I saw the crystal horse. Holy my little pony! So amazing.

[Catwalk Creative Vintage]

The Delft tiles are beautiful and the Stella McCartney horse is amazing! Thank you for sharing your images. Wonderful stuff! :)

[taylor]

ooh man gorgeous!!

[Sheena]

The horse is just stunningly beautiful and fits in so well with the rest of the castle. I can only imagine how it was to actually visit and experience everything firsthand.

[kim]

Just catching up here. What a gorgeous place and you got some great pictures. Funny about Stella McCartney getting a bit of the old genius passed on down...

[Jenny]

I so love old castles and homesteads - you can feel the history in them.... and the delft tiles are my favorite! so simple and sweet... and I had heard about the swarovski horse but I didn't know it was still there - amazing!