Chiswick

Chiswick Park, Burlington Lane, LONDON W4

The awesome beauty of Chiswick Park is host to one of England's finest stately homes, Chiswick House, which was built in the 1720s by the third Earl of Burlington, and for all the world looking as though it was modelled on a classically Renaissance Italian villa (which it was!). The Earl designed his villa and he drew inspiration from his Grand Tours of Italy. A promoter of the Palladian style - oirginally pioneered in England by Inigo Jones - the Earl sought to create the kind of villa and gardens found in the environs of Rome. He employed William Kent to design the sumptuous interiors to contrast with his pure exterior.

Chiswick House is perfectly complemented by the beautiful classical gardens. It rises majestically, setting the scene perfectly for the dense greenery of the surrounding park.

One of the villa's main attractions is its predominantly Italian art collection. The house has elaborate and meticulously constructed chambers, and the Roman statues, galleries, saloons, parlours, and the gardens make you wish that you had lived in this era and that you were a very close friend of the Earl of Burlington. He must have been a character with a formidable sense of the aesthetic.

The Blue Velvet Room, which was once designed to entertain connoisseurs of art, is the most staggering room in the building. The 26 paintings, mainly Dutch landscapes, envelop the room, and the ceiling is dominated by a glorious painting set up in the clouds.

If you like walking around England's ancient villas and mansions, appreciating its heritage, then you should pick out Chiswick House before you go anywhere else, not only for its epic grandeur but for the perfectly complementary surroundings of the park.

The House is usually open 1 April to 31 October from 10am to 5.00pm. on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Visit www.chgt.org.uk for more details.

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