Wollaton Hall with Dennis and Sandra

Reading time: 5 minutes...

Here we are again – another of our cultural days out with Dennis & Sandra! Today, it’s Wollaton Hall in Nottingham.

9.02am: We left home just after 9am and for once, the traffic on the M1 behaved itself and we were there in good time. Well, apart from me initially putting the wrong post-code into the Sat-Nav placing us about two miles short of our destination! 🤔

We’re building up quite a back catalogue with Dennis and Sandra, having started doing these together in 2017…

Nottingham City (May 2024)
Doddington Hall (December 2023)
International Bomber Command (September 2023)
Southwell (March 2023)
Chatsworth House (November 2022)
Belvoir Castle (August 2022)
Kedlestone Hall (May 2021)
Hardwick Hall (August 2020)
Castle Howard (December 2019)
The Royal Armouries Museum (March 2019)
Bolsover Castle (October 2018)
Belton House (May 2018)
York (February 2018)
Burghley House (October 2017)
Hull (May 2017)
Leeds (February 2017)

So, today was our 17th outing, where we headed for Wollaton Hall, (a Grade I Elizabethan mansion set in 500 acres of parkland) and their popular ‘Hidden History’ tour. These days, the Hall is managed by Nottingham City Council welcoming around 450,000 visitors per year.

Before we get into the Tour, if you think you’ve seen Wollaton Hall before… maybe on the TV… or even the cinema… you’d be RIGHT! Warner Bros chose the Hall to double up as ‘Wayne Manor’ in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy of the most recent Batman movies. 👍

Who knew? 🤔

10.45am: Dennis and Sandra arrived not long after us and we were soon queuing outside the rather imposing front-door, awaiting the official welcome at 11am. For would-be followers, don’t forget that you’ll need the RingGo app for parking – as far as we could see, they don’t take cash here! (£5.20 all day, at the time of writing).

Once inside, we were welcomed by our Guide and soon learning about the history of the Hall. The building of the Hall was a sad tale of the perils of attempting to ‘keep up’ with polite society.

The Hall was built in the 1580s for Sir Francis Willoughby by the Elizabethan architect, Robert Smythson (also famous also for designing Longleat and Hardwick Hall). The venture eventually bankrupted Sir Francis, but it remained in the family until the late 1880s when the family moved out because it was ‘too near the smoke of a manufacturing town’. It continued on a ‘downward trajectory’ until it was bought by Nottingham City Council in 1925 and opened as a Museum in 1926.

Spread across four floors, style-wise, the House is a bit of a mish-mash of decoration! But for me, it all ‘worked’ as an example of an owner who was driven to leave a lasting impression by attempting to design-in the best of everything – from everywhere – it seems! 😮

Our first stop on the tour was upstairs, looking down on the main Hall where we continued to learn more about the rise and ultimate fall of the House of Willoughby! 😕

Next was a short walk via the stairs out on the roof, boasting stunning views across the Nottinghamshire countryside.

It was good to be able to enjoy the unrivalled view where even the weather also played nicely today for us!

From the roof, surprisingly, we were invited to go even higher…

We weren’t expecting that! After a precarious climb up a very spirally spiral staircase, we squeezed through a narrow door to reveal…. a large spacious square room – The Prospect Room. Showing off? Surely not! 🤔

Then it was down… down… and down some more, into the Kitchen. Smaller than I imagined it would be, given the Hall employed around 60 staff, it had all the features of the typical kitchen of the time – large open fire, multiple ovens and of course, no refrigeration. Oh, and lots of fake food! 😁

And finally, it was down even further, literally UNDERNEATH the Hall where through large swathes of complete darkness (phone torches at the ready!), we were shown how the sewage was ‘routed’ through the house!

It was all very fascinating and our Guide had done a great job in keeping us informed and entertained. The hour’s tour passed in a flash and after giving our thanks, we were now free to wander around the rest of the Hall at our leisure. Actually, there was still a lot more to see – a Taxidermy (the ‘Taxidermist’s Tale’), ‘Living Planet’, ‘Changing Planet’ the ‘Fish Room, the ‘Bird Room’ and a temporary exhibition called ‘Miniature Masterpieces’ (more about these later!)

The Taxidermists Tale

I’ve always found something quite creepy about stuffed animals – I think I must have been stared at by one as a child! And here, there were plenty of staring eyes! On a slightly less creepy note, there was a stack of information here about the stuffing process itself – and a few interactive displays to explain the gruesome process in (incredible) detail. I’m sure the kids would love it!! 😕

The Hall has amassed quite a collection over the years and where, for taller members of the family, there was even a fully stuffed adult giraffe who has apparently been there since it opened in 1926! All was not as it seemed and there are stories of it being ‘made’ mostly of papier-mâché – but let’s not spoil the illusion, as it looked mighty impressive from all angles (and at least it wasn’t staring at me!) 👀👀

The Bird Room
No prizes for guessing what was on display here…

We never did find the advertised Fish Room! And anyway… how do you stuff a fish? 🤔

Miniature Masterpieces
This was a real ‘jaw dropper’ courtesy of Dr Willard Wigan who is based in Birmingham.

The essential ingredients? Plenty of microscopes, good eyesight and the ability to paint using an eyebrow hair (yes, really) 😮

Sadly, it was impossible to take a photograph of the exhibits through the microscope lens, but what we saw was unforgettable. The artist has created 20 separate miniatures ON THE INSIDE OF THE EYE OF A NEEDLE! on the theme of ‘Disappearing World’. Thoughts of ‘how’ (and possibly even ‘why’) sprang to mind, but this was one heck of a skill set! Read more about it all HERE (no microscope required!) 😉

Living Planet/Changing Planet
Plenty to see here about how our planet is changing, including the spectacular display of natural minerals.

Proceedings were interrupted briefly by a herd of unruly school children screaming their heads off and ignoring the Teachers’ even louder requests to ‘behave’. We quickened our pace to get ahead of them and that seemed to work a treat. If there had been a customer comment opportunity, I had an idea for the next exhibition of stuffed creatures! Noisy sods!!!! 😕

We had a quick bite to eat in the Café (light bites only here, at the time of writing) and it was all delicious – even my halloumi baguette! (what was I thinking?) all washed down with a can of Punk IPA. We were stuffed With full tummies and the Hall now covered, we headed for the onsite Industrial Museum.

Silk and Lace Museum
This was a really interesting range of exhibits. It charted the evolution of lace and silk manufacturing using various machines of the time, and how they competed with handmade equivalents.

Some fantastic displays with some actually working. Next stop, the display of bikes…

The Bike Displays by Raleigh
Here was an impressive range of bikes from ‘Choppers’ to a good ol’ ‘Rudge’. Everything was in great condition and there were a lot of two-wheeled examples to see (with some three and four-wheelers too!

The Engine Hall
We finished our day in the Engine Hall. Even if ‘steam’ isn’t your thing, you couldn’t fail to be impressed by the sheer quantity of exhibits on display. The Museum even devotes certain days to some of the machinery actually being demonstrated to the public! 👍

We finished our day taking a short walk around the Park. To make a change, it was actually warm and generally very pleasant – not bad for October! 👍. Stunning view of the back of the Hall too!

3.20pm: We all agreed it had been a fantastic day! – A really interesting House with plenty to see (plus a few surprises). The Museum (and the Engine Hall) was an extra treat. We said our goodbyes, agreeing to meet up again in January, 2025 and headed home.

4.55pm: Crikey! A trouble-free journey home too! 😉