Welbeck Abbey will open its doors to visitors over three seasons this year, giving
unprecedented access to this stately home.
Now taking place in Spring, Early Summer and Late Summer, the Welbeck Abbey State
Room Tours offer visitors the opportunity to see the beautiful interiors at Welbeck Abbey.
The guided tours include six of the State Rooms that were used to entertain royalty,
dignitaries and politicians.
Highlights from these rooms include a spectacular soaring Gothic plasterwork ceiling, the
vibrantly coloured, tapestry lined ‘Red Drawing Room’, and the De László room, named after
the famous society painter Philip de László who was a regular visitor.
The tours also include rooms used by the Cavalier and Royalist, William Cavendish in the
17th century. The tours lead through to an extraordinary curved corridor, library, and chapel –
regarded as the greatest decorative ensemble from the Arts and Crafts movement in an
aristocratic house in Britain.
As well as viewing the architecture and interior design in the Abbey, visitors will be able to
see works from the historic Portland Collection of art in situ. Works on show in the tour
include:
- An Angel Contemplating the Cross, by Sir Joshua Reynolds. This beautiful painting is
hung above the altar in the Private Chapel at Welbeck Abbey and was part of a
design for a window in the chapel at New College, Oxford. - The Greendale Oak cabinet, 1727. This cabinet is made from wood from the
enormous Greendale Oak, which had a circumference of over 35feet. Lord Harley
made a bet that he had a tree so large that a coach could be ridden through a hole
cut through its trunk. This piece was made from the wood removed from The
Greendale Oak for Lord Harley to win this bet. The cabinet is inlaid with scenes of a
carriage being ridden through the tree. See it in the Entrance Hall. - Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles Harley, by Godfrey Kneller, 1714. See this towering
portrait of Lady Henrietta out riding on show in the House Library.
With just 16 tickets per tour and allowing ample time to spend in each room, The Welbeck
Abbey State Room Tours offer a very special experience to explore this historical hidden
gem. - Tickets for the 2022 Welbeck Abbey State Room Tours cost £30 per person, and are
on sale now at www.harleygallery.co.uk. - Tours run twice daily, at 10am and 1.30pm. Spring tours will take place Tuesday 29th
March – Saturday 16th April (excluding Mondays), Early Summer tours are Tuesday
21st June – Tuesday 12th July (excluding Mondays), and Late Summer tours
Tuesday 23rd August – Sunday 11th September (excluding Mondays).
Posted on 12 January 2022
