TAITLANDS in the Yorkshire Dales was a youth hostel during the second half of the 20th century and had fallen into disrepair by the time it was acquired by Emma Sharp in 2008. Subsequently, she and her husband, Martin, restored and revived it as a country house. In early 2021, they sold the renovated Taitlands to a private owner, ensuring the future of a fine early-19th-century Greek Revival house designed by the Websters of Kendal. Its repair has been a notable conservation success.
In the 20th century, many country houses were acquired by institutions. They were seen as inexpensive accommodation for a range of corporate, educational, charitable and religious uses; numerous fine buildings became schools, convents, nursing homes, offices and similar. This utilitarian takeover provided a lifeline at a time of general pessimism about the future of the country house in Britain, especially in the aftermath of the Second World War in which many places were requisitioned and roughly used. One organisation that took on former houses, especially if they were situated in attractive countryside, was the Youth Hostels Association (YHA).
Denne historien er fra July 14, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra July 14, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
