Harewood House
Ian White
Home to the Lascelles family for over 200 years, Harewood is the family seat of the Earl and Countess of Harewood. The house is a Georgian mansion with Robert Adam interiors and Chippendale furniture, overlooking Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown’s landscape. It also boasts art collections to rival the finest in the land in the setting of Yorkshire’s most beautiful landscape. It couldn’t be better!
That’s exactly what was what Edwin Lascelles was aiming for when he started building Harewood House in 1759. He employed the finest craftsmen of the time: York-born architect John Carr; the fashionable Scottish interior designer Robert Adam; England’s greatest furniture maker Thomas Chippendale (who was born in nearby Otley); and, of course, the visionary landscape gardener ‘Capability’ Brown. As you walk round the House, you can see Renaissance masterpieces by such artists as Veronese, Titian, Bellini and El Greco through Turner watercolours and portraits by Joshua Reynolds to works by Picasso and Epstein. There are also exquisite family portraits by Reynolds, Gainsborough, Lawrence and Richmond, as well as a fine collection of Sèvres china, among many other delights.
HRH Princess Mary, the Princess Royal, lived at Harewood from 1930 to 1965 so don’t miss the rooms dedicated to her life here, including some of her most treasured possessions and family photograph albums.
The gardens and grounds too should be seen. Set in ‘Capability’ Brown’s landscape, they are perfect for relaxing walks where you likely to see and hear a variety of bird life including Harewood’s famous red kites.
Harewood House, Harewood, Leeds, Yorkshire LS17 9LG
Tel: 0113 218 1000
