While I love visiting historic houses, there are a couple of rooms that always draw me in more than the others. While the bedrooms are beautiful, the sitting rooms sumptuous and the ballrooms breathtaking, it is the kitchen and the library that provide the most delight.
With regards the kitchen, I'm not sure if its because it is a room I spend so much of the free time in, thereby combining my love of cooking with my love of the past, or because it is one of the essential rooms that shows at the inner workings of the house or castle.
Unfortunately in many houses the kitchens have either been commandeered by the attached cafe and therefore have been modernised to necessary levels of safety and efficiency (Strawberry Hill, Musee Jacquemart Andre...), or are still in use by the current resident (this accounts for the absence of the kitchens of Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle...). This means the pickings are limited, but there are still some beauties out there, and it makes stumbling upon them even more exciting.
The first place I remember displaying such a fascination with the kitchen was on a tour of France with my mother, where we visited the Chateau of Chenonceau. Constructed as a bridge over the river Cher, the kitchen was secreted away almost at the water level, built into the supports of the bridge.
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| Chateau de Chenonceau, France |
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| Chateau de Chenonceau, France |
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| Chateau de Chenonceau, France |
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Chateau de Chenonceau, France
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Another underground kitchen, discovered in the south east of London is that of Danson House. While the upstairs renovations were marred by the addition of a modern wheelchair lift into the harmony and symmetry of the stairwell, the kitchens below were serene and spacious, with the most delightful domed ceiling.
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| Danson House, UK |
At Hampton Court, Tudor cooks were already installed, one man keeping tabs on the meat rotating in front of the gigantic fireplace...
While these old ducks were not a part of the interactive display, they seemed an appropriate part, even if they were unsure of the herbs they were smelling.
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| Hampton Court, UK |
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| Hampton Court, UK |
Visiting Como House, we snagged our very own tour guide who, as a result of our intense interest and the number of questions with which we pummelled her, took us on an extended tour and introduced us to the strange contraption built into the kitchen wall to the left of the main stove/oven.
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| Como House, Australia |
It is believed to be a bread prover, close enough to the oven to draw some of the heat but not so close that the dough would bake before its time. For a time when bread would have been made daily, I felt it an essential addition and instantly desired one... for the houses in my novel.
One of the most exquisite kitchens upon which I have had the pleasure to stumble is that of Amalienburg, an overtly ornate hunting lodge in the gardens of Schloss Nymphenburg, Germany. As a whole, it almost looks too good to be functional with every surface decorated in the classic blue and white Dutch tiles.
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| Amalienburg, Germany |
I think part of the draw of these old kitchens is not so much the old crockery and earthenware bowls (though I'll admit to liking the green glazed ones at Hampton Court) that litter the tables and would look as much at home within my grandmother's kitchen, as the copper pots and pans.
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| Ham House, UK |
Gleaming bright, these pots and pans line the walls of most kitchens in an impressive range of sizes and with a range of functions. From frypans to saucepans, mixing bowls to moulds. These appear to be one of the unifying features of kitchens of the last 300 years, from the Baroque Ham House, to the Art Deco period that saw the end of occupancy at the home of Nissim de Camondo.
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| Ham House, UK |
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| Musee Nissim de Camondo, France |
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| Musee Nissim de Camondo, France |
And of these, one of the most impressive collections I've seen is at Brighton Pavilion.
(As an aside, this kitchen is brilliantly placed within the plan of the pavilion, being located on the other side of one of the dining room walls, as opposed to at the opposite end of the house).
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| Brighton Pavilion's Great Kitchen from Nash's Views |
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