Houghton Hall Sculpture Trail

Norfolk probably has more than it's fair share of grand, country halls each with their own fascinating character and history. Houghton Hall is notable enough among these to have merited it's own section in Simon Schama's acclaimed BBC documentary "A History of Britain". As a devoted viewer back in the year 2000, I was surprised to discover that Britain's and indeed the world's first Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, commissioned a splendid new building here in Norfolk to be his residence. I promised myself that I would visit Houghton Hall at the earliest opportunity to educate myself.

23 years later we rolled through Houghton's imposing wrought iron gates to view it's famed sculpture trail which this year celebrates the work of Sean Scully. I'm exaggerating a little. I've been in the grounds of Houghton earlier than that to support Mrs. Corners running the Race for Life there a couple of times. More recently we attended the Houghton Horse Trials. As a life long advocate of horse justice I was interested to see how law breaking horses would behave when made to face their crimes. I think we must have arrived a bit too late as there was no sign of any legal proceedings. Fortunately a load of posh people turned up on their horses and started jumping over things that had been left lying around. It was actually very entertaining and I felt it would be amusing and appropriate to shout "Here come the cavalry!"

The response was muted as I looked around though this may have been because someone nearby had been acting the fool at around the same time. Several nearby groups looked irritated and were muttering about an idiot. Mrs. Corners hadn't seen anyone because she had her head in her hands. She gets these terrible headaches.

So although this wasn't my first visit, it was the first time that I entered what began as Robert Walpole's palatial home and is now the residence of the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley. Incidentally, if you are planning to visit, I'd recommend brushing up on the correct pronunciation of Cholmondeley as it is slightly unusual. The staff have been trained to exercise a zero tolerance policy on mispronunciation which can in some cases lead to a summary execution or, worse still, an embarrassing faux pas that will besmirch your family name for generations.

Being beheaded can really spoil one's day. To avoid this kind of unpleasantness try and brush up on the correct pronunciation of Cholmondeley before your visit.

Fortunately for me, I spent my youth studiously watching sketch comedies by the likes of Harry Enfield.

The trail started by taking us through a garden that provided some welcome shade on a sweltering June day. After a short way, the path opened to reveal the main building on the right and one of several neatly arranged sweeping vistas to the left. This view provided a perfect site for a couple of Scully's larger works. The large rust-coated iron frame in particular drew us away from the coolness of the garden to get a better view of it's angles and perspectives.

Next was a small gallery of Scully's paintings and handwritten notes. On a couple of A4 sheets, Scully remembered his first job as a shop assistant in Woolworths. His job was to unpack boxes of stock and to put the contents on display - essentially he was a shelf-stacker. Having unpacked the boxes, he would take them to a machine at the back that would compress the cardboard into dense cubes. As well as being oddly satisying, it also had a profound effect on Scully's future. He was fascinated by the stacks of cubes that he produced that at first emphasised both their uniformity and, on closer inspection, their irregularity. That fascination has endured to this day and it's influence was clearly visible in much of his work. How inspiring that a job as a shelf-stacker was a launchpad to becoming a celebrated artist whose work is exhibited around the world.

We continued to the main building and up a stupendously elaborate staircase. The trail provides the opportunity to view many historic and modern sculptures by other artists that have been acquired by the house as well as the works of the featured artist. At the centre of the staircase, a statue of a gladiator was poised, ready to deal with any trouble. He also looked ready for a swim later in the day if the opportunity presented itself.

The staircase led to a large, tiled room which hosted the sculpture that had featured on the advertising that had initially caught Mrs. Corners' eye. Backlit by the midday sun streaming through the window, we couldn't have hoped for a better view of the tight stack of thick coloured glass prisms. Amazing that such a beautiful object could have come into existence by someone following a fascination with condensed cardboard.

Some of Scully's smaller sculptures were thoughtfully placed among the opulent furnishings and decor of the main hall.

There were more sculptures to enjoy out in the grounds and again Scully's temporary instalments took their place alongside the works of other artists that remain on the site. "Skyspace" by James Turrell was a personal favourite: a timber structure that can be climbed to reach a viewing gallery that frames the sky encouraging us to appreciate the beauty of what surrounds us every day.

There is so much to commend Houghton Hall including: it's proud history which I hardly mentioned after the introduction; it's architecture and sweeping vistas; beautiful and imaginative gardens; the helpful and knowledgable staff and volunteers who I have unfairly caricatured here and of course the art that took us there on this occasion.

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Every Norfolk Corner comes with an entirely superfluous accompanying music link. This time I'm choosing "Tower of Strength" by The Mission as a nod to Sean Scully's various tower sculptures.