Wallington

We happened upon Wallington Hall by chance late one afternoon on our way to Morpeth. To think that we almost didn't venture in owing to the late hour! As it is we had little time to tour the house and only gradually did it dawn on us that we were in the midst of a wide array of Pre-Raphaelite art: William Bell Scott's murals illustrating the history of Northumbria in the main hall, delicate wild flowers on the pillars between the panels painted by the likes of John Ruskin and Arthur Hughes, an exquisite marble mother-and-child by Thomas Woolner, and various other works by well-known artists such as Edward Coley Burne-Jones and Frederic Leighton.

Wallington Hall is a square-set, grey-stone house perched on top of the remains of an earlier castle, some believe Norman in origin. The estate was laid out in the 18th century by Sir Walter Blackett, a philanthropist, industrialist, and MP for most of his adult life. On his death in 1777, Wallington passed to his sister's son, Sir John Trevelyan. It is Sir John's son, Sir Walter, and particularly his wife, Pauline, who are responsible for the Pre-Raphaelite inspired frescoes and paintings. The couple were friends and patrons of such Victorian writers and artists as Ruskin, Swinburne and Rossetti.

The house also contains a remarkable collection of Victorian dolls' houses, a few equipped with electric lighting, but the most impressive feature of Wallington is its walled garden. Knowing little about the estate, we walked through the woodlands, passed lakes, ponds and sculptures, until we stumbled on the garden, from whose walls (as the photo above attests), one can gaze down at a stream, pond, lawns, arbors, herbaceous borders and gravelled walks. Wallington garden seemed to us a true secret garden, utterly beautiful and solely ours to discover.

Date of Our Last Visit: July 2002