The strangest named National Trust property visited so far (it’s not a great contest having only been to four places), Ham House and Garden in Richmond, Surrey, was this year’s birthday treat.
Prospective visitors hoping for copious amounts of the pork variety will, rather unsurprisingly, be disappointed by Ham House. It is so named for the village it sits in – Ham.
But for those looking for an unusual and very, very old house, it’s an excellent morning out away from the chaos of London.
I’ll admit I was surprised to learn Ham House was built in 1610. The naive historian in me had images of much more primitive houses, with the contents of chamber pots being hurled from upstairs windows and horses and carts clattering down cobbled streets.
And actually, I’m not far wrong as a quick Google shows that was what life was like for much of London at the time. Shakespeare was still rocking around, the Gunpowder Plot had taken place five years before, and much of London lived in poverty.
The difference is that Ham House was built for royalty – King James I’s son, Henry, hence the grandeur. Although Henry rather rudely died two years after it was built so didn’t really make the most of his present. But I expect his younger brother Charles was rather pleased as he inherited the house.
As with most properties, Ham House has a nice, big entrance hall to impress guests. What’s different about this one, is that one owner in 1690 was unimpressed with the dining room directly above and so knocked through the ceiling to create a two storey entrance hall and a picture gallery above, with a balcony wrapping round the hole in the floor.
The house itself is brimming with unusual artefacts collected by wealthy owners over the centuries, with unusual miniature paintings in the Green Room, and a one-of-a-kind ornate ivory cabinet in the bedroom.
As it is January, the gardens were bare and very chilly, but I expect in the summer it would be a spectacular place to roam around.
But surprisingly, the best part of Ham House was hidden in the basement. There is a fantastic Upstairs Downstairs divide, with a whole network of rooms below the main house including beer cellars, vast kitchens, washing rooms, and an extravagant bathroom for the woman of the house to be pampered (I definitely did not get in the mock bath. I wouldn’t do that.)
I knew once my two companions had started playing ‘Snog, Marry, Avoid’ with the portraits in the house that it was probably time to find them some sugar and caffeine, so I can also vouch for the excellent Victoria Sponge and coffee in the cafe. Well, it was my birthday after all.
A Year of Trust 