The Moody Palette of the English Country Estate - Gardenista
“The county of spires and squires” still works as a description of Northamptonshire, in the middle of England. The old manors and their estates are joined together like dot-to-dot: feudalism lives. And you’d better like mustard yellow or mud brown, or whatever color the estate has chosen for all the woodwork, from farm buildings to the village hall. The colors, which are a kind of branding, are sometimes there for historic reasons (corresponding with the colors of the local hunt, for instance) but often they are less easy to explain. The village hall at Cottesbrooke, a feudal manor near Northampton. Princess Diana grew up on the estate next door, Althorp. Photograph by Alex Parker. Photograph by Alex Parker. A collection of post-1953 chairs at Cottesbrooke. The pavilion at Hidcote Manor Garden, in Gloucestershire. Photograph by Kendra Wilson. Sulby Park, Northamptonshire, with evidence of this same kind of blue seen with traces of green, found by our paint detective Patrick Baty. Photograph by Patrick Baty. An old color card with versions of Brunswick Green, the early incarnation of Hidcote Blue. Ironically, the point at which green paint is about to mellow into a similar blue to this, is when it starts to peel and could do with a fresh coat of paint. Photograph by Kendra Wilson. The estate color at Cowdray West Sussex which is named Gold Cup The first and second viscounts Cowdray were... Photograph via the Cowdray Estate. ...both members of Parliament and chose this Liberal yellow for their tenants to enjoy The color has stuck ever since