Georgette Heyer's Regency World by Jennifer Kloester Read Free Book Online

more mundane agricultural acres by beautiful landscaped gardens, lakes or wooded parkland. The private land immediately surrounding the house (known as the demesne) was often laid out with formal garden beds, topiary hedges, rose gardens, rolling lawns and magnificent stands of trees. Many houses had a ha-ha on the edge of the manorial lawn to divide the garden from the surrounding parkland. This was a ditch or escarpment, designed to be invisible from the house, with a vertical wall on the inner side and a shallow slope on the park side designed to keep out wandering livestock. In addition to the ornamental garden, a country estate also had a well-stocked kitchen garden that supplied the main house with most of the fruit, vegetables and herbs necessary for its day-to-day running. A very wealthy estate often had a whole series of rectangular walled gardens linked by lockable wooden doors as well as several succession houses which could produce such desirable fruits as melons, grapes, peaches and nectarines, and exotic blooms, such as orchids and carnations. Succession houses enabled gardeners to cultivate a range of fruit and ornamental trees and plants by bringing them on in stages and re-potting or re-bedding them in protected conditions. A few of the great houses also had a pinery for growing pineapples and during the Regency these exotic fruits were highly prized. It was considered a great honour to receive one of the coveted fruits from a noble friend or relative. Lord Charlbury in The Grand Sophy had some of the finest succession houses in the country and the Ombersley family were grateful for his gift of grapes and honoured by the promise of the first ripe pineapple from his famous pinery.
    Architecturally, the great houses varied in design from the medieval priory to the Elizabethan hall or the newer Gothic buildings which had become fashionable by the time of the Regency. Sometimes houses were a mix of architectural styles, the result of several centuries of additions. Staplewood in Cousin Kate had been home to succeeding generations of the Broome family from the time of James I and the ensuing two centuries had seen each new heir enlarge or embellish the original manor house with its Great Hall and Grand Stairway. Magnificent from the outside, the interiors were frequently designed for breathtaking beauty as well as habitation and housed many priceless works of art including sculptures, paintings by the great masters, weapons and armoury, tapestries, rugs and furniture.
    Life in the country tended to be lived at a slower pace than life in London and, for the upper classes, the months spent on the family estate could be either a wonderful escape from the demands of city living or a period of intense boredom to be endured until the return to the metropolis. Houses were generally large with spacious rooms, high ceilings and large fireplaces in the main hall and living rooms. Most great houses had several wings, at least one of which was reserved for the family. The rest of the house usually comprised a main entrance hall, drawing-room, dining room, breakfast room and library on the ground floor, with the bedrooms, dressing rooms and bathrooms upstairs. Many houses had a grand ballroom and, increasingly during the Regency, a billiard room. Richmond Darracott in The Unknown Ajax preferred to challenge his sporting cousin Vincent to a game of billiards rather than spend the evening playing cards with his mother and grandfather in the long drawing-room. The master of the house usually had a study and his wife had a small sitting room or boudoir next to her bedroom. Conservatories were also popular during the period and were generally built on the south side of the house to catch the sun. Many aristocratic houses had their own private chapel, either in the house or as a separate building.
    While the master and mistress of the house had certain responsibilities and duties to perform to ensure its smooth running as well as