Harewood House

City Dweller reporting from Harewood

2011-09-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

Armed with a well deserved glass of wine in one hand and yet another deadline in the other, I feel ready to tackle this issue’s column...
It’s the dreaded 6 week holiday, a time feared and dreaded by most working parents. Except teachers, as they have the holiday too so are able to take care of their own kids. That’s not a dig by the way, teachers work really hard and I am full of admiration and respect for anyone who goes into teaching and does it well. But how do you entertain your kids for that long? Get other people to take care of them? Well you may have to rely on family and friends, but if you do get enough time off from work to enjoy the odd day out can I thoroughly recommend Harewood House www.harewood.org. I recently went there with Adam O’Neill who does our ‘drivetime’ show here on Capital and we had a marvellous time exploring the house and gardens. Unfortunately, we forgot to go below the house to check out how the other half lived, which I will do on my return. It’s wonderful place and has plenty going on; a grand historical house, kids play areas, a lake, bird garden, including penguins
and flamingos. My favourite part is the specialist gardens, especially the Himalayan garden and Cascade.
Its beauty is overwhelming and I could have stayed there for hours blissfully dreaming the day away, but my son was more interested in climbing and going on the zip wire. Entrance prices vary as you can purchase a ticket for the grounds only or a full ticket which includes a tour of the house. It’s well worth a visit. Staying on a garden and outdoor tip – have you checked out the gardens at Roundhay Park? The winning canal lock garden from Chelsea fl ower show is on display alongside a couple of other previous garden entries. The canal gardens by Tropical World have been massively improved since my last visit and
these gardens are free to have a gander. There is a small fee to go into Tropical World, which is great on a wet, cold day as it is reminiscent of a tropical climate. The park itself is excellent to yomp around with lots of open space, woodland, lakes and a folly in the form of small castle. Go on, get out there and have some fresh air.

Buy this month's City Dweller to read more from Jo Jo!

Gardens of Paradise at Harewood

2011-07-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

Check out this month's edition of Living North to read more about Harewood's award-winning Gardens...

The feature focuses on our Walled Garden and recent developments to see it restored to it's former glory.

An evocative place, tucked away beyond the lake at Harewood, the Walled Garden is a true hidden gem with a secret doorway into a paradise of cultivation!

You can sample the delights of the Walled Garden in our Courtyard Cafe and Terrace Tea Rooms - check out the menu next time you visit Harewood!

Produce is also available for sale in the Courtyard Shop... bettroot, broad beans, cauliflowers and fennel are all good right now!

Read more about the award-winning Gardens at Harewood here...

Out Of The Fire!

2011-06-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

Behind the Scenes at the foundry with our photographer Colin Davison...

'Very dusty and quite dangerous!' were the first words Colin used to describe his experience of the foundry where two new Antony Gormley pieces are being made for Harewood...

The foundry process is only one part of the production, done one at a time, the piece is prepared ready at the studio, made from polystyrene blocks carefully and precisely cut and assembled to plan, then sprayed with a ceramic coating to create a shell of sorts around the polystyrene.

The piece is then buried in hard-packed sand, this is called 'ramming'. A day or two later, 'blowback' sparks fly as the hot iron is 'poured', the sand acts as a barrier to contain the hot metal once the polystyrene has burned away... and then it is all left to cool completely...

A couple of days later the piece must be 'knocked out' and excavated from 2 tons of sand, it's a strange and gruesome sight, black with ash and rough around the edges... the piece is then ready to go to the studio to be 'fettled', essentially cleaned up ready for oxidising and then on to Harewood ready for the exhibition!

A specially commissioned film documenting the process of the two pieces being made will be shown alongside the exhibition at Harewood, including an exclusive interview with Antony Gormley himself... don't miss the show this summer!

Find out more about the exhibition and visiting Harewood on our website here... www.harewood.org/gormley

Announcing Gormley at Harewood

2011-05-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

At last night's private view to launch Harewood’s Epstein exhibition Finding Adam, Diane Howse (Viscountess Lascelles) announced that sculptor Antony Gormley will be showing two new pieces of work in the Terrace Gallery later this summer.

Our current exhibition 'Finding Adam' explores the epic journey of Sir Jacob Epstein’s magnificent alabaster sculpture Adam from his origins in Epstein’s studio in London to Harewood House in Yorkshire, via Blackpool, New York, Cape Town and the Edinburgh Festival, as well as celebrating his return from cleaning and exhibiting at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

"Adam and Epstein are a very hard act to follow," said artist/curator Diane Howse. "I knew of Antony’s relationship to Epstein’s work and all of us here are huge fans of Antony, so we’re thrilled to have two pieces by him in the Terrace Gallery later this summer. It’s very much in keeping with our policy of showing the best of contemporary art alongside our historic collections, something my father-in-law Lord Harewood set in motion when he brought Adam here in the 1970’s. Yorkshire is rapidly becoming the place to see modern sculpture: the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Henry Moore Institute are well-established of course and they are about to be joined by the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield, which opens later this month. We’re proud to be playing our part in this celebration, not only with the Epstein exhibition, but also by showing work by one of Britain’s finest living artists."

Antony Gormley adds: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to show two works at Harewood House, long associated with ‘Adam’, Epstein’s powerful evocation of masculine yearning carved from a massive block of English alabaster.

My material is iron. Smelted and cast in Wednesbury, it also engages with the block but uses the language of architecture to interpret the male human body as an unstable space made up of individual cells fused and propped together. The room in which the works will be shown is supported by four stone columns that make you aware of the load path of the building. I hope that these two works, in which columns and masses describe an unsteady vertical stack twisting through 90 degrees, will allow the viewer to think about his or her own body as a vertical tower.”

Antony Gormley's installation will open to the public in the Terrace Gallery at Harewood on Saturday 13th August and will run till 30th October.

You can read more about the forthcoming Gormley exhibition on our webpage here... www.harewood.org/gormley

Don't be late for this very important date!...

2011-04-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

The giant mushrooms have arrived, stallholders are setting up in the sunshine and the children's funfair is ready to go! We're all set for a fantastic Easter at Harewood and an extravaganza of all things Alice...

It's been a busy week setting up for the Mad Hatter's Tea Party event and Head Gardener Trevor Nicholson has even created our very own rabbit hole for the White Rabbit! You can see it in the West Garden at Harewood if you visit anytime this Bank Holiday weekend...

Jam tart making, easter trails, tea service displays, rabbit biscuit decorating, story telling shows, hotch-potch paint-a-pot, performing arts and craft activities will mean there's something to keep everyone entertained...

Enjoy!

Visit our website to see what's on, book tickets online and read more about Harewood...

Hello! magazine at Harewood

2011-04-19T07:13:00.000-07:00

This week's issue of Hello! magazine (18th - 25th April) sees Harewood as the back-drop to an interview with Coronation Street star Katherine Kelly.

If you visited Harewood one sunny Sunday a couple of weeks ago you may have seen Katherine and the Hello! crew, who visited for the photo-shoot in Harewood's award-winning Gardens and Grounds.

Photos were taken in Harewood's lakeside gardens where the cherry blossom was in full bloom, on the Terrace with Harewood's breathtaking 18th Century facade and fountains in the background and also in the West Garden where thousands of bulbs and spring blooms grow beneath the canopies of the trees above.

Katherine herself remembers visiting Harewood as a child so it was a fitting place for an interview which coincides with the announcement that Katherine will be leaving Coronation Street this year... we'll have to wait and see how the storyline pans out on the soap, but it's guaranteed to be a finale to remember!

The full interview with Katherine Kelly is in Hello! magazine, out now.

Adam arrives safely back to Harewood

2011-04-14T06:10:00.000-07:00

Sir Jacob Epstein’s iconic sculpture ‘Adam’ returns to Harewood House today from the Royal Academy of Arts, where he has been displayed in the landmark exhibition ‘Modern British Sculpture’.

Click here to visit our website and watch the video to see Adam restored to the Entrance Hall here at Harewood and to hear from Anna Robinson (Head of House and Collections) as well as Jim Barrett (MOMART).

Finding Adam opens at Harewood House on 22nd April and explores the sculpture’s strange and epic journey from Louis Tussaud’s warehouse in Blackpool, to the Edinburgh International Festival, to his present home here at Harewood.

Image credit: The York Press

Digging Up the Past..

2011-04-03T06:03:00.000-07:00

In April this year Harewood will become the field-study school for the whole University of York Department of Archaeology. Over 80 students as well as the University of York archaeologists will be digging the site of ‘Gawthorpe’ the medieval manor house that stood on the site before the current Harewood House was completed in 1771.

Education sessions will allow school groups to explore the dig, get their hands dirty digging and talk to the archaeologists. Workshops, lectures and public tours of the dig as well as exhibits of finds will make up part of our Medieval Festival event taking place on Sat 16th & Sun 17th July so join us then to find out more!

Visit our What's On webpages for details of all our forthcoming events...

Justin Fletcher (aka Mr Tumble) confirmed for Harewood's Children's Festival

2011-04-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

Preparations are well underway already for what is, by far and away our biggest event of the season.

This year we've planned a real Children's Fest with a whole host of characters and entertainment. We are thrilled we have been able to secure award-winning CBeebies presenter Justin Fletcher (aka Mr Tumble) for an appearance on the Monday and we've got our fingers crossed for sunshine!

It helps us with event planning if our visitors pre-book online ahead of the event. As an added bonus for doing so, you can pre-book tickets online now to be entered into our prize draw to win a VIP experience on the day…

Click here to read more or to book now...

New plans for Terrace Cottage...

2011-03-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

You may have seen a building nestled in the trees near the Adventure Playground at Harewood; Terrace Cottage. Previously not open to the public, we're pleased to be opening the cottage up to visitors in the near future as the venue for our Second Hand Bookshop. We'll have Paperbacks and Hardbacks, books for adults and children - and a comfy area for you to enjoy the books at your leisure. Our plan is to make Harewood sustainable - and the bookshop will be the ultimate recycling facility.. Bring along a book, buy a book, donate a book.. and the cycle repeats.. (All proceeds go to the Harewood Charitable Trust).

Keep an eye out on our website news pages for updates!

Nature Fest goes down a treat!

2011-03-02T06:34:00.000-08:00

Our all-new event for February half term went down a treat with everyone!

The plan was to host a week of nature-themed fun and activities for little ones and adults alike...helping our visitors to make the most of Harewood and the great outdoors at this time of year - and blow those winter cobwebs away!

Nature Fest: Go wild outdoors at Harewood this February half term turned out to be a fantastic idea and a wonderful event.

Whether they had a thirst for knowledge or an enthusiasm for the outdoors or just wanted to have fresh air and fun at the Harewood, our visitors unanimously approved the new event!

With so much going on visitors we're spoilt for choice: grow your own, meet the bugs, storytelling sessions, nature trails, Bird Garden walk-talk-feed tours, cookery demos in the Old Kitchen, willow weaving and Garden trails to the Walled Garden to see the work going on there developing Harewood's original Kitchen Garden.

If you missed it this year be sure to join us next year!

visit our what's on pages to find out about forthcoming events and more...

Launch of Art in Yorkshire: Celebrating the arts in Yorkshire

2011-02-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

Art in Yorkshire - supported by Tate - is a year long celebration of the visual arts in 19 galleries throughout Yorkshire. Works from Tate's Collection of historic, modern and contemporary art will be showcased through a compelling programme of exhibitions and events.

Click here to go to our website to to hear about Yorkshire as a destination for the arts from Gary Verity (Director, Welcome to Yorkshire).

The idea of Art in Yorkshire is a simple one - to encourage people to explore the huge variety of public art galleries across Yorkshire during 2011, and experience our region's long and strong cultural tradition of visual art.

You can read more about our forthcoming exhibition, see videos and book tickets for associated events on our Finding Adam webpage.

Visit the Art in Yorkshire website for full details of the venues and programme.

The art of illusion at Harewood: Scagliola or Marble?

2011-01-11T05:53:00.000-08:00

Buckingham Palace and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London are just two famous buildings that feature Scagliola, a marble imitation that was first developed in the Baroque era. Today it is often more expensive than real marble because it is so complicated to make. Only experts can determine Scagliola from the real thing.

Deutsche Welle, Germany's equivalent of BBC-World, visited Harewood this week with Michael Koumbouzis of the Leeds-based 'Scagliola Company' to explore Harewood's collections...you can see the footage on Euromaxx (Deutsche Welle's daily life and style magazine show) here.

Visit the House from 22nd April 2011 to see if you can spot the scagliola and marble pieces we have!

http://www.harewood.org/house

Christmas Lights Fantastic at Harewood!

2010-12-02T05:14:00.000-08:00

Our first ever Christmas Lights Switch On was a fantastic success with a swinging festive party on stage hosted by Real Radio's Dixie and Gayle followed by the highlight of the show - a state of the art light show, using a three dimensional projection onto the stunning exterior of the 18th Century House...

If you missed the Lights Switch On (and all the recent press coverage too!) you can watch a snippet of the show on our Harewood You Tube channel, or visit our website to read more and to watch it now!

Adam has left the building...!

2010-11-22T05:51:00.000-08:00

‘Adam’, an extraordinary piece by one of Britain’s most important twentieth century sculptors Sir Jacob Epstein, and one of the most important items in the Harewood modern collection, was carved from a single piece of Derbyshire alabaster in 1938 and 1939.

On 11th November this year, Adam left Yorkshire for London for conservation prior to being displayed at the Royal Academy... Removing Adam from the Entrance Hall here at Harewood was a considerable feat of engineering in itself, requiring an A-frame, winch and trackway, as well as scaffolding to support the steps and undercroft of the House and a Hiab outside the building to lift the sculpture on to a lorry... a big job for the scaffolders and art handlers, and the beginning of a long journey for Adam...

Adam was uncrated today at the conservation studio where he will remain until the New Year whilst cleaning work on his surface and repairs to his base take place.

We are filming the process - short snippets of which will be available on our website in the New Year and the final film will be shown as part of the exhibition here at Harewood in the spring when Adam returns... check out our website for details: www.harewood.org/findingadam

Eric Robson seeks some expert advice on growing Himalayan plants from Head Gardener Trevor Nicholson

2010-11-08T05:03:00.000-08:00

BBC Gardeners' Question Time came to interview Harewood's Head Gardener Trevor Nicholson here at Harewood last week.

The show itself was recorded today in front of a live studio audience at Askham Bryan College near York and will be aired along with Trevor's interview on Gardeners' Question Time this Friday 12 Nov at 3.00pm on BBC Radio 4 (repeated Sunday 14 Nov at 14:00).

Click here to read more about the Gardens at Harewood and see video blogs from Trevor...

Listen online to this week's show, download podcasts of previous shows and find out more on the Click on the BBC Gardeners' Question Time website...

Bigger and Better than ever!

2010-10-31T05:18:00.000-07:00

This year's Autumn Glory was better than ever and we had record numbers of visitors to prove it!

This classic Harewood event has always been popular but this year's event was bigger and better including dry-stone walling demos, glass blowing, the West Garden transformed into an enchanted forest with giant toadstools, fairytale gateways and tipis as well as an all-new craft market with unique hand-made craft goodies on sale in our cosy (and massive!) 3-tipi tent on the North Front.

The West Garden tipis were full of delighted children taking part in seasonal fun, storytelling and activities... and the weather was perfect!

If you missed Autumn glory this year you missed a treat! Join us next October Half Term for entertainment and seasonal fun and to see the grounds and landscape showing their glorious autumn colours! More details will be available on our website in the spring...

One to look out for...

2010-09-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

The BBC were here at Harewood this week filming for a new BBC series based on the 1936 novel 'South Riding' by Winifred Holtby.

Harewood House's facade and Gallery will feature in the series as 'Maythorpe Hall'.

The book is set in the fictional South Riding of Yorkshire, the real inspiration being the East Riding. The book won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for 1936.

The novel was first adapted for the cinema in 1937 and was later adapted for television in a 1970s production starring Hermione Baddeley, Dorothy Tutin, Nigel Davenport and Judi Bowker. A radio version starring Sarah Lancashire and Philip Glenister has been made for BBC 7 and this latest adaptation by Andrew Davies, starring David Morrissey and Anna Maxwell Martin, is being produced by the BBC to be aired later this year or next...so keep your eyes peeled...!

Read more about the shoot and the series, inlcuding comments from the actors and Andrew Davis on Screen Yorkshire's website...

Norman Ackroyd at Harewood

2010-08-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

Norman Ackroyd RA is used to wild, romantic landscapes as well as being out in all weathers armed with sketchbooks, watercolours, etching plates and acid... which is just as well as his visit to Harewood took place on an unseasonally cold day in June earlier this year!

House & Garden were keen to photograph Norman here at Harewood as part of their piece on prominent house painters (check out the October edition of House & Garden to read the article). Norman was first invited to Harewood in 1997 to mark the bicentenary of Turner's watercolours of Harewood House commissioned by the 1st Viscount Lascelles 200 years earlier, in 1797. As a master of his artform, Norman was the ideal choice, especially as he is, as Turner was before him, obsessed with geogrpahy and travelling.

Retracing his steps to the hillside where he came to sketch Harewood House overlooking its 'Capability' Brown landscape, wreathed in autumn mist Norman was enthusiastically greeted by our cows who have been enjoying the view in their summer pasture!

Norman Ackroyd selected several watercolours from the Harewood collection as part of our exhibition 'Twenty-One' this year.

What Norman had to say about his involvement in the Terrace Gallery and this year's exhibition at Harewood:

The foundation of the Royal Academy of Arts in London by George III in 1768 opened up an awareness and patronage of British artists that had not previously existed. We are all aware of the great surge of portraiture led by Reynolds, Gainsborough et al - but it also resulted in a golden age of watercolour landscape with Turner, Girtin, Cotman, Varley, Cox and many others.

It was a great privilege to be asked to visit Harewood on the 200th anniversary of Turner's visit, in 1997 as a 22 year old, to produce my impressions of the house and grounds. I have therefore chosen three watercolours, from that golden age, as my contribution to this anniversary.

Image left: Harewood in Autumn, Norman Ackroyd

Find out more about Harewood collections, exhibitions and more on our website... www.harewood.org

Tales from The Tempest

2010-07-08T08:32:00.000-07:00

A review by Antonia Pudney, work experience student at Harewood House this week...

A tale of love, betrayal and forgiveness performed by ‘Lord Chamberlains Men’ took centre stage on Harewood’s North Front. With minimalistic staging and few props the actors themselves were the ones that brought Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest’ to life.

An audience ranging from ages four to sixty four enjoyed an afternoon of open air theatre thanks to ‘Lord Chamberlains Men’- their interpretation of Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest’ was greeted with both applause and laughter by the audience. Periodic costumes and cleverly used props aided the actors in their performance but it was the actors themselves that made it a truly enjoyable experience.

The ability of the actors became very apparent whilst I was watching the play from the sidelines, seeing them exit the stage was like seeing a personality switch as they came out of their characters for the brief period of time they were backstage. The majority of the actors had to take on two roles as there are only several men in their company making the costumes a vital part of the play as they helped the audience differentiate between who was who at different points in the performance.

However, even without the costume changes it was clear that the actors had developed their characters meticulously so it was obvious when they had switched into their second character. The matinee performance was watched by both a primary and secondary school and even though some of the younger students couldn’t understand the complex language I believe they enjoyed themselves as the actors put both effort and emotion into their performance making it understandable even to young minds.

Overall the play was an enjoyable experience showcasing Shakespeare in a more intimate environment.

Find out more about upcoming events at Harewood House on our website www.harewood.org/whats-on

Save the Bees!

2010-06-22T04:54:00.000-07:00

The Bees at Harewood were the focus of BCB Radio's news bulletin today.

Research work being conducted at Dundee University has sparked renewed interest throughout the country in declining bee populations.

John Annett, of the Harrogate and Ripon Beekeepers' Association spoke to James Crossling from BCB Radio to fill him in on the situation locally.

Suited-up James ventured into the apiary to meet the bees...you can read his article and see the video here: http://bcbnews.blogspot.com/2010/06/honey-bees-buzzing-off.html

Plot to Plate: New developments in the Walled Garden at Harewood

2010-04-19T05:37:00.000-07:00

The Gardens are waking up after a long and exceptionally severe Yorkshire winter...

The Gardens team are now busy at work on the new vegetable beds in the Walled Garden at Harewood. This new kitchen garden is very much a team project with the Gardeners, Catering staff and Volunteers all working together to make the Harewood plot-to-plate plan a reality.

The Walled Garden at Harewood will revive the tradition of growing food on site to support the House and Estate and as part of our continuing support of local growers, reducing food miles and home-grown produce these new vegetable beds will supply both the Courtyard Shop and Café – so you’ll be seeing the food grown here on the menu in the café too!

As you can see from the pictures, the new beds are huge, much bigger than even the Gardeners had envisaged when they marked them out. Muck-spreading is the first job with sowing taking place late March to early June - parsnips, beetroot, carrots, potatoes, cabbages; many of which are new varieties for 2010. Next time you visit, take a stroll around the lakeside to the Walled Garden and see how work is progressing!

We’ll keep you posted with developments, just sign up to follow our blog!

Conferences, Corporate Hospitality and Christmas

2010-03-21T08:40:00.001-07:00

On Thursday the sales team went off to the Yorkshire Conference and Hospitality Show at Savilles near the Royal Armouries. It was the first time in a ages that we've been to a corporate exhibition. Our new stand, which had been put together at a rapid rate of knots by the amazing Beck Marriott, was a roaring success. We attracted 15% of the total visitors to the show on the day.

Among the many attractions to our stand were the delicious mulled wine and mince pies, prepared by our fantastic hospitality team. Yes it was a bit early for mince pies but there was method in this madness. We were launching our Christmas party options and working on developing awareness of Harewood as a Christmas party venue.

Here is a short video of the stand. It was videoed using a mobile phone so the quality is fairly low.

On Friday we hosted 20 Conference buyers, from Conference Leeds, to lunch and a show around. A great bunch they were too. Fortunately the sun shone as we showed them our new Pavilion which will hold over a 1000 theatre style when it has been completed. Maggie Mash and Sue Sharpe provided us with an excellent tour of the State Floor and highlighted that the House has always been used for business as well as pleasure.

To end the lunch we asked for a volunteer. We didn't say what they were volunteering for. But Rachel was very overexcited when we told her it was to feed our penguins.

This is just the start of Harewood's drive to be the best conference venue in Leeds.

Family activities at half term

2010-02-16T08:37:00.000-08:00

Harewood has opened for half term, the weather has been cold, sometimes clear, sometimes wet!
However there has been lots going on. One of the most popular activities has been the felt puppet making of tiger puppets to celebrate the Chinese year of the Tiger. in fact it has been so popular that Jennifer Auty, one of our Learning and Access Officers (she provides fabulous ideas for school trips) has had to go an buy more felt for the puppets twice! Here she is making a prototype puppet.

Today is Shrove Tuesday or now more popularly known as Pancake Day. It has been a spectacular success today with a huge number of families coming to see the demonstrations and get some ideas for their own pancakes. The pancake tossing was particularly popular. This year we will be doing a lot more food demonstrations in the Old Kitchen.

Autumn Glory Fun and Scarecrows!

2009-10-28T06:02:00.000-07:00

Autumn Glory has been a great success with the most glorious array of Autumn colour we have seen in years. Harewood's grounds look beautiful at this time of year and it's also a great opportunity to get the family out of the house this half term!

The event is only halfway through so there's plentry more half term activities and family fun still to come. The weather forcast for the next few days is great so why not come along and explore Harewood this Autumn!

You can upload your own Autumn Glory images and snaps to our Facebook site...please do so as we'd love to see them!

Family Days out at Half term

2009-10-15T07:49:00.000-07:00

Autumn Glory is set to be spectacular this year with good weather promised and the leaves turning red and gold as we speak!

Autumn Glory celebrates all things Autumnal with half term activities, treats and experiences for everyone to enjoy. The week will be packed with things to see and do including…

Make A Wish Entertainment
Scavenger Hunt Trails
Fun in the Bird Garden
Autumn Leaf Hunt Prize Draw
Childrens Art Activities
Scarecrow Trails
Face Painting
Biscuit Decorating
The Good Soup Company
Lottie Shaw's Parkin
Twilight Tales
Diwali Celebrations
Weaving and Spinning Demonstrations
Autumnal Crafts
Silversmithing Family Workshops

Different activities and entertainments every day, for a full programme please visit the website.

Autumn Glory
Sunday 25 October 2009 - Sunday 1 November 2009
Daily, 10.00am to 4.00pm
Half Term Fun for all the Family
You can Book Now on our website!

Harewood is a great place for family days out take a look on the website, pay us a visit and see why!

A Flamingo Chick Called Flimgo

2009-10-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

We've finally got a name for our flamingo chick...who shall now be know as 'Flimgo'!
Some of the suggestions we had were:

Snowball
Flimgo
Flingo
Harry
Lucky
Julian Clarey
Pinky
Pinkish
Fluffy
Fennella the flamingo
Phoebie the Flamingo
John’s little Miracle
Alice (as in wonderland)

The little guy/girl is now approx 70cm high, fully stood up.

It’s been feeding itself from the lower food bowl provided for just over two weeks now, but is still also being fed by the parents. When they regurgitate the ‘crop milk’, it’s a bright pink colour, this will slowly be reduced by the parents as the chick gets older.

At the moment it still has its grey downy juvenile plumage, but has small primary flight pin feathers developing on its wings, and some pin feathers on its body. This means it’s gradually getting adult plumage, but will still be a grey colour until next year.

It can be seen resting on one leg as the adult Flamingos do and can now swim quite well.

It’s also now large enough to be tucked up overnight in the boat house winter quarters with all the adults, without the risk of it being trampled on, or pecked by other adult Flamingos.

Sponsor our flamingo chick or find out more about flamingos on our website.

The Horse at Harewood art exhibition

2009-09-29T03:53:00.000-07:00

'The Horse at Harewood' exhibition has been quite a journey of discovery for the curatorial team - although there have always been horses here, and we're all aware of their role in the history of the Estate and the Lascelles family - we've never before placed such a focus on this area of Harewood's history and the artworks arising from it. The works now on show in the Terrace Gallery were collected from all over the House, some had literally barely seen the light of day for decades, and most have never been seen publicly before. This posed quite a few challenges: some of the works needed conservation and most needed cleaning to remove varnish which has yellowed over the years. Most of all we needed to reconstruct the story of how and why these pictures, and the artists who painted them, came to be at Harewood. We know that the 6th Earl and HRH Princess Mary kept racehorses and even established a stud farm at Harewood, and of course we have photographs of some of their horses too. But there's a lot of work to do to identify individual horses, reconstruct their racing successes, and piece together the commissioning of the horse portraits now in the Collection. This exhibition is really the start of something, an investigation into part of Harewood's history, and it's a rich and exciting area to be working in. We hope to revisit this theme with another exhibition in a few years' time once we've pieced that story together, and had the necessary conservation work carried out, and we also intend to publish a book on the subject too.

Harewood House new website goes live

2009-09-08T00:34:00.000-07:00

Our new website goes live today. What a relief it has been - three months in the planning and eight months in the building! During this time we've been writing, sourcing images and working with colleagues on how it should look, feel and work.

We've worked hard to make more of the information about Harewood easier to find. Information is, mostly, now only three clicks from the home page. There are loads more images available for people to look at and get a feel of what Harewood is like before they visit.

We're also integrating social networking sites directly into the website, with both Flickr and our Blog built directly into the website. This provides a direct feedback route for our customers to tell us what they think and also to put their photos up so the world can see them.

I could blather on about all the technical stuff about search engine optimisation and clever things that our agency, BrandNew, have done with the site, but I won't. I'll finish with telling you about My Harewood.

My Harewood is our new section whereby Harewood Cardholders and other visitors can tell us what they would like receive in their email newsletters. By choosing your interests in the preferences section, visitors can filter the events, exhibitions and news they see on their My Harewood home page. This automatically updates as new events, news or exhibitions are added.

We've also put some 'not quite accurate' information into the Did you know section and will be announcing a competition about this shortly. Come back for more later!

Artist in residence on the 36 Bus

2009-09-03T00:54:00.000-07:00

Simon Warner is our artist in residence on the Number 36 Bus between Leeds and Harewood during our exhibition 'Town and Country' until 20th September. The residency is in partnership with bus operator Transdev Blazefield and Project Space Leeds (PSL), a contemporary art space in Leeds' city centre. Follow the progress of Simon's residency and add your own stories and contributions. Simon's developing work in text, photography and film can also be viewed in the 'Waiting Room' at PSL throughout the partner exhibition there. Look out for announcements on the Blog too about other guided walks Simon will be conducting using scheduled bus services.

Did you know that if you come on the bus to Harewood you can get in for half price on presentation of a valid bus ticket?

Flamingo Watch update

2009-07-23T05:07:00.000-07:00

The flamingos have now laid nine eggs. Four of which are unfortunately not going to hatch. The remaining five are all ok. The big excitement of today is that this is day 28 of the incubation period. Flamingo eggs normally incubate in 27 - 32 days, so we are expecting the first egg to hatch today or in the next couple of days.

The media have been out for a news item with BBC Look North airing on their 1330hrs news and also this evening at 1830. The Yorkshire Evening Post will also be featuring it tonight or tomorrow.

Did you know that you can Adopt a Bird at Harewood? If you would like to adopt a baby flamingo please call 0113 218 1000. All proceeds from adoption go towards our conservation and research activity. Adopting a Bird doesn't mean that you can take the bird home, but we'll acknowledge your adoption with a welcome pack, a plaque on the enclosure and send you a twice yearly 'Stock Press' Newsletter, as well as invite you to a summer evenings bird adoption evening.

Turner, Harewood and Leeds

2009-07-22T00:16:00.000-07:00

The Yorkshire Evening Post has done a lovely write up on our new exhibition and Professor David Hill's new book.

The Flamingos are laying eggs

2009-07-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

After nearly twenty years of nothing, our Chilean Flamingos have started laying eggs, there are currently six eggs being sat on by the Flamingos. The first eggs are due to hatch in about a week.

One of the theories as to why the Flamingos haven't laid eggs before is that there haven't been enough of them to feel comfortable. To rectify this we have introduced life size cardboard cut outs of the birds and a sprinkler system to keep the island that they are laying their eggs on damp. Having damp soil enables them to build their nests as you can see in the picture.

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2009-06-09T03:04:00.001-07:00

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2009-06-09T03:00:00.001-07:00