Beez Neez now Chy Whella

Tour

Big Bear and Pepe Millard

Tue 29 Jul 2014 22:57

Our Tour of Larnach Castle

After being warmly welcomed by the staff, we began our self-guided tour by following the front verandah, down the stairs to read about the history of the castle and of William and his family. There was a family tree on the wall showing generations of his family still going strong in Australia. Back up the beautiful staircase to perhaps my favourite room, the verandah.

In the Music Room we sat and watched a video of how Margaret and her family have worked so hard for what we can appreciate today.

The room off the foyer is the Ladies Drawing Room. We saw the beautiful lacquered sewing box made in China, for export to the ‘West’. In this room ladies took tea and entertained their friends. The ceiling is delicately coloured plaster work in a strap and pendant design. Louis Godfrey, who was contracted at the castle for twelve years, was also responsible for the fragile carving of the birds and ferns in this room. The nine-piece totara knot suite was made in the 1880’s by John Sime from a tree that he felled at Purakanui, near Dunedin.

The Dining Room has English oak panelled ceiling is adorned with flowers, birds and butterflies in mahogany. William imported two Italian plasterers for the vine and grape work plaster. Marble fireplaces throughout the building are Italian. An original sideboard stands in the alcove. The wall panelling in this room is of Tasmanian blackwood.

Up the beautiful staircase to the Master Bedroom, complete with kauri bed, warming pan and his and hers necessaries.Double-hung sash windows effectively work to insulate the room against the cold and draughts.

We stopped to take in the stunning Georgian Hanging Staircase, the only one in the Southern Hemisphere. The balustrades are of mahogany and the handrails are not steam bent but carved from solid kauri. Looking up to the delicate ceiling.

The North Bedroom with pink and brown curtains has a suite from Australia. It is doweled and screwed to facilitate transportation. Woods used in this suite are walnut and maple. A very comfortable looking room.

Through a black curtain in the corner, we found ourselves in the Boudoir of Constance. So many trinkets befitting a Victorian lady. Her wedding dress from when she married in 1891. She sits sewing quietly in the corner and her ghost hovers gently. The castle is haunted by its past residents, many pushes and shoves have been noted, we were unmolested though, in this very still and peaceful room. There are so many bits and bobs in here that you could spend many visits and always take to memory something new. Boots, corset, hair nick-knacks, perfume bottles, hat boxes and treasures.

Up the stairs to the nursery floor and a Russian painting on cloth of Christ raising Jairus’s daughter. The nursery is a very happy room and opposite is the tiny room nanny slept in.

On this floor is a bathroom with a bath weighing a whole ton, a copy of a bath found in the ruins of Herculaneum. From this level we went through a door into a tiny passage, the walls would have been lined with children's story and books of learning. Up to the tower.