Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, England

Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire (personal photo)

Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire is a beautiful family home which adjourns onto the Woburn Safari Park. I visited both the Abbey and the Park on the same day. I visited the Safari Park first of all and had little film left to photograph the house after taking shots of the animals. Like many of the properties photography is not allowed within the house and since the photo of the exterior (above) is the only view I have of the property I have placed within this document photos of some of the animals to break up the text rather than very similar photos of the house from the same angle. All the pictures on this page are personal photos. Both the house and the park are well worth the visit and if you can fit them both into one day it is all the better.

Monkeys getting territorial over who is sitting on the car.

Woburn Abbey is the family home of the Marquess of Tavistock and has been open to the general public since 1955. It has been in the family of the Dukes of Bedford since it was granted to Sir John Russell, future Earl of Bedford in 1547 by Edward VI. It became a family home in 1619 and has remained so ever since.

A camel just waiting to cross the road

The tour of the house takes you through numerous rooms and the guidebook gives you a detailed about of each of them. In particular you will notice the personal touch that is given to the guidebook by the family. The rooms of the house are as follows.

The Book Room - this room was part of the family quarters until the end of the eighteenth century. It has also been the housekeeper's room. Now it contains numerous books which are a small part of the collection of natural history books contained at the Abbey.

The 4th Duke's Bedroom which contains two Mortlake tapestries and is a darkly furnished room.

The tour continues down the Paternoster Row which contains cases containing various momentos from previous ears, including toys from Queen Anne's time and medals awarded to George William Russell. You continue down the corridor until you reach the Grand Staircase. In a similar manner to that staircase at Stanford Hall, the Grand Staircase here has no visible means of support, each step being held and supported by the ones above and beneath.

A rhino hiding from the hot summer sun in the shade of the trees

The Dukes' Corridor is appropriately named because it is here that you will find some of the portraits of the Dukes of Bedford. The corridor also contains some busts of members of the family from the 19th century.

The next room on the tour is The Chinese Room which as you can imagine has a very oriental feel to the decorating.

We then find ourselves in The Flying Duchess' Room. The Flying Duchess was Mary, the 11th Duchess. She had a love of animals and portraits of some of her favourites are displayed in this room. She also had an interest and travel and photography and some of her photographs are on display here too. However she is famous for her interest in flying and took lessons from a private pilot. In 1929 she and the pilot she accompanied broke the flight record to India. She also flew solo and had the unfortunate adventure to have been shot at by Berber tribesmen after making an emergency landing in the Sahara.

Sadly it was flying that caused her death. In 1937 she was flying in her de Havilland Gipsey Moth aircraft to view the flooded Fens and complete her 200 hours of solo flying. She never returned and a search did not find her. However some parts of her aircraft were found eventually having been washed ashore near Great Yarmouth.

A member of the deer family - can't recall the exact name unfortunately

After visiting the Flying Duchess' Room the next room is The Yellow Drawing Room which was used by Prince Albert in 1841 as his sitting room.

The Racing Room is next and is where you can see the passion that the family has for horses over the years. This continues to the present day when the Bedford colours are still used by racers of their Bloomsbury Stud.

Next is the Queen Victoria's Bedroom which is the first of the State apartments. The Sstate rooms have been used by Queen Elizabeth I, Charles I and his Queen Henrietta and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

The State rooms continue with Queen Victoria's Dressing Room which prior to her visit had been used as a small drawing room.

We then move on to The Blue Drawing Room, the State Saloon and the State Dining Room which contains various portraits including Van Dyck's portrait of Aubert Lemire.

It is then that we have the opportunity to see the famous Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I

We then come to the Breakfast Room which is still used as such today although it has also in the past been a waiting-room.

The Venetian Room is next on the tour where there are numerous paintings of Venice. The room is often used by the family as a dining room when there is a party of more than six people. With a lovely view out of the window this is a light and airy room that catches the sun wonderfully.

A restless tiger who was pacing the ground beside the car

We then arrive at the Ante-Library and the Holland Library. The Ante-Library was redecorated in 1993 and the Holland Library in 1994. Records have been kept to show how it was before and what efforts have been made to improve the rooms.

There is also another Library which is open from time to time by special arrangement.

We then come to the Long Gallery which is the last of the rooms before the special displays.

The first of the displays is The Crypt Porcelain Display. Then there are the Silver and Gold Vaults. After you have taken in the displays you come to the Parlour and finally the Grotto.

Like many houses there is also a tale of a ghostly monk who is believed to walk in what is now the rooms containing the porcelain displays.

You will also find in the guidebook sketches and drawings of the private family rooms that are not open to the public but which have obviously been decorated in keeping with the rest of Woburn Abbey.

One of the cubs sleeping in the sun - still too young to be allowed into the main park