The scariest place!

This Halloween was at the Old Hall Tatton Park, even some of the staff who came down from the Mansion were scared!.. and they know the people doing the scaring....though some of the haunters were quite unrecognizable.

Quite a few of the visitors were scary too....one girl on Wednesday came as a ‘mummy’ all self made costume and looked very authentic particularly with a very life like cockroach on her shoulder...she was quite terrified of the pirate though...(Allan Johnson for those who didn't realise!)

Pirate Allan

This year with the extended opening times going into the second week of Half Term, kept the visitors coming and it was very busy those last 2 days. It was well attended the rest of the time too. As usual with the added extras of face painting and mask making, Sheila and Janet, I don’t know how you keep up!... and the small rides in the Old Hall grounds it made it a full day for families and plenty had picnics on the days of good weather...and of course the story teller in the barn kept the children who were perhaps too scared to go in the Old Hall, entranced...thanks Leonie. There were hot drinks and food to keep you going as well.

We returned the place to it’s origins on Thursday, well almost as a few went back today, (Friday) and put everything away for next year...it does come round very quickly.

The last day when we finished, the 31st, I was stood at the door of the Old Hall with Mick and Dawn just chatting and my cloak which has a substantial clasp just slipped off my shoulders onto the floor, right near where someone else had a paranormal incident a few years ago. That has never happened before and it’s the cloak I wear for the Medieval or Tudor Education days and it’s never just dropped off....spooky!

Here are a few of the spooky staff...

 Ghostly Woman

 The Grim Reaper

 The Lady

 Monk

not to miss... 

The sunbathing skeleton!

Margaret Clark
History Interpreter Guide

The Rut!

It's that time of year again...

Over the next few weeks the annual rut will take place; this is a fantastic time to observe the deer, it is a fascinating time of year. The males that have spent lazy summer days together, growing antlers and putting on weight (in preparation for the rut) become less tolerant of each other and separate.

Triggered by shorter daylight hours, they will begin to call; the Red Deer have a loud bellow that can be heard over long distances while the Fallow make a noise that can be best described as a belching rasp!

Bellowing Deer: Photos courtesy of Ben Pickersgill - Flickr

Wallows are dug out in a wet area with thrashing antler and pawing hoof, they are urinated in before wallowing begins to give the animal not only a fearsome appearance but a pungent smell too! Antlers may be adorned with grass for a similar reason. All this display, vocal and physical, is to intimidate rivals and to attract females. Bucks will “parallel walk”, walking along side each other over long distances, calling and sizing each other up. Fighting is a last resort. Antlers clash, locked together in a pushing match to decipher the strongest animal, this may go on for some time with two evenly matched individuals. The weaker one will eventually back down and retreat, the victor will often at this point, call at them in celebratory fashion. Injuries do occur but are thankfully uncommon. During the rut the males cease feeding.

Wallowing in the mud: photos courtesy of Ben Pickersgill - Flickr

The differences between Red & Fallow Deer

The two species of deer here at Tatton employ two different strategies to facilitate successful mating. Red Deer physically herd together a group of females known as a harem and move around with them, defending them against any interloper. Young males are often seen on the peripheries of the group, opportunists waiting for the alpha male to be distracted!

Fallow Deer have a totally different technique; they choose a territory, often in woodland on raised ground. This is known as a “stand” where the Buck will call from to attract does into his territory. Branches in the area will have scent on them, smeared from a gland just below their eye; this is visible on the buck’s face. 

The females only come season for a twenty four hour period and only during this time will she stand for the male. If she is not covered early in the rut, she will again come into season later, but this is not ideal as it leads to late calves the following year.

The rut ends in November; then the males gorge themselves on acorns desperate to replenish energy in time for the on set of winter.

We would like to thank Ben Pickersgill, a park visitor who very kindly sent in and allowed us to use these wonderful Deer images, that really capture the Deer Rut.

For more fantastic images of the parkland and its wildlife visit our Facebook page or find us on Flickr. 

Darren Morris, Park Ranger

Tatton Park Biennial Flights of Fancy set to depart following an unprecedented season. 

Record number of visitors have enjoyed this year’s edition engaging with the Flights of Fancy theme in extraordinary ways.

Examining the human urge to fly and the aeronautical legacy of Tatton Park and the region, the 2012 edition of the Biennial has incorporated brand new commissions amongst which appear a crash-landed spaceship, a human size rook’s nest and a suspension bridge held aloft by giant helium balloons

Already over 250,000 visitors to Tatton’s parkland have experienced double `double takes’ with the unexpected sights of a crash-landed flying saucer and the fuselage of a commercial aeroplane – both astonishing pieces of visual art. The Biennial has received lots of media coverage and many favorable, comments from visitors, here are just a few....

Best Biennial yet. This had purpose, romance.

Really enjoyed discovering the artwork. Really well curated and added a magical element to this visit. Challenging and inspirational.

Well done! - what a fantastic show. Loved it all!

Wonderful, twins aged 8, loved every minute of the exhibits- Grandma

Tatton’s gardens have showcased ten of the commissions and have been home to what must be the most remarkable artwork:- Olivier Grossetête’s Pont de Singe (below) at the Japanese garden is a masterpiece of design and engineering – a 15 metre long bridge held aloft by three helium balloons. 

In total 20 commissions have been sited throughout the Tatton estate since the Biennial opened May 11. The Mansion has been the venue for four of the more intricate pieces including skeletal space fairies in the Amber Bedroom (below) and a film with a commissioned musical score played in the Music Room.

Since May hundreds of families and over 150 students from local schools have experienced and participated in the Biennial through its Contact Programme. Funded in part by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Contact Programme has been hugely successful in promoting greater access to the Biennial through participation and education via a series of projects, events, workshops, audio guides, interactive signage and a specially developed app and family learning pack.

There are just a few days left to experience the 2012 Tatton Park Biennial, running until September 30 there is still a chance to see this year's artworks with a private tour of the estate and also a musical performance in Tatton’s Mansion featuring a new collaboration inspired by Aura Satz’s stunning Music Room installation - both will take place on the closing weekend- Saturday and Sunday September 29 and 30

Many of the Biennial works will be moving on to new venues over the coming months, but their absence from the Park, Mansion and Gardens will be felt! Not to fear – we are already planning new works for a 2014 edition!”

For more information visit: www.tattonparkbiennial.org

Life on the Estate

Tatton 365 Mansion Exhibition

With only a month to go until the start of the Tatton 365 exhibition, I am in the final stages of preparation. The selection process has been a bit of a mission to say the least, and has so far taken the best part of two full days, just to narrow down the final choices. The tricky part has been trying to represent life over 12 months, as I have thousands of images to go through. However, we're almost there now and it's time to get the images framed, prepare press releases and all of the other aspects related to the exhibition.

 Life on the estate is currently at its busiest and I'm still popping in to sneak the occasional opportunity where possible. It would have been interesting to keep a record of the hours I've spent on the estate, but there have been plenty of early mornings as well as the occasional very late night.
The project has been a joy to work on. I've met all sorts of people and have got to know quite a few of the staff who are fortunate enough to work there. The more time I have spent at Tatton, the more I have wanted to shoot and it's become a bit of a second home over the last year.
I've put together a video clip which tells a bit about the exhibition...

...and there will be a dedicated page opening on my website before the start of the exhibition, http://www.markwilliamsonphotography.com/home

 Tatton 365 opens to the public on October 6th and will be on display in the mansion for the month of October. I hope you enjoy the work as much as I've enjoyed shooting it.

Her are a few taster images.

Mark Williamson

Fun Farm Athletics!

 

OUR RARE BREED BRITS GET GOLD!

It's all going on down at the farm in July and August with Tatton joining in on the Olympic fun... I went down to visit the team at the farm, where the ducks are going quackers over swimming, the pigs are trotting mad for the 100 metre sprint and our rare breed Hebridean sheep are baa-battling to the finish to get Gold!

Tatton Park farm athletics goes on until 27th August and there is one race each day from 2pm down at the farm. Audience participation is also encouraged with welly throwing and the long jump for human bystanders.

See last week's winners below from the Farm Athletic events!

FARM ATHLETICS MEDAL TABLE

GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE
Annie (the Hebridean sheep)	Oliver     (the Hebridean sheep)	n/a
Jogging Jemima(Duck)	Loopy Louis (Duck)	Dashing Donald (Duck)
Tiptoe Tallulah (Pig)	Bolting Betty (Pig)	Get up and go Gertrude (Pig)

Caroline Jackson, Marketing

The pumpkin tree returns!

Last week it was wheelbarrows at the ready for Tatton Park’s garden team - as they brought in the autumn harvest for the half term 'Get Squashed' event. With more than 2.5 acres of walled kitchen gardens, that’s a lot of tasty gourds, marrows and squashes - not forgetting some corking courgettes.

The annual 'Get Squashed' event is now back in the gardens until Sunday, October 30. This event is a great opportunity for the gardeners to dig deep for creative inspiration and make a fantastic display of the autumn harvest. Our visitors have been arriving  to see, smell, touch (but not quite taste - that would ruin the display) some wonderful fare from the ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’.

Look closely for the pumpkins!

Our younger visitors have been taking part in a pumpkin poetry trail, which leads them around the gardens in search of ingredients for a ‘magical spell’finally leading them to the marvellous ‘pumpkin tree’. See left!!

The gardens are looking particularly beautiful now, especially the maples in the historic Japanese garden, which celebrates its centenary this year. Here's a photo of it this lunch time  - burnished in its gorgeous autumn colour. 

If you’re looking for other frightfully fun events this half term, visit the horrendously haunted Old Hall at Tatton Park from until Sunday, October 30. Prepare to be petrified as you wander through the haunted Tudor building - fast gaining a reputation as one of the spookiest film locations in the North West. 

And don't forget the fabulously peculiar Skin and Bones event in the mansion - exploring Tatton's wonderful natural history collection of taxidermy, fossils, shells and ethnographic curios.  This event takes place until Sunday October 30.

Happy half term!

Eleanor Gorsuch, Marketing

Tatton through my eyes...

Emily is spending a couple of weeks as an intern. Here's her perspective of Tatton so far...

As a local Knutsford resident Tatton Park has always been on my doorstep, constantly passing through, whether it be on a family bike ride, walking the dog or simply enjoying the sunshine with a picnic by the Mere.  However, the magnificent history and intricate stories which are beyond Tatton Mere are unbeknown to me. 

This week my eyes have been opened to the world behind Tatton Park, consisting of hundreds of years of the Egertons and their endeavours which occurred throughout this time. 

Set in over 1,000 acres of parkland Tatton has something for everyone; this week I have discovered each individual aspect of the park and set my adventurous instincts to go.

One of the most immaculate elements of Tatton is the Gardens, inspired from places all over the world and the host of a compilation of spectacular beauties. The first thing I did was wander off the path and deep into the landscape, concealing myself from all other visitors, I felt like Mary in her Secret Garden. This lead me through to the Arboretum, a magical part to the gardens full of elaborate conifers, again feeling like a child, lost in an enchanted wood. Having made my way back to the main path I then approached the maze, which I decided to have a whirl at; luckily I found my way to the centre and back out again- a challenge which entices everyone. My final stop off was the faultless Italian Gardens, set in perfect symmetry as a backdrop to the Neo- Classical Mansion; placed with precision and perfection they compliment the grounds and Mansion wholly. 

Seeing the Gardens which envelop the Mansion made my intuition take me to the heart of the park, for a glimpse as to the wonderful life the Egertons lived in their grand home. As a whole the Mansion is stunning, it may not look too spectacular from the outside but by stepping through those doors this idea diminishes and you become captured by the house and its contents. The three elements which really caught my eye were the architecture, the paintings and the library. The popular style of the Ancient Greeks and Romans influenced the style of the Mansion, explicitly displayed throughout with a similar symmetry to the Italian Gardens. However, the Entrance Hall exhibits the finest piece of Neo-Classicism, marble floors, porphyry columns and a mirror image from the central line. 

The library at Tatton

Like any 18^th/19^th Century mansion, paintings consume the majority of wall space; what intrigued me was the rarity of a number of these. Predominantly the two Canaletto’s in the Drawing Room; magnificent originals with an uncommon signature declaring them as a couple of the first Canaletto paintings. The final site which encapsulated me was the library; holding a collection of over 8,000 books spanning a whole host of subject matter, dating as far back as 1513. There are even some first edition Jane Austen novels amongst the gorgeous Gillows bookcases.

As Tatton has recently become parent to two sets of piglets, The Farm was the next place on my visit list. Armed with the camera I went in search of these babies to the working farm, which has been part of Tatton since the mid eighteen hundreds. Specialising in raising rare breads of animals, Home Farm is a place for children with an adventurous head and adults who are intrigued by the history, or like me, just animal lovers. The pigs were my favourite part, host to six rare breads: the Tamworth, Large Black, Middle White, Berkshire, Saddleback and Gloucestershire Old Spot, meant there was plenty to see alongside those adorable, chunky piglets.

Finally I took a step further back in time to the oldest part and building of the Tatton Estate- The Old Hall. As a child I recall coming here, dressed as Vikings; one minute baking bread over an outdoor fire and the next charging at classmates, in the heat of a battle. Named as the ‘Hidden Gem’, the Old Hall can often be forgotten. The original Manor House to the first residents of Tatton during the Middle Ages, the Old Hall tells its story through the walls as you amble through the house. As each new era added segments to the house, the periods develop as the house does- commencing with the Medieval Great Hall and ending in the sitting room of Tatton workers in the 1950s. What a brilliant tour, creating the feeling of movement through the ages, I could immediately imagine the residents of the Old Hall sat in each room conducting their daily routine of the period. They may still be there. 

Emily-Jane Bartley

Still covered with a blanket of snow, with frost still picking out the beautiful tracery of the tree skeletons, Tatton Park is getting ready for spring. Under the snow, our Pinetum is transformed into a magical winter wonderland, giving many of our magnificent specimens a taste of their true homes: Bhutan, China, Japan and North America. It was originally the only way people could experience the four corners of the globe and even still, it has lost none of its charm and magic to see stately pines, laden with snow sparkling under a low winter sun.
With a thaw slowly taking place another special experience awaits the visitor at Tatton. The sweet delicate perfumes of winter shrubs start to fill the air. As you walk out of the Tower Garden, through Tower Wood, the spidery petals of the Witch Hazels are starting to give out their smell. Both Hammamellis mollis and intermedia will be at their very best in a week or two. Wafting through the air also is the smell of Mahonia x media, a sweet and strong smell so loved by the hardiest of bees.
Another cracking small shrub for this time of year is the sweet-smelling Sarcocca hookeriana, whose tiny white flowers with pink anthers pack a heady punch on these still, frosty days. I couldn't not mention Calicarpa bodinieri 'Profusion' whose steely violet berries leap out of our L border for visitors who, along with all the other berries and fruits in the garden, maintains a great deal of winter interest around the garden. And finally, don't miss all the wonderful bark colours and textures around the garden, including the ghostly white Betula ermanii and the knarled, twisted shapes of the Dawn Redwoods.
Tatton, more than any other garden has so much all season interest. There is as much to see as you want, whatever the time of year and we are always busy maintaining the garden for your next visit.

Simon Tetlow, Garden Team Leader
www.tattonpark.org.uk