Friends excursions: Southill Park, Bedfordshire
Private home of the Whitbread family
Thursday 8 June 2017 12.30 - 7.30pm
Join the coach on Piccadilly outside the RA. Please note that the coach will leave promptly at 12.30pm
£65. Includes tea and homemade cake.
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Southill has been the private home of the Whitbread family for over 200 years. Friends are invited on a special tour of their house and gardens (not often open to the public) with the current owner Mr Charles Whitbread and archivist James Collet-White.
In 1750 Samuel Whitbread created the first purpose-built mass-production brewery in the UK when he moved his brewing operations to Chiswell Street on the eastern edge of Georgian London. Over the following years, Whitbread became a household name throughout the country.
We are very privileged to be offered this private tour of the Whitbread family home, which is not normally open to the public. The rooms show the collaboration between Samuel Whitbread II (1764-1815) and architect Henry Holland (1745-1806). Most of the furniture that Holland designed for the rooms is still in place and dates from 1790-1815, as do all the paintings. The collection includes works by several Royal Academicians including Thomas Gainsborough RA, Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA, John Opie RA and John Hoppner RA.
Please note that the coach will leave promptly at 12.30pm and you may bring a sandwich or similar to eat for lunch en route if you would like to.