John Goodall looks at Wolterton Hall, Norfolk — former home of Keith Day and Peter Sheppard — to analyse the creation of a new country house by Horace Walpole, a figure in the front rank of political and diplomatic life in the 18th century. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life. ‘My house, of my own building, is not extremely large, nor little; is neither to be envied, nor despised.
The disposition of the rooms is neither magnificent nor contemptible, but convenient.’ Thus did the parliamentarian and diplomat Horatio Walpole describe his seat at Wolterton in a letter dated May 29, 1745. ‘The situation is upon an eminence that commands a most agreeable prospect,’ he continued, ‘encompassed with.
.. oaks, spanish chestnuts and beech.
.. on the south a green carpet of the finest verdure gratifies the eye and gradually leads it into a more extensive plain.
On one side a lake of living water catches and fills the sight...
If this description pleases you, come, my dear friend, come and partake of the beauties from whence it is drawn.’ The creator of this idyllic retreat was born in 1678, one of 15 children in a Norfolk gentry family. Horace, as he was known, had the ambition and connections to secure a post as secretary to a British envoy to Spain in 1706 and his first parliamentary seat in 1710.
It was, however, the remarkable political career of his elder brother, Robert — the figure for whom the title ‘prime minister’ was originally coined — that pro.