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00:02Every year, millions of us flock to the houses and gardens of the National Trust.
00:09Taking a step back in time to delve into our history.
00:14When you see something forgotten for thousands of years, that's quite amazing.
00:19Whether in the grandest residence.
00:21This is the kind of room you walk into and you sort of go, oh my goodness.
00:25Or on a windswept island.
00:28Big moment for this little guy.
00:29That's what you want to see.
00:32But out of sight is a hidden world.
00:35Very few people, this whole world can go behind the scenes and you're one of them.
00:40Where an army of dedicated experts.
00:42I have never seen anything like this, it's absolutely bonkers.
00:46Are battling to save treasured objects.
00:48I've not yet smashed anything.
00:50Don't say that.
00:52Am I going to have to be here all day like this?
00:54Meow.
00:56Making new discoveries.
00:57How exciting.
00:59Look at that.
01:00Oh my goodness.
01:02That tell the history of us all.
01:05These objects still speak if you listen hard enough.
01:15This time, how the grand tour shaped 250 years of family history across two spectacular houses.
01:26You have to pinch yourself and go, I call this place work.
01:29One, the home of a young baron who blew a fortune on Italian treasures.
01:35Like any 18 year old, possibly not the best time to inherit a lot of money if you're going to
01:41make sensible decisions.
01:42And the other, a unique residence hiding a salacious secret.
01:48This picture depicts a really intriguing relationship.
01:51Some form of approved menage a trois develops.
01:54It's a society scandal.
02:12Naomi to Olivia, are you okay to meet me on the back stairs? I just need to move a ladder.
02:18In rural Suffolk sits one of the most distinctive houses in England, Ickworth.
02:25When you try and find someone, because it's a loop, you can end up just following people around and you
02:32never meet.
02:3382 rooms and 1,800 acres of grounds are cared for by a team of 33, including senior collections and
02:42house officer Naomi.
02:43If I'm ever on the front door welcoming visitors in, the first thing I say to them is, we're a
02:49bit odd, because we are around.
02:52Nothing that they see here is going to be something that they can see somewhere else.
02:55The amount of photos I've got on my phone of the approach up the drive that I see literally every
02:59single day.
03:01Ickworth is iconic.
03:05It is completely esoteric.
03:07It's been described equally as sort of a stupendous folly and also this hulk that sort of newly arrived from
03:14another planet.
03:15It was as unusual back then as it is now.
03:21This extraordinary edifice was the vision of one man.
03:25Frederick Harvey, the fourth Earl of Bristol, also known as the Earl Bishop.
03:31He was quite eccentric, the kind of person that you'd want to invite to a dinner party, but maybe just
03:36once.
03:37Frederick Harvey was a fascinating individual. I would love to meet him now.
03:42He was funny, witty, intelligent and astute collector of art, but he was difficult.
03:48He was complex. It was said of him that he couldn't sit still for more than five minutes.
03:53He was abroad more than he was here.
03:56Frederick's itchy feet took him across Europe on a grand tour of a lifetime.
04:02The grand tour was the original gap year.
04:07It was an opportunity for aristocratic, mostly men, to travel to Europe and really take in the culture, the heritage,
04:16the history for edification, for education.
04:20Visits to historical sites, classical ruins, certain cities like Paris and Rome.
04:26But of course, many of these young men also used it as an opportunity to go absolutely wild.
04:33And it was also a great spending spree because they were bringing a whole panoply of objects back from the
04:39grand tour,
04:39be it paintings, sculpture, furniture, books, ideas, all kinds of things were coming back with these young men.
04:50Frederick Harvey needed somewhere to show off his lavish souvenirs. So he built Ickworth.
04:57Oh, could you check the humidity in the Pompeian Room?
05:01Yeah.
05:01Lovely. Thank you.
05:03It wasn't just a few trinkets that the average grand tourist would have been collecting.
05:07He had this vision of creating this round house with two galleries either side that local artists could visit
05:15if they didn't quite have, as he put it, the purse strings to facilitate these amazing trips to Europe that
05:21he'd had.
05:23Now, Ickworth's walls are a who's who of old masters and celebrated artists.
05:29We have a really rich collection of portraits here by the likes of Romney, Lawrence.
05:35This is a beautiful Angelica Kaufman.
05:38There's a Gainsborough to the right of the fireplace, everything from the Vigilabrun self-portrait.
05:42We have a Hogarth, a Reynolds, and then over on the other wall, a Titian.
05:47This is the kind of room you walk into, and you sort of go, oh my God, that's here.
05:54But today, tucked away upstairs...
05:57One, two, three...
05:59It's a more mysterious image that's receiving all the attention.
06:04A watercolour and pastel of Frederick Harvey's daughter, Elizabeth Foster, also known as Bess.
06:11She was often said to be his favourite daughter, but also seemed to get herself in a bit of trouble.
06:17She was attractive, she was beguiling, this incredibly enigmatic figure.
06:23But what makes this picture so intriguing is who Bess is standing next to.
06:28The undisputed queen of high society, Georgina, the Duchess of Devonshire.
06:34Georgina Cavendish was, to my mind, slightly sort of the Kim Kardashian of the 18th century.
06:40She was a huge, celebrated beauty. Everyone had an opinion on her.
06:45Elizabeth and Georgina's meeting sparked one of the most sensational scandals of Georgian society.
06:53I don't believe we've been introduced.
06:55No, we haven't. Lady Elizabeth Foster.
06:59I saw you talking with my husband.
07:01Yes. He wanted to dance.
07:04It's not usually considered his forte.
07:07In BAFTA-winning film The Duchess, Hayley Atwell plays a seductive Elizabeth Foster opposite Keira Knightley
07:15as the enthralled Duchess of Devonshire.
07:18In 1782, Georgina and Bess form a really instant connection, a deep friendship, which leads Georgina to invite Bess
07:27to actually move back to her house with herself and her husband.
07:31The film teases the rumour that Bess and Georgina became lovers. But that's not all.
07:38As seen in the movie The Duchess, at some point, Bess started up an extramarital affair with Georgina's husband,
07:45the Duke of Devonshire as well.
07:47In The Duchess, Ralph Fiennes plays the cold-hearted, adulterous Duke, who decides to keep both women under one roof,
07:56sparking tension in the loveless marriage.
07:59Do you love each other?
08:03Georgina.
08:04Do you love Bess, Your Grace?
08:07What Georgina felt about this, one can't be sure, but we do know that over the next several years, some
08:14form of approved menage a trois develops between the three individuals.
08:20This is where it gets interesting and juicy in a lot of people's minds.
08:24Messy.
08:24Very messy.
08:26This was an era when it was very common to have extramarital affairs, to take lovers.
08:32But even then, it's a society scandal, and this is the milieu that leads up to the commissioning of this
08:40double portrait that we have now at Ickworth.
08:42After decades lurking in an upstairs bedroom, this faded watercolor and pastel by society artist John Downman is being sent
08:52away for conservation.
08:53The team are hoping it may also shed light on this hotly debated relationship.
08:59There's a certain amount of supposition we have to take in understanding this relationship.
09:04One interpretation is that there was animosity or anger between the two women.
09:10So this portrait could unlock a number of mysteries surrounding this unusual lineage a trois.
09:16First of all, understanding who commissioned this, who would have wanted this double portrait to hang on their walls,
09:21could really help us understand the true nature of the relationship between these three individuals.
09:27The first to peek behind the public face of this picture is paper conservator Louise.
09:34Hmm.
09:35As she attempts to return the radiance to this 240-year-old couple.
09:41As a work of art, it's quite exquisite actually. The detail is amazing.
09:46But the main thing is clearly this staining that's all over.
09:51It would never have been this dark yellow color.
09:54And there's this interesting sort of streak going through the middle.
09:58John Downman would actually paint on a tissue that he'd apply to a secondary layer.
10:07When you look at it more closely, you can see this very fine tissue is actually lifted, hovering like a
10:17drum skin.
10:18And you've got this fine fracturing on the layers.
10:23It does make me slightly nervous. I'm a bit twitchy about it, because it is so delicate.
10:30To treat the painting, Louise must first remove the canvas lining from the back.
10:39This is the frightening stage.
10:43Quick check on the front.
10:46Looks OK.
10:48It's just stuck more at the edges, actually.
10:58Tricky.
10:59I find myself holding my breath quite a lot.
11:05Got it.
11:09That's quite a relief, actually, to take that off. That's great.
11:14Though Louise may not be able to clean up Bess's reputation, she can start trying to remove the stains on
11:22her portrait.
11:23So this is a vacuum table.
11:26I'm spraying it with a mixture of alcohol and water that draws down all the water that you're spraying on
11:36and thereby washes the paper below.
11:40Wet washing any paper sounds quite horrifying.
11:43But I need to make sure everything is evenly wet.
11:49And make sure there's no pooling.
11:52You see, it starts to pool.
11:54So you take your bits of blotting paper and you're literally checking all the time that no pigment's coming on.
12:01Usually, moisture will pull through a sheet of paper fairly easily, but the adhesive on the back, possibly from the
12:10canvas, has made this a little bit harder to wash through.
12:15Always tricky when you have several layers like this.
12:19Good grief. Might be here all day.
12:21Proving tougher to clean than expected, it remains to be seen whether Louise can remove the stubborn stains at all.
12:29I just need to just approach it with caution, really.
12:35Georgiana and Bess were painted together in the late 18th century, the height of the Grand Tour's popularity.
12:43The neoclassical fashion was leaving an indelible mark across the country.
12:49At many National Trust houses, you see the architectural style of Palladianism and the English Baroque style was also classically
12:56inspired by Rome.
12:57Writers, architects, artists also travelled abroad and the influence is remarkable and we find it even in the smallest parts
13:08of our lives.
13:09We can look at post boxes and graveyards and banks.
13:15Anything that's got a portico, quite frankly, so architects such as Nash or the Adam Brothers were shaping architecture with
13:25a complete disregard for local vernacular and local styles.
13:30The thought of people in the farms that are around estates suddenly seeing this vast temple pop up in the
13:39middle of a landscape must have been, well, awesome and baffling at the same time.
13:48Baffling locals in the Shrewsbury area at that time was the vast Attingham Park.
14:03Good boy. Right. I'm going to head off to work now, so I'll see you later.
14:09Every time when people ask where you live and you have to say, oh, I live in Attingham Park, and
14:14they go, what? Hello, Liz.
14:16You've become quite popular. I get quite a lot of people wanting to come and visit.
14:22Collections and house officer Ryan has been working and living here for the last three years.
14:31Oh, hello. Good morning, Ryan.
14:35There is a lot of times just before the house opens.
14:38I will sometimes pause in the space and go, I call this place work.
14:47Over half a million people come through Attingham's gates every year,
14:51making it one of the most popular houses in the National Trust.
14:55Have you guys got everything that you need for the day?
14:59Perfect.
15:00Hello. Are you all right?
15:01This morning, Ryan is doing his own grand tour, getting ready to open.
15:07You know, we're a 196-roomed house.
15:11I'm not sitting twiddling my thumbs looking for something to do.
15:15There's the bells on cue.
15:20Got everything that you need for the day?
15:22You look after the small attention, the details, and they look after everything else.
15:27So it's the likes of doors being at 90-degree angles,
15:31because it's how a house would have been.
15:35Hello, Vicky.
15:36So, setting new standards.
15:42As much as, yes, it's my place for work, it's my home.
15:49Long before it became Ryan's home,
15:53Attingham belonged to the Lord's Berwick.
15:58Built in 1785, the house was later revamped by Buckingham Palace architect, John Nash, for one rather extravagant grand tourist.
16:10So in this space, we've got Thomas, our second Lord Berwick, just over the fireplace.
16:17So he inherited incredibly young.
16:20And as you do when you're that age, and you've got loads of money, go on a grand tour around
16:26Europe, where he then collects loads of paintings.
16:28And then asks John Nash to remodel the house for the picture gallery, so we can show off all those
16:35paintings.
16:37Like any 18-year-old, possibly not the best time to inherit a lot of money if you're going to
16:43make sensible decisions.
16:45Thomas very much spent his inheritance.
16:49Shortly before his death in 1832, Thomas's grand tour collection quietly disappeared under the auctioneer's hammer to pay his debts.
17:00And it was down to his younger brother, William, to steady the ship.
17:05William, 3rd Lord Berwick, like a lot of younger sons, he went into the diplomatic service,
17:10and he was much more modest as a character, much more of a saver than a spender.
17:17Prudent William used his diplomacy skills to bag a bargain on some furnishings
17:23that would create a little Italy in rural England.
17:27Going on three.
17:28One, two, three.
17:31OK.
17:32So this is the largest collection of Royal Italian furniture outside Italy.
17:38One of the most extraordinary things about Attingham is that here in Shropshire,
17:43we have the largest collection of Royal Italian furniture outside Italy.
17:47You OK going backwards, Rachel?
17:49Great.
17:50It was brought back by the 3rd Lord Berwick.
17:53He was at the courts of Sardinia in Naples before Italy became unified.
17:58And he returned with around 60-odd items of gilded painted furniture,
18:06some of which you see in this room today.
18:08Dripping in gold leaf, applied by the finest Italian craftsmen,
18:13the furniture once graced the Queen of Sardinia's palace.
18:19Now they're looked after by collections and house manager Deru.
18:24There we go.
18:25Onto the table.
18:26Right, and breathe.
18:28Good.
18:29It is status symbol furniture.
18:31You know, it was in royal palaces.
18:32It's not subtle and understated in any way.
18:35It's very much part of Attingham's USP, I would say.
18:40Today, Deru and his team are starting a major project
18:44to bring this special suite of furniture back to its regal best.
18:49Some of it is in poor state of repair now.
18:52It's over 200 years old.
18:54And you can see issues with gilding and some paint losses.
18:57So we hope to bring it back to reflect its stature, really.
19:02The hope is to one day conserve all 65 pieces.
19:06But for now, they're sending away five damaged examples.
19:10It's like wrapping up a very awkward present, really.
19:14We don't want any bits showing.
19:16I want it to look like a work of art when I've done it.
19:26The furniture is being shipped 200 miles across the country
19:30to the Royal Oak Foundation Conservation Studio at Knoll in Kent
19:36and into the care of conservator Abby.
19:42Wow.
19:43I mean, it's beautiful, isn't it?
19:45It's so exquisite.
19:47It's not every day you get to work on royal furniture.
19:50I'm very lucky, actually.
19:54There's wear on the arms,
19:56and then you've got some damage around the noses of the dolphins.
20:00So the gilding's quite fragile,
20:01and we'll need to look at stabilising that.
20:04It might be a little daunting, but we'll get there.
20:08To bring back its lustre, Abby is breaking out the bling.
20:13We're using loose-leaf gold here.
20:15It's a very, very, very fine hammered sheet of gold that's super thin.
20:20Every different carrot of gold is a slightly different colour as well.
20:23Anything from rose gold and champagne gold to white gold.
20:26And it is pretty expensive.
20:28That's why it's important to make sure we've selected the right one.
20:36It's just about being careful.
20:41You can't rush it.
20:51I think the most challenging part of gilding something that's old
20:55is making your new gilding not stand out,
20:58and then making it a little less blingy.
21:00So now I'm going to use very, very fine wire wool
21:04to simulate the kind of wear and tear
21:07that this might have seen over the years.
21:10So I'm using here a recipe of gilder's liquor,
21:13which is basically a very, very dilute glue in some water.
21:17I've added then some pigments just to bring the colour down more.
21:22There's all these secret recipes and tricks of how to get the look you're after.
21:31OK.
21:33I think I'm happy with that.
21:36It's always good to know when to stop.
21:51It's really satisfying when it kind of grabs onto the surface.
21:55I first came across gold and gold leaf with my mum.
22:01She always used to rope me into helping her.
22:04We did a lot of sort of distressed gilding on curtain rails.
22:09I think it was.
22:10Yeah, I thought it was kind of magic.
22:12And you apply it to a surface and it looks gold.
22:14It's amazing.
22:17You don't want to waste any...
22:20We actually collect all the bits that come off on the table.
22:23Sometimes I find it in my hair on my way home.
22:26I think I'm happy with that.
22:29But there's a lot of work to do, you know, lots of challenges.
22:32So it's still got a long way to go.
22:36Conservation at Attingham takes many forms.
22:41Sometimes a more invasive approach is needed.
22:47On the 1400 hectare estate, a new project is underway to save an endangered and fast disappearing wildlife habitat.
22:58Also known as a pond.
23:01So, Jane, the plan is for today, we're going to clear all the trees.
23:05Then the excavation will start.
23:08But we're going to aim for 200 metres squared.
23:11Clearing this old, overgrown and dried up pond are specialist contractors, Des, and his older brother, Dan.
23:19I'm technically the boss.
23:21They sometimes do what I ask.
23:24And then there's my brother, Des.
23:25He's the main ganger.
23:26Who's in charge of me? Yeah.
23:29I tell them when the tea break is.
23:31There we go.
23:33In collaboration with the Shropshire Wildlife Trust, they are restoring 11 ponds on the estate.
23:40And project manager Jane is making sure the plan is watertight.
23:45Freshwater habitats have really reduced massively over the last few decades.
23:50And what we're trying to do across the estate is look at how we can restore existing habitats,
23:55particularly for great crested newts and other threatened aquatic species, reptiles, amphibians, insect life, birds, small mammals.
24:05Such a lot of wildlife depends on ponds.
24:08Landscapers Des and Dan are taking to it like ducks to water.
24:13Our main line of work is sports field construction and drainage.
24:17Although we try and get water to flow out of sports environments, it's effectively drainage in reverse.
24:27So the aim now is that we've got to get a metre and a half of water depth.
24:34So we've got a good amount of digging to do here, extracting the silt.
24:38Finding that clay layer is vital.
24:40Much like Attingham's Berwick brothers, Des and Dan, each bring their own unique style to the family business.
24:47So apparently the second Lord Berwick was the reckless one, and the third Lord Berwick was the sensible one.
24:56In our family dynamic, it's normally the younger ones that are reckless.
25:00Yeah, because I'm the eldest. I plough the furrow, whereas my younger brothers just got to do what the hell
25:05they liked.
25:08It's still a bit like that in that he takes the flack if things go wrong a bit.
25:13I'm the brains.
25:15Is he the brawn or the looks?
25:17Yeah, I love me digging work.
25:19I'm like a big boy on a big toy. It's great.
25:25So Capability Brown, one of his tricks after building a pool was to get the shepherd to pull in a
25:31load of sheep.
25:32And the little feet would be treading the clay and that would help the new lake seal.
25:39We haven't got a flock of sheep, but we do have an eight ton digger.
25:43There we are.
25:45That's us done.
25:46Happy with that, Des?
25:48Yeah, happy with that. That's gone well.
25:49Yeah, looks good, doesn't it?
25:55I mean, imagine trying to do this.
25:57No diggers.
25:58100 odd years ago with no diggers.
26:00No chainsaws. All done by hand.
26:01Yeah, axes.
26:04Shovels.
26:04Yeah, horse and cart.
26:06All the railways, all the canals.
26:08Yeah, yeah.
26:08They're called the navvies. They were unbelievable men.
26:10Yeah, they were all dug by hand, weren't they?
26:11Unbelievable men.
26:13Easy for us.
26:15In six months, it needs to look like we haven't been here.
26:18Hopefully full of water.
26:20So, yeah, you can do your rain dance.
26:28Ickworth's picture of the scandalous relationship between Bess and the Duchess of Devonshire has finished its own water treatment.
26:35Oh, I'm really pleased, actually.
26:38It's certainly lifted a lot of that yellow discolouration.
26:42That's where I wanted it to be at this stage.
26:44Now, Louise can attempt to secure the lifting tissue back to its support paper.
26:50So, this goes on first, and then you just apply the consolidant through the front.
26:58That's just so that I don't disturb any of the colours.
27:01And it's painted through, and it reattaches any loose tissue to this secondary support.
27:10The moisture's pulling through, which means it's pulling through all the layers, bonding the tissue to the secondary support layer.
27:18I'm quite happy now that it's ready to lift off.
27:23When peeling away that protective layer, you just go very, very slowly.
27:29All the time, you're actually looking to see if there's any pigment that may be stuck to the tissue.
27:35You just have to be very careful to make sure that nothing is lifted off away from the artwork.
27:47So, this is looking pretty good.
27:50This one's been very intense, actually, but I'm pretty pleased with it, to be honest.
27:56And relieved at the same time.
28:00Much speculation has existed concerning the precise dynamics of this Georgian love triangle.
28:07How it came about has long been a source of fascination.
28:12I think what we can say is that the marriage between Georgina and the Duke was quite loveless.
28:17Georgina is trying to produce an heir, the Duke of Devonshire.
28:21He was haughty, he was severe, he was emotionally unattached.
28:24And at the time, Elizabeth is estranged from her husband, she's financially destitute,
28:29and she's at an absolute low in her life.
28:31And so the two women really form an emotional bond.
28:35But what happened to this bond when Bess and the Duke became lovers?
28:40One interpretation of the relationship between Georgina and Bess,
28:43as seen in the movie The Duchess with Keira Knightley and Hayley Atwell,
28:47is that there was animosity or anger between the two women.
28:51I may not have the authority to remove you from my house,
28:55but I can at least order you out of my room.
28:58Won't you please let me explain?
29:00That is an opinion that some historians hold about the relationship between these three.
29:06Get out.
29:11We have nothing more to say to one another.
29:14There's also a historical narrative that likes to pit women against each other.
29:18And some people believe that the women are happy with the development of this very unusual menage a trois.
29:26What is known is that in 1785, when this double portrait is dated,
29:32both women were pregnant by the Duke at the same time.
29:36And that after Georgina's death in 1806,
29:40Bess marries the Duke to become the new Duchess of Devonshire.
29:52Today, Louisa is on the hunt for clues about the painting,
29:57including who commissioned it.
29:59She's come to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge,
30:06which holds a collection of sketches by the artist, John Downman.
30:14This is really exciting.
30:16This is a folio of sketches and preparatory drawings by John Downman.
30:20What I'm looking for today is any preparatory sketches or drawings,
30:25which might involve the Duchess and Bess.
30:30Anything that might give us some clues as to who commissioned this portrait.
30:37Nothing so far.
30:47This is it.
30:50This is what I've been looking for.
30:52This is the preparatory sketch of the Duchess,
30:56made in preparation for the double portrait of her and Bess.
31:00So look at this.
31:02We have quite a lengthy inscription by the artist, Downman,
31:06explaining what this study is for.
31:08It says,
31:09The Duchess of Devonshire, 1784.
31:12Original study for a group whole length for Lady Harvey.
31:17So, for Lady Harvey.
31:19This could refer to Bess,
31:20or technically this could refer to her mother.
31:23My hunch, my supposition, is that this is for Bess herself.
31:27That makes the most sense.
31:28I think Lady Harvey is an honorific reference to Bess.
31:33She was, of course, Lady Elizabeth Foster at this time.
31:36But Harvey, of course, is the family name, her maiden name.
31:41This is really exciting.
31:43This is exactly what I'm looking for.
31:45To me, it completely debunks the theory that there was animosity between them,
31:48that they were vying for the Duke's attention.
31:50Why would you commission a portrait from a very high-profile artist if you were at war with somebody over
31:56another man?
31:57I think that tells us that their relationship is one of extreme closeness, extreme fondness,
32:03and indicates the depth of feeling she had for the Duchess.
32:07This is what you look for as an art historian.
32:11It's the kind of research triumph that every couple of years you get to experience
32:15that just feels like the greatest success as a curator.
32:27The team at Ickworth care for the Harvey family legacy both inside the house and out.
32:37including the six-acre formal Italianate garden,
32:41which is now kept in immaculate condition by gardener James.
32:46Good, good.
32:48Today, James is teaching horticultural apprentice Lauren
32:52one of the most important and skilled jobs in the garden, topiary.
32:58Give me a bit more off here to die.
33:01There.
33:02So, this view is the most photographic of Ickworth.
33:06So, if we don't get the fillareas on point, somebody might notice.
33:11So, yeah, quite a lot of pressure.
33:13I have to be perfect. All have to be perfect.
33:16If we're not right, I have to come back.
33:19Feel properly.
33:22With 35 years under his belt,
33:25James is Ickworth's longest-serving member of staff.
33:28I started here in 1991.
33:32I'm born deaf.
33:34And when I left school, I had no qualification.
33:38And I found this job here, and I start from the bottom.
33:42I just love it, you know.
33:43My children grow up here.
33:45That's my home.
33:47Everybody knows James.
33:49Most of this was him.
33:50Sometimes he just points at a tree and goes,
33:52I planted that.
33:53I'm like, what?
33:55Are you a hard man to please?
33:57Yeah, I am.
34:00OK.
34:02When you start the top one, you start like this way.
34:08All right.
34:10All right.
34:11All right round.
34:13It's definitely a big learning curve.
34:15I mean, it's not as easy as it looks.
34:17You think that you've done a good job,
34:19and then you step back and you're like, oh.
34:22Good.
34:23Good.
34:23Lovely.
34:24Perfect.
34:25Perfect?
34:25Perfect.
34:26All right.
34:29Perfect.
34:29Very good.
34:30I do like the word perfect.
34:31Yeah.
34:32That got done.
34:33Perfect.
34:40Inside the house, Ikworth's collection charts the ups and downs
34:46of 11 generations of the Harvey family.
34:49From Frederick and Bess's 18th century escapades
34:53to modern 20th century mysteries.
34:58The recent rediscovery of a pair of items belonging to two later
35:03residents.
35:04Right, here they are.
35:05Has left the team scratching their heads.
35:10These have been in store for decades, these dresses,
35:14and have really been a bit of a discovery.
35:16We'd never really appreciated the significance of these
35:19until we got them out.
35:20These two party dresses belong to sisters Marjorie and Phyllis Harvey,
35:27three times great-granddaughters of Ikworth's creator,
35:31Frederick Harvey.
35:32It's got quite a lot of stains down the front.
35:35I'd like to think she was having a lovely ice cream at a party.
35:39I think they did notice it.
35:39That's what I think, an ice cream or a milkshake
35:41or whatever they had in those days.
35:44They were worn when their father, naval officer Captain Frederick Harvey,
35:49stood as a conservative candidate at the 1906 general election.
35:55He and his wife Theodora decided to dress the girls in little dresses that would actually support his campaign.
36:03That's quite an unusual thing to do at this time.
36:06One of the dresses has symbols of the British Empire,
36:09and then the pink dress has lots of cartouches of British industry,
36:14which we think were painted by his wife Theodora.
36:17It's a really unusual subject for a little girl's party dress.
36:22We've got the carpenter, we've got the smithy forging.
36:27Yeah.
36:27And then, for us, much more interesting.
36:29It's very satisfying, isn't it?
36:31This is so good. We have the weavers.
36:32We think that Marjorie and Phyllis worked on them with their mum.
36:36I'm really intrigued to find out more about these dresses
36:39and to understand what these images represent and where they came from.
36:43But before senior national curator Emma can explore the story behind the dresses,
36:50textile conservator May is seeing if she can save them from the ravages of time.
36:56So now we'll get to, like, the main real concern.
36:59Yeah.
36:59And that is the way this silk is breaking up.
37:02So it's very obvious here.
37:04But when you start to look, you can see it happening absolutely everywhere.
37:08On the folds, obviously.
37:09No.
37:09It's just completely disintegrating.
37:13It's not, it's not, it's not funny.
37:17I'm really concerned about the survival of these two little dresses.
37:21I'm really hopeful that the conservation treatment
37:24will enable us to put these on display so that people can enjoy them.
37:29But actually, at the moment, I have to say I'm a bit worried
37:31about whether anything can be done at all.
37:35It's all down to whether May can make the dresses robust enough for display.
37:41This one is nerve-wracking because if I were to accidentally lean on an area,
37:46I just get a new split because it breaks on the fold line.
37:50And that's, it gets you on edge.
37:53So what I'm going to do on this side panel, which has got the image of India on it,
37:59that has got a really nasty split, a very obvious one.
38:04And so just for this section, I undid the bottom hem so that I could get in between the lining
38:11and underneath this material.
38:13And I've got this piece of silk crepley with the adhesive.
38:19And I have to be careful not to stick it onto something else.
38:23I'm going to take my glasses off.
38:25Unless they'll get them away.
38:27And I've got to get this inside.
38:33This is just too hideous for words, I tell you.
38:41It's a bit of a hold your breath moment, this.
38:47That's not bad.
38:49Not too bad.
38:51But I need to ever so slightly get the split to align properly.
38:59I do feel a big urge to save objects.
39:05Certainly for me, there's something about rescuing, trying to save this thing.
39:11It's just such a buzz.
39:13So this is a spatula iron.
39:15So that will now stick this down.
39:18If this is not warm enough, then it doesn't get sticky enough.
39:21If it's too hot, then I might even burn the silk.
39:31That looks not bad, actually, mate.
39:34And then take a little breather.
39:40OK, so that one went down quite well.
39:42And I will carry on like that.
39:46And by the time this is finished, I will probably have had to do dozens of them.
39:54Pulling together the threads of another family's history, Attingham's rich seam of Italian influence runs deep.
40:03Hello folks.
40:04All the way down to the kitchens.
40:06And what are you making today?
40:08Plum cakes.
40:09Perfect.
40:09Oh, just in time for my coffee as well.
40:12I do love it when we're in character and in our costumes.
40:15As soon as you put your costume on, then that's it.
40:18You are in 1800.
40:20You're there.
40:21Today, volunteers Karen and Shirley are preparing a display of Georgian dishes, all with a distinctly continental flavour, inspired by
40:32the young second Lord Berwick's Grand Tour.
40:36Cutlass Milanese.
40:37We've got Naples biscuits.
40:40A la Italian.
40:43In my profession, I was home economics teacher and I used to walk around here on a Saturday and I
40:48said, when I retire, I'm going to work in that kitchen.
40:51And that's what I've done.
40:52I just love it.
40:53I'm first kitchen maid, so I get paid the most in the kitchen here, apart from the man cook. The
41:00man cook is the highest paid man in the house.
41:02We haven't got the word chef yet in the vocabulary.
41:05And then we've got second kitchen maid.
41:10And then we've got scullery maid.
41:12I tell these off if they're not working or if they're talking.
41:16Sacked. Immediately sacked.
41:19It would be a while before the average shopper could pick up Italian delicacies on the high street.
41:26Parmesan cheese figures a lot on Lord Berwick's shopping bills.
41:31But as this copy of Lord Berwick's shopping list shows, if you had the money and a specialist London supplier,
41:38the world was your oyster.
41:42Macaroni, vermicelli, cagliari paste, then he's going for anchovies, tarragon vinegar, chilli, cayenne pepper and parmesan cheese.
41:55So, you know, he used to like to push the boat out.
41:59Oh yes, yeah.
42:01Oh, I'd have liked the second Lord Berwick so much.
42:03Yes.
42:06Although some of the things we do might be a little bit icky for a modern taste.
42:11This is macaroni cheese pie.
42:15And the pie is probably not actually eaten, it's just the filling.
42:19Yeah, it's got to look good to go up to Lord Berwick's table.
42:22Presentation, very important.
42:24Showing your wealth off, even more important.
42:30From below stairs to royal chairs.
42:36At the studio, Abby is perfecting an Italian suite of a different kind.
42:41She's turning her attention to the elderly furniture's podiatry problems.
42:47The most important missing element is this back foot.
42:50At the ripe old age of 200, this chest of drawers has become a little unsteady on its feet.
42:58For years it's been resting on a block of wood, so now it's its chance to have a new foot
43:02made.
43:05It's really fun to be able to get some woodcraft in every now and then.
43:11Turning is probably one of my favourite things to do, yeah.
43:14Slow and steady is kind of always the way to go.
43:20It's really important that it's the right size, so that it doesn't put the chest out of balance.
43:29These types of tools have been around for centuries, really.
43:33They used to use a big bow attached to the ground that they would pedal with their feet.
43:38Which I've never tried, but I'd love to.
43:45And there we have a foot.
43:57So, here we have our replacement foot.
44:03I think once it's gilded, I'll be able to make it look almost like an original foot.
44:13Today, some familiar faces are returning to Ickworth.
44:17Hi!
44:18There she is!
44:19Are you all right?
44:20Hello!
44:21Hi, nice to see you again!
44:22You too!
44:23She's cargo!
44:24Louise is returning the portrait of Bess and Georgiana.
44:28Come on in.
44:29So, we've got the table set up here for you.
44:32With the once fractured partnership stronger than ever.
44:40Oh!
44:41Nice!
44:43So good!
44:44And you can actually see their faces.
44:47Yeah.
44:48That's amazing!
44:48Which is a miracle.
44:51Wow!
44:52Looks fantastic!
44:54Oh, my goodness.
44:55Complete transformation, isn't it?
44:58I'm really pleased with how it looks.
45:00You know, it's got a nice brightness.
45:01There's much more contrast in the colours.
45:04But it's certainly been challenging.
45:06My goodness.
45:07I can breathe a sigh of relief.
45:09And I'm, yeah, really happy with the outcome.
45:13You can see the likenesses of the two women now.
45:16The colour of their dresses.
45:18It's fantastic.
45:19It's actually a work that can stand alongside
45:21the other great paintings we have here in the collection now.
45:24Was it a token of friendship?
45:26Was it a mento of the love that they had for each other?
45:29The fact that Bess, we think, commissioned this piece
45:32says to me that the relationship was one of endearment
45:37and deep connection.
45:38And the real love story here is between Bess and Georgiana.
45:49Upstairs, a 20th century piece of Harvey family history
45:54is being carefully unstitched.
45:57Fresh from patching Marjorie's white dress,
46:00May is turning her attention to Phyllis's pink one.
46:03So the pink dress is slightly finer silk and so much more damaged.
46:09It really shows the problem.
46:11It's not just splitting in straight lines in one direction.
46:14This breaks up into lots of different angles.
46:17The design also means that May must now attach her support patches
46:22to the outside of the dress.
46:24The colour match is really important here.
46:28And I've dyed this a pale pink.
46:29And now I have to manipulate it into the correct place.
46:34On this object more than any other, it's a huge dilemma
46:38because I just know how much it is splitting.
46:40But I don't want to cover everything
46:42because I don't want to lose the sheen.
46:45This crepline is a little bit on the tight side here.
46:48And there's a dip in my silk that I want it to go into.
46:54I'm going a bit too far to the left.
46:56So now I want to go a bit more to the right.
46:58There's only so many times I dare to take it back off.
47:01You know, I'm trying to think,
47:02well, can I live with that little error?
47:03Because if I want to do that, I have to do it now.
47:06It's quite funny.
47:06It does actually bring me out in a bit of a sweat.
47:09It's pure hairs.
47:13Hang on, I've just noticed something.
47:15I have to stop.
47:18There is a loose thread from the crepline
47:23that's got embedded in the adhesive.
47:27There.
47:29Gone.
47:31It's a matter of honour and pride
47:33that you don't have one of those sitting there.
47:47Well, it's a good start and lots more to go.
47:55Lots more to go.
47:57While May prepares the garments for display,
48:02curators Emma and Chloe are trying to unpick
48:05why the chosen theme for a little girl's party dress...
48:08Oh!
48:09Look at that!
48:11..was British industry.
48:13I love this cartoon.
48:15The British factory closed through unfair foreign competition.
48:19In the meantime, business carried on in Germany and elsewhere.
48:23Which says everything, doesn't it?
48:24Says so much, doesn't it?
48:25Free imports have made Britain the dumping ground of all nations.
48:30Remedy this wrong to British trade by voting for tariff reform.
48:34It's amazing to think that these two little silk dresses
48:38tell such a big story of the 1906 election.
48:43The Conservatives felt that the best way of protecting British industry
48:47was to introduce tariffs to stop cheap foreign imports.
48:52The Liberals actually opposed that idea
48:55because it said it would put costs up for the common man.
48:58So, suddenly, the price of a loaf of bread,
49:00a question that actually gets asked of politicians in elections to this day,
49:05became really, really pertinent.
49:06As the dresses depict,
49:09the Conservatives and their allies argued
49:11that free trade within the Empire would bring prosperity.
49:15But the opposition Liberal slogan,
49:18Big Loaf, Little Loaf,
49:20tapped into fears of rising prices
49:23and came to define the election.
49:26Oh, see, this is amazing.
49:27Look at this.
49:28This is the Bury and Norwich Post and Suffolk Standard.
49:30That's a mouthful.
49:31From January the 9th, 1906.
49:33This is Harvey presenting his views to his political constituents,
49:37which is absolutely fascinating.
49:39So, one of these articles was wheat
49:41and he said that they could do
49:42without increasing the prices of food of the people.
49:45Cheers!
49:46And quite right from the crowd.
49:48He did not propose to tax anything but foreign wheat.
49:52Cheers!
49:53And by foreign wheat,
49:55he meant that grown in foreign countries
49:57and not from our colonies.
50:00Wow, it's all about the wheat.
50:01It's all about the wheat.
50:03We've got Canada with the wheat sheet.
50:06Yeah.
50:09This evidence is absolutely fascinating
50:11because what we have in the documentation
50:13and what we have in the dresses
50:15is an absolute emphatic statement by Harvey
50:18about his support of tariff reform.
50:23Although Harvey won his seat in the election,
50:26the argument over tariffs was one the Conservatives ultimately lost,
50:31leading in part to the famous 1906 Liberal landslide.
50:41There's no debate at Attingham Park,
50:44just unanimous excitement
50:46about the return of the regal Italian court furniture.
50:50Hi.
50:51So today's one of those exciting days.
50:54I'm really looking forward to seeing it in person
50:56and seeing it back here in the room where it was before.
51:01I hope that they are happy with the work.
51:04That is what they expected from the work.
51:06Just excited to unpack it.
51:13Wow.
51:16It really is a moment of truth, isn't it?
51:20Wow.
51:22It looks amazing.
51:24I'm thrilled with it, really.
51:26I think Abby's done an amazing job.
51:28It's just brilliant to see it, you know,
51:32looking so good back in the room.
51:34That's it.
51:37Oh, it looks amazing.
51:39I'm going to spend the rest of my day looking at it.
51:45It is totally like Christmas.
51:48Wow.
51:49That's amazing.
51:51When I look at it now,
51:53it just reminds me of how special it is, really.
51:56I love it.
51:57I kind of put myself in the shoes of original makers
51:59and imagine I'm in an Italian workshop somewhere.
52:02Oh!
52:04Come and have it.
52:05Oh, look.
52:05Come and have it.
52:06It's wonderful.
52:08Oh, wow.
52:09It's nice, isn't it?
52:10It's lovely, isn't it?
52:10So cool.
52:13Absolutely wonderful.
52:14It's a transformation.
52:16It is.
52:16We're really pleased to see it in this condition now.
52:19Very pleased indeed.
52:21A good part of the job, I think.
52:23Nice to see the excitement behind it all.
52:25It just goes to show how much more work we've got to do
52:28with the whole rest of the suite, really.
52:40Out on the estate, Jane, Dan and Des
52:43are hoping their handiwork has also made a splash.
52:47I should be bitterly disappointed if it's not full or overflowing.
52:53I think it was you doing the rain dance that helped.
52:56Yeah, it might be, yeah.
53:01Oh, yeah.
53:02I can see water.
53:06Oh, my goodness.
53:07Wow.
53:09Wow.
53:10Look at that.
53:10That's full.
53:11Yeah, job done.
53:12That's incredible.
53:13Oh, fantastic.
53:15Well chuffed with that.
53:16Well done, lads.
53:17Yeah, great job, Des.
53:18Looks good.
53:20Yeah, it's gone well.
53:21Just so excited to see water in this pool.
53:25It's really delivered.
53:26Almost beyond my expectations, really.
53:28Fantastic result.
53:29Give it another two, three months.
53:31Bit of sunshine, hopefully.
53:33And then all the nature will start moving in.
53:36So first of all, we're praying for rain to fill the pond.
53:39Now we're praying for some nice sun.
53:40We can't wait for spring and summer, definitely.
53:42It's been great to do a job on the Attingham State.
53:46And it's something we're both passionate about.
53:48We've grown up in the countryside.
53:50It's our local one as well.
53:51My kids have been here.
53:53Yeah.
53:53It's great to see some work being done.
53:55Great caf.
53:56Good cake.
53:57Yeah, good cake.
53:58Can't beat it.
53:58Good coffee.
54:00Yeah, bang on.
54:01I'm really pleased.
54:02Thanks very much.
54:03It's been great working with you guys.
54:05It's been a pleasure.
54:06It's great to see you like this.
54:07We've got that freshwater habitat back.
54:10And now, having seen how we've been able to recover this pond,
54:13it's just so inspiring that we can go ahead
54:16and start restoring more of those other ponds.
54:29Ready, one, two, three.
54:31Final preparations are underway at Ickworth
54:34for displaying the election dresses.
54:37It's probably been on the wall for over 30 years.
54:41For the first time since 1906,
54:45Marjorie and Phyllis are to be reunited with their gowns.
54:49Although the sisters would have outgrown them
54:51by the time they sat for these portraits.
54:54Which are being cleaned by paintings conservator, Polly.
55:01The girls are much older.
55:02They're 27.
55:03The First World War has been and gone.
55:05Marjorie was already married, so it's quite interesting.
55:08There was a moment when they were painted together
55:10and then went off to have very separate lives
55:13with family and children.
55:14So it's nice that they still hang together at Ickworth,
55:17the two sisters together.
55:19Ready to go.
55:20So this one's ready to go.
55:21The mannequin is there.
55:23Upstairs, May is ready to start manoeuvring
55:26Phyllis and Marjorie's delicate silk dresses onto display.
55:30It has been tricky.
55:32And now it's ready for being mounted.
55:36But it's still really fragile.
55:39Lift this one up.
55:41You open the skirt.
55:43Lovely.
55:44Are you ready?
55:44Yeah.
55:45One, two, three.
55:46Left.
55:48Right.
55:48Oh, perfect.
55:49Great.
55:50Look at you.
55:52For the first time in over a hundred years,
55:54the dresses are being sent out on the campaign trail once again.
55:59Right.
55:59Shall we just go down here for now?
56:02Lovely.
56:03Excellent.
56:05Oh, I'm very relieved.
56:06Yeah.
56:07And Marjorie and Phyllis are reunited with their frocks.
56:12Lovely.
56:13Lovely.
56:14Nice.
56:15Happy.
56:16They look lovely.
56:17Oh, OK.
56:18Oh!
56:19Look at these.
56:21Oh.
56:22Doesn't it look fantastic?
56:24From, you know, when we first opened the boxes and we were saying,
56:27we can't do anything with these, they're too fragile,
56:29and look what's been achieved.
56:31And to see them with the portraits.
56:33So, this is a first.
56:35Yeah.
56:36I am absolutely thrilled by the transformation.
56:39Seeing the white dress on the mannequin is so special
56:42because you get a sense of the little girl that wore the dress.
56:45I think May's done a brilliant job on these election dresses.
56:49It has felt like a bit of a mountain before,
56:51and it's here, and it's safe, and it looks nice.
56:55It's lovely. Yes, I'm really, really pleased.
56:57There's a real charm to these little dresses.
57:00The fact that Marjorie and Phyllis worked on them with their mum,
57:03that they were made especially for these two little girls for this special moment.
57:07You know, they tell a story of a big political campaign,
57:10but they're also dresses that just tell the story of a family.
57:14Ickworth is filled with the most spectacular collection,
57:17and it's wonderful to see the dresses going from being forgotten items
57:21to the fully-fledged objects that will be on display
57:24and really become part of Ickworth's story for a long time to come.
57:35Take an interactive journey with the Open University
57:39to discover how different landscapes have shaped these hidden treasures.
57:44Scan the QR code on screen
57:46or visit connect.open.ac.uk forward slash hidden treasures.
57:55Next time, a rugged island once home to a saint.
57:59St. Cuthbert's form of faith required that he be alone,
58:03and where better to come on a place like this.
58:05Whose hidden history is being uncovered by modern technology.
58:10You press that final button,
58:11and you see something that has been forgotten for thousands of years.
58:15And a modest farmhouse that contains a national treasure.
58:19It's the reason why we are still here today speaking Welsh.
58:22So it's sick.
58:23Have luck.
58:51HONOVERbags
58:52HONOVER assembly
58:52You
58:5234
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