The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay
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Sept 2015 back issue
by Chris Steele-Perkins
The country estate plays a huge part in the history of this country
and is a staple of British fiction, both in novels and as film/TV
productions. The latest being Downton Abbey, and probably the best
known recent novel is Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day.
The focus is resolutely on the past, yet the estates continue into the
21st century. This medieval institution has legs. I have long thought
that a photographic document, over a year, of the people and
activities of one such estate, from the Lord of the Manor, the family,
the servants, the tenants, the gamekeepers, the activities, sports,
visitors, changing seasons of an historic country estate, would be
fascinating.
Covering 25,000 acres, Holkham Hall, in north Norfolk, has been the
home of the Earls of Leicester since it was built between 1734 and
1764. It still remains in the family and is a very successful estate,
continuing the older traditions of shooting and farming while
embracing the newer activities of running a caravan park and hosting
pop festivals. There are numerous other businesses including a hotel
and a pub, restaurants and selling specialist paints. The grounds of
the Hall itself, surrounded by a 12 mile wall and home to herds of
deer, is open to the public most of the year, though the Hall, which is the family home and custodian of a fine collect of
art, is only open on certain days.
Tom and Polly Coke (pronounced Cook) are the current Lord and Lady of the Estate and I was allowed unprecedented
access to the place and the family, to photograph "a year in the life". I was not paid and was given editorial freedom as
an Artist in Residence producing a body of work that is unique in providing an in-depth picture of a modern, family run,
Great Estate. I am unaware of any other such work.
Holkham Estate, Wells-Next-the-Sea, Norfolk is about 26,000 acres. A wedding reception.
Beach Huts.
Looking after deer in the park. Glyn Ingram, Deer Keeper, butchering deer before the cold store.
A pheasant and partridge shoot hosted by Lord Leicester, whose son now runs the Estate.
Lord Thomas and Lady Polly Coke with their chidren, right, Juno, centre, Hermione and Edward and left, Elizabeth.
North Norfolk Harriers - a local hunt.
Houshold staff taking breakfast.
Building maintainace team at Red House.
From left to right: Jonathan Taylor, Glen Joyce, Steven Barnes, Tim Marshall (Department Head), Simon Bosley,
Carl Blading, Paul Matthews, Freddie Futter, David Dixon, Daniel Beresford, Nicky Beck, David Collier.
Gamekeepers. From Left: Austin Pinney, Steve Herrieven, Daniel Yeates-Cornwall, Head gamekeeper Kevan McCaig,
Martin Joyce and Glyn Ingram.
Drinks and picnic on the lawn during breaks in Diva Opera's Tosca.
Snow on a hedge. January.
A woodcock shooting party with beaters.
