Houghton Hall is playing host to Wyndstock, a celebration of the arts, which promises ‘sensory feasting, playful glamour and delightful pleasure-seeking’
It’s all happening at Houghton this summer. Not only is Sir Robert Walpole’s art collection returning to the Norfolk estate after 230 years in St Petersburg, but one of the UK’s most intriguing festivals is also taking place.
Read about Sir Robert Walpole’s art collection at Houghton
By kind permission of Lord Cholmondeley, Houghton is playing host to Wyndstock, a celebration of the arts, which promises, rather whimsically, ‘sensory feasting, playful glamour and delightful pleasure-seeking in a magical bucolic setting’.
A high billing no doubt, but organisers Victor Wynd and Mark Holdstock have put on a special program. Starting June 21, Wyndstock will begin with croquet on the lawn, garden tours, and literary talks, all washed down with afternoon tea and champagne. And it’ll continue, as the sun sets, with cocktails and a candlelit dinner, followed by live bands and a secret bar deep in the woods.
Wyndstock festival-goers
Living up to its mantra of ‘the ultimate anti-festival’, there will be more than mere frivolity. A literary tent also features Dan Cruickshank on Houghton & The Hermitage, John Julius Norwich on Venice: Paradise of Cities and Selina Hastings on Nancy Mitford & Evelyn Waugh; a trinity worthy of Houghton’s magnificent setting, and of a fun yet fulfilling weekend.
Read more by Freddy Barker