There was a Changing of the Guard this New Year at Knebworth House. Mr and Mrs Clarence, who have stood watch over the front gates since the 19th Century, have retired to the flower bed alongside the kitchen garden. They have been replaced by a couple from Dorset – beautifully crafted by the brilliant artists Stephen Pettifer and Alasdair Rennie from Coade Ltd., through a grant from The Country Houses Foundation.
Alasdair was keen to make the wings of the two creatures more naturalistic than their Victorian predecessors, but I didn’t want to lose the exaggerated silhouettes that looked so impressive on the old creatures. So we compromised, and the gentleman, although he has beautiful bat wings, has larger and stickier-out ones that a real bat. And the lady, well, she has beautiful angel wings, but larger and stickier-out than on a real angel. At least all the real angels that I know!
If you are passing, do stop to admire them. They look truly splendid – and, we trust, will keep watch over the gates of Knebworth House for another century or two.
Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com