Hidden Treasures of the National Trust

Lake District

Episode 1 – Hill Top

Hill Top was Beatrix Potter's rural retreat and inspired many of her much-loved children's books.

The dolls' house being restored in this episode was one Beatrix acquired in her 70s but some of the miniature contents featured were given to her by her publisher Norman Warne much earlier and may have inspired her story The Tale of Two Bad Mice.

The house is now back at Hill Top in a new display, Pets to Page: The Tale of Two Bad Mice, exploring how Beatrix drew inspiration for her tales from the pets and people in her life. The exhibition contains state-of-the-art lighting to spotlight the house's rooms and animations bring the mischievous mice to life.

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Discover things to do at Hill Top house

Dorset

Episode 1 – Clouds Hill

Hidden deep in the Dorset countryside sits a humble dwelling once refuge to one of Britain's most enigmatic writers and military figures - T E Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia. The tiny four-room woodland cottage, Clouds Hill, became his place of refuge, somewhere Lawrence could escape the celebrity status he acquired after his exploits during the First World War.

In a sparsely furnished upstairs room, above a fireplace, hangs a painting of a young soldier seated on a Cornish beach which has sparked debate over the identity of the figure. While it's in need of essential cleaning and conservation, Senior National Curator for paintings John Chu is also taking the opportunity to try to solve the puzzle of the sitter's identity.

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Learn more about our work at Clouds Hill

Sussex

Episode 1 – Lamb House

This episode shows the work on Henry James' secretaire – a kind of writing desk usually with a cabinet section. The conservation included repairs to splits, wood veneers and hinges.

The American writer first saw the house in 1895. He signed a lease for it in 1897 and eventually began living there in June 1898. Some of his most acclaimed novels: The Wings of the Dove, The Ambassadors and The Golden Bowl were written in the Green Room.

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Discover places with literary connections

Kent

Episode 2 – Knole

This episode looks at the history of the Sackville family through the conservation of the large family pedigrees (family trees). It also features the statue of Giovanna Zanerini, known as ‘La Baccelli’.

Giovanna was a celebrated Italian dancer who was principal ballerina at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket and mistress of John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset. She lived at Knole with their illegitimate son until the Duke married Lady Arabella Cope, who was considered a more suitable candidate for a wife. Despite this, the statue stayed in the family collection and is now displayed at the bottom of the Great Stairs.

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Read about the women of Knole

Lake District

Episode 2 – Townend

At the other end of the social scale from the Sackville family also covered in this episode, the Browne family letters tell the story of a farmer and his son who spent a number of years in London working in a lawyer's office.

In one letter, he thanks his father for sending him a wig and asks for a cane head. He seems to want his clothes to help him fit in with the upper class, but the letters also shows he worries about how expensive things are in London.

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Explore the letters from London

South Gloucestershire

Episode 3 – Dyrham Park

Dyrham Park is an early example of how a fortune made from the British Empire was invested in an estate.

The painting featured in the episode, A View of the Port of Bridgetown, Barbados, shows the most prosperous English Caribbean colony of the early eighteenth century. It was an economy based on sugar – visible through the wind-powered cane mills, warehouses, wharves, and ships pictured – and the toil of enslaved Africans who are absent from the scene.

The Enghien tapestries, which also feature in the episode, are one of only two known sets in the world that show the famous formal gardens at Enghien in Belgium. Textile experts believe the tapestries, six in total, would have cost around £165 when they were bought c. 1690-1700.

It took 315 hours of conservation to allow the set to be rehung in the Tapestry Room at Dyrham.

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Discover how the families that owned Dyrham and their collections were connected to Britain's colonial legacy

Derbyshire

Episode 3 – Kedleston Hall

Kedleston Hall is an 18th-century masterpiece by architect Robert Adam. It’s a leading example of classical architecture, with rich interiors, colonial history and vast parkland.

This episode explores the conservation of the dramatic 18th-century Marble Hall floor, inspired by ancient Roman architecture, and introduces dedicated volunteer June, who meticulously monitors its condition by counting the cracks.

It also follows preparations for Diwali at the hall and features Mary Curzon’s ornate Peacock Dress. The fabric for the dress was embroidered by professional gold thread embroiderers in Deli, telling a story of our colonial past. Currently undergoing conservation, it is set to return to Kedleston in 2027.

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Discover Kedleston Hall and its treasures

Dorset

Episode 4 – Corfe Castle

Corfe Castle is a thousand-year-old royal castle shaped by warfare.

This episode looks at women's roles in the English Civil War and Lady Mary Bankes' defence of Corfe against the Parlimentarian troops. She had been left with her 11 children, servants and just five soldiers while her husband Lord John Bankes, Attorney General to Charles I, was fighting for the Royalist cause. They managed to keep hold of the castle through two sieges before being defeated in 1646. Her bravery was recognised by both sides in the conflict.

The episode follows the recent excavation by archaeologists working to find the gateway in the external wall which was opened by traitors to let the Parliamentary forces enter.

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Discover how the team care for Corfe Castle

London

Episode 4 – Ham House and Garden

Sitting on the River Thames in Richmond, this grand Stuart house is the result of a transformation by Elizabeth, Duchess of Lauderdale, and her husband the Duke. The enhancement of the house and collection reflected their fashionable taste and royal influence in the late 17th century.

The treasures from Ham House featured in the episode show how successful the couple were. The Dolphin chairs are a rare example of late 17th-century French craftsmanship and design. Panels for their lacquer screen were made in China in the second half of the 17th century and transported via trading posts in South-East India. The panels are still undergoing conservation at The Royal Oak Foundation Conservation Studio. A painting of Ham House from the South by Hendrick Danckerts is also featured in the episode and shows how the house looked after the Lauderdale's expansion.

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Take a look behind the scenes at the work that keeps Ham House looking its best

London

Episode 5 – 2 Willow Road

This Modernist home was designed by architect Ernö Goldfinger in 1939 for himself and his family. It also contains the Goldfingers' impressive collection of modern art, intriguing personal possessions and innovative furniture, including this kinetic piece by Argentinian artist Hugo Demarco. The episode shows conservators repairing the mechanism so that the rings can move again. It also looks at the challenges of looking after plastics both in artworks and with everyday objects.

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Find out about Hampstead’s creative community of the 1930s and 40s

London

Episode 5 – Carlyle’s House

In the quiet back streets of Chelsea is the home of Thomas and Jane Carlyle. Carlyle became a star of the 19th-century literary world, welcoming visitors to the house such as Charles Dickens, John Ruskin, Alfred Tennyson and other contemporaries.

The episode features a letter from William Makepeace Thackery to Jane Carlyle inviting the couple to tea with Charlotte Brontë on one of her first visits to London.

It also looks at a camel hair coat sent to Carlyle from Persia that receives some repairs, prior to re-display.

Carlyle himself has a complex legacy. As an influential historian and essayist, he helped shape the way Victorians thought about themselves, but he also held deeply divisive views, especially on race and slavery.

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Learn more about Carlyle’s House

Warwickshire

Episode 5 – Upton House and Gardens

Bought by Lord Bearsted in 1939, The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins by Tintoretto took pride of place at Upton in the Picture Gallery Passage. Conservation has uncovered Tintoretto's original vision for the painting and provides a better understanding of this early work.

The Bearsted fortune came from Lord Bearsted’s father, a co-founder of Shell Transport and Trading Company. It enabled the family to have a main London residence, a grouse moor estate, a holiday villa on the French Riviera and Upton House. The house was a place in which to house Lord Bearsted’s large art collection, entertain friends and enjoy Warwickshire’s country pursuits.

During the Second World War, Lord Bearsted used his fortune to help Jewish children escape on the Kindertransports.

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More about Conserving the rare Tintoretto

Warwickshire

Episode 6 – Coughton Court

Coughton Court has been home to the Throckmorton family since 1409, and their commitment to the Catholic faith has shaped the property we see today.

One of Coughton's treasures is the Tabula Elensis, a huge painted cloth recording the experience of the Catholic gentry between 1588 and 1594. Details include the coats of arms of 29 elite Catholics including Thomas Throckmorton, who were interned during Elizabeth I's reign. 

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Read about the history of Coughton Court and the Throckmorton family

Cornwall

Episode 6 – Lanhydrock

The 116-foot-long Jacobean plasterwork ceiling in the Long Gallery is one of the finest examples of decorative plaster from the 1600s. It depicts biblical scenes from the Old Testament as well as hundreds of animals, birds, plants and mythical beasts. ​Conservation work has brought the ceiling back to life allowing the craftsmanship to be seen at its best.

This episode also features a small, highly-embroidered book that contains the Book of Common Prayer, the Holy Bible and the Psalms in Metre that may have once belonged to the Robartes who lived at Lanhydrock in the 1600s and were Puritan. 

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Read about the Long Gallery ceiling conservation project