Hello, I'm Carl Raymond, the host of the Gilded Gentleman History podcast, where every two weeks we delve into corners light and dark

of America's Gilded Age, France's Belle-Poc, and England's late Victorian and Edwardian

eras.

There is nothing quite like an English country house celebration, and for this holiday episode,

we'll be taking a look at the evolution of many Christmas traditions, as well as taking a look

at one particular grand 19th century English country house, Rest Park. I'll be joined by English

Heritage Senior Properties historian Dr. Michael Carter to bring this

all together.

In the southeastern corner of Bedfordshire tucked away in the rolling landscape, one

finds Rest Park and Gardens, a majestic country house, one of the more than 400 buildings, monuments, and

sites looked after by English Heritage. Like many country houses, Rest Park represented the seat

of an aristocratic British family, with origins going back over 600 years. Among the features

of the estate that can be enjoyed today are the extensive woodland gardens

and canals laid out in the 17th century and early 18th centuries and which included work

by Nicholas Huxmore, Thomas Archer, and Capability Brown. But the grand house that we see today

is very much an early 19th century creation.

The original house, going back several centuries,

was originally built by the de Grey family and was demolished in the early 19th century.

What rose in its place was this French-inspired great house

whose principal visionary was in fact amateur architect Thomas

Robinson, the second Earl de Grey, himself.

Rest Park is not without its American connections.

...