The Ickworth pond has frozen
Shadow the Snow Leopard at Ickworth House, Horringer - 4th January 2026
With the boys once again plugged directly into their devices, we decide to leave them to it and head off to visit Ickworth House, as we hadn't been for ages. After a walk down to the Earl's Summer House and lake, followed by a snack in the café and a poke around the shop, we discover that the house is open and it's the last day of Shadow the Snow Leopard: A Christmas Story for Ickworth. This turns out to be a delightful presentation of a story written especially for the National Trust, inspired by the snow leopard that features in the Hervey family crest. The story spans two floors of the house as well as the stumpery outside (which we later find we should have done first) and which finishes with all the animals of Ickworth tucked up in bed, asleep.
previous album: Dove Players and New Year's Eve, Brome - 31st December 2025
Isobel finds a nice piece of ice with grass on it
It's amazingly blue sky over the church
A moorhen walks on the frozen lake
Isobel watches the wildlife for a bit
The walled garden of Ickworth
There's a good view of the rotunda from on the hill
Lost gloves have been stuck into a bench
Plant name tags made out of the old rotunda tiles
The restoration of the Earl's Summer House goes on
Isobel in the church of St. Mary
A window made from fragments of mediaeval glass
Bare trees in a winter sky
A snow leopard's tail hangs out of a travel case
There's a queue in the café
Deer and Christmas trees in the house lobby
Shadow the Snow Leopard reads his story
Paper birds hang from the roof of the lobby
A Christmas table in Ickworth House
A grotesque ceramic Chinese pug
A giant Christmas tree in the library
Crows play chess in the library
A piano plays God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Tits and sparrow stand on piano music
There's a pyramid of champagne glasses
In Ickworth's drawing room
Statue head dude has got a party hat on
All the animals are tucked up in bed
Isobel roams the upstairs balcony
One of the flying birds
A dog walks around with a rather absurd coat
Dried allium heads hang around in the stumpery
A giant stump in the stumpery
There's a blackboard full of messages
A rabbit made of of tiny willow withies
Isobel walks on stumps to avoid the 'lava'
We walk back through the orangery
Isobel browses the second hand books in the basement
It's a first visit to the upstairs bit
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The Ickworth pond has frozen
The Ickworth pond has frozen
Isobel finds a nice piece of ice with grass on it
It's amazingly blue sky over the church
A moorhen walks on the frozen lake
Isobel watches the wildlife for a bit
The walled garden of Ickworth
There's a good view of the rotunda from on the hill
Lost gloves have been stuck into a bench
Plant name tags made out of the old rotunda tiles
The restoration of the Earl's Summer House goes on
Isobel in the church of St. Mary
A window made from fragments of mediaeval glass
Bare trees in a winter sky
A snow leopard's tail hangs out of a travel case
There's a queue in the café
Deer and Christmas trees in the house lobby
Shadow the Snow Leopard reads his story
Paper birds hang from the roof of the lobby
A Christmas table in Ickworth House
A grotesque ceramic Chinese pug
A giant Christmas tree in the library
Crows play chess in the library
A piano plays God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Tits and sparrow stand on piano music
There's a pyramid of champagne glasses
In Ickworth's drawing room
Statue head dude has got a party hat on
All the animals are tucked up in bed
Isobel roams the upstairs balcony
One of the flying birds
A dog walks around with a rather absurd coat
Dried allium heads hang around in the stumpery
A giant stump in the stumpery
There's a blackboard full of messages
A rabbit made of of tiny willow withies
Isobel walks on stumps to avoid the 'lava'
We walk back through the orangery
Isobel browses the second hand books in the basement
It's a first visit to the upstairs bit