‘This enchanting spot'

Sheringham Hall, Norfolk, part I The home of Paul Doyle and Gergely Battha-Pajor In the first of two articles, Jeremy Musson looks at a house and landscape that constitutes one of the most important expressions of Regency Picturesque theory to survive in England

- Jeremy Musson

IN 1812, landscape designer Humphry Repton compiled a Red Book outlining the designs for a new house and its setting on the north Norfolk coast at Sheringham. ‘The sea,’ he noted, ‘is not like that of the Bay of Naples.’ In this contrast, Repton alluded to both the Picturesque taste —which he played a role in re-defining—and those Italian views that partly underscored that vision. The point he was really making, however, was that the house could not face the sea as it might do in Naples, but needed shelter.

Such understatement encapsulates the good humour and persuasive rhetoric that Repton used to present his theory of design and good estate management to his patrons, as well as weaving in the social pleasure and moral duties that arose from it. This project was one that Repton particularly cherished and he later stated that it ‘may be considered my most favourite work’—a strong endorsement indeed, when other projects included Woburn, Uppark and Harewood.

Sheringham Hall itself was designed with the aid of his architect son John Adey Repton. It was built in 1813–19 and, in its designed and natural setting, it is one of the finest expressions of Regency architecture and Picturesque theory in England (Fig 1).