Manchester University Press Travel and the British Country House: Cultures, Critiques and Consumption in the Long Eighteenth Century

Travel and the British country house explores the ways in which travel by owners, visitors and material objects shaped country houses during the long eighteenth century. Bringing together essays on a wide variety of British houses, it provides a richer and more nuanced understanding of the impact of travel on the culture and perception of the British country house, and how this varied according to the identity of the traveller and the reasons for and geography of their journeys. The book begins by exploring the ways in which travel formed an inspiration to build or remodel houses and gardens. Attention has generally focused on the Grand Tour, but this volume also highlights the importance of empire and vicarious travel to China in shaping taste and acquiring goods. Subsequent essays examine the importance of country house visiting in shaping taste through the published accounts of elite visitors, the growing number of guidebooks and the less familiar journals of foreign visitors to British houses. The final essays focus on some of the practical aspects of travel, including the expenditure involved and the logistics of moving people and goods around the country and across Europe and the globe. Suitable for a scholarly audience, including postgraduate and undergraduate students, but also accessible to the general reader, Travel and the British country house offers a series of fascinating studies of the country house that offer fresh insights and serve to animate the country house with flows of people, goods and ideas.