One of the most famous rooms at Temple Newsam is Lady Hertford’s Chinese Drawing Room. The walls are hung with a delightful Chinese hand-painted wallpaper depicting a terraced garden with the sky full of exotic birds. It was given to Lady Hertford, the eldest daughter of Lord Irwin of Temple Newsam, in 1806 by the Prince Regent when he visited the house and began his close friendship with her.

20 years later, after finally putting it up, Lady Hertford added more birds cut out from her copy of Audubon’s famous book The Birds of America to make it even more lively. The film looks at this in detail as well as some of the original furniture now returned to the room.

The Chinese drawing room and Audubon’s Birds of America were used to engage family learners in a project about images of birds around Temple Newsam House.

With grateful thanks to both Jan Wells and Dean Hinchcliffe for their expertise in producing these films.

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