New Hall is one of the oldest inhabited moated houses in England. Built of local sandstone and warm Midlands brick, it sits in what was once the vast hunting forests of Sutton Chase, in the ancient county of Warwickshire. Sir Nicholas Pevsner, the great 20th century British architectural historian, describes New Hall's plaster ceilings, Solar (known as the Great Chamber), the seventeenth century staircase and various other additions as 'a major mansion in a moat'. The house was added to and adorned by subsequent owners, including the Earls of Warwick, whose fortunes rose and fell in the social, political and economic upheavals over the centuries; it is this story, told for the first time, that is England's history in miniature. This is a house that has lasted almost a millennium and the light bouncing off the lily-filled moat, its diamond-shard mullioned windows, their rippling ancient glass, the elegant hubris of the Victorian cupola-ed, castellated wing, are now enjoyed by guests of the wonderful, luxury hotel it is today. Written by Kate Holt, an internationally acclaimed photojournalist, with a foreword by Dr David Owen, OBE, a member of the last private family to own New Hall, this is a book that will engage, delight and inform.
