Hi.
Hi, hello.
Hello, hello.
Hello.
So nice.
Wow.
What a magnificent home.
Glorious sun's out, of course, as well.
Exactly.
Come on in.
Come and see the rest. JULIE MONTAGU: Thank you.
RICHARD COMPTON: Come on, Sapphire.
[DOG BARKS]
JULIE MONTAGU (VOICEOVER): Richard's
is not a titled family.
But it's one that has retained Newby
Hall for nine generations.
It was his ancestor William Weddell
who turned Newby into his own personal masterpiece.
I mean, I have to say, this is just blowing my mind.
This is just not what I expected.
RICHARD COMPTON: It is something, isn't it?
JULIE MONTAGU: Yeah.
This is truly one of a kind.
So who designed this?
Because I've never seen anything like this.
Well, this is classic Robert Adam,
he was called, who was the neoclassical architect
of the mid 18th century.
JULIE MONTAGU (VOICEOVER): Neoclassical architecture
was the big trend in 18th century Britain.
Wealthy young heirs were visiting
classical European sites like Rome, Athens, and Pompeii
on their grand tours and importing the look
back to their family estates.
The poster boy for this new wave in ancient design
was a young Scott named Robert Adam.
He'd spent nearly five years on the continent studying
the classical buildings and amassing
a team of skilled craftsmen able to replicate the style.
And in Newby, he was given free rein to go to town.
So he'd been out to Italy and studied the ruins
and then drawn them, and came back
and created this amazing Adam style.
So it's a sort of classic.
The floor reflects the ceiling.
The chairs all, again, reflect the design of the center.
And all of the wonderful plaster work
was done at the same time, all hand-carved.
All handmade.
LUCINDA COMPTON: He used the same sort of gang of craftsmen.
And they traveled with him from Italy.
He'd source them.
He brought them here.
JULIE MONTAGU: Are other rooms like this as well?
RICHARD COMPTON: He did the whole house,
all of the ground floor.
JULIE MONTAGU (VOICEOVER): It took
eight years for the hot shot architect
and his team of craftsmen to realize his brilliant vision.
But all this delectable detail wouldn't
have been possible without the refined
taste of Richard's ancestor.
Here is William Weddell.
He was a man of enormous taste, fantastic taste.
So he's the one who commissioned
Robert Adam, is that right?
He's the one for whom we have to thank.
So all of the collections that you'll
meet as you go around the house were all commissioned by him.
JULIE MONTAGU (VOICEOVER): Minimalist it isn't.
Nor I imagine was the bill for such a lavish makeover.
Their real money-- and you're going to love this--
was that his ancestor won the lottery.
There was a lottery in 1711.
And you had to pay 100 pounds to be part of it.
So it was only for the rich.
Yes.
And he won first prize of 20,000 pounds.
You're kidding me.
JULIE MONTAGU (VOICEOVER): William's great uncle,
Thomas Weddell, walked away with a win
that today amounts to almost 4 million pounds.
And without any children of his own,
the proceeds ended up in William Weddell's pocket,
but with one stipulation.
In his will, he declared that it should go to property
to stabilize the family.
And so William Weddell went on a grand tour
with the specific aim of buying the best that he could.