Inside the 18th-century splendour of Thirsk Hall and its fascinating sculpture garden

The unearthed remains of a Neanderthal equivalent of a sculpture garden at the Bruniquel Cave archaeological site in France suggest that the desire to surround ourselves with monumental art is nothing new. And yet, there was a period when such places came to be associated with grand country houses. Then, in 1977, Yorkshire Sculpture Park opened; the Henry Moore Institute was established in 1993 next to Leeds Art Gallery; and in 2011 The Hepworth Wakefield was launched. Last year, a new Sculpture Garden opened at Thirsk Hall. Together, they make the region something of a mecca for art enthusiasts (and if Yorkshire is ‘God’s own county’, we can only infer that when it comes to art, His preferred era is 1920 onwards, the period favoured by the above institutes).

But the story behind the Thirsk Hall initiative deserves further consideration. It has neither museum status nor Arts Council backing, but combines beneficial ideals with commercial hopes and is the ambitious endeavour of art dealer Bill Gerrish, of Willoughby Gerrish, who specialises in the Impressionist, Modern and Post-War periods – with a specific focus on sculpture – and his art consultant wife Daisy Bell. Having worked at both Tate and the Royal Academy of Arts, Daisy founded Cramer & Bell in 2017, with Bella Cramer, and sources art for interior designers, including Nicola Harding and Sophie Ashby, as well as for private clients. Daisy and Bella particularly enjoy working with emerging artists such as Tristan Barlow and Agnieszka Katz Barlow, with whom they liaise directly. ‘There is a genuine thrill in introducing others to their paintings,’ explains Daisy.

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The house, which fronts onto a road in the pretty North Yorkshire market town of Thirsk, has been in the Bell family since it was built almost 300 years ago. Daisy is the eldest of three sisters, but her inheritance is unrelated to primogeniture: when she was 11, her father, John Bell, initiated a card game with his children in which whoever put down the first Jack won – it happened to be Daisy. Her sister Lettice now runs Thirsk Lodge Barns wedding venue, two miles down the road, while Zillah, the youngest, oversees all Thirsk Hall business interests and events, and lives in a recently converted dairy that opens onto Thirsk Hall’s garden.

Daisy and Bill left London and moved up to Yorkshire during lockdown. ‘It was slightly sooner than we’d planned, but suddenly it seemed like the right time,’ explains Daisy. John, who runs the almost adjacent Zillah Bell Gallery (unrelated to his daughter, except in name) has downsized to another house that also opens on the garden, facing the local church and the family crypt. ‘It is unmarked; the Bells are not aristocracy,’ says John. ‘We were dissenters and Liberal MPs, who stood with Wilberforce against slavery.’

When it was built in 1723, at the direction of Ralph Bell who bought the titular deed to the manor of Thirsk from the Earl of Derby, Thirsk Hall was a relatively modest five-bay, two-storey affair. Two generations on, another Ralph Bell married Ann Conyers, who had her own wealth, and, in pursuit of a dining room, employed the Palladian architect John Carr of York to add the third floor and two wings. The cabinetmakers Gillows furnished the house: an early wine fridge, consisting of a thick, lead-lined casket within a mahogany cabinet, is still in situ, among several rather beautiful pieces. And Thomas Gainsborough was commissioned to paint the couple’s portraits. These were later sold, before the portrait of Ann was bought back by Daisy’s grandfather. ‘John refers to the rationing of his childhood,’ says Bill. ‘But he’s not talking about the war. It was the years of surviving on potatoes because everything else was spent on that painting.’

This did not put John off buying art himself. Amid the oils of ancestors and horses – there is a Bell family connection to Thirsk Racecourse – are works by British surrealists. Anthony Earnshaw’s ‘Alphabet’ series hangs along the staircase wall and amusing boxed assemblages by George Trapp and Frank Jennings adorn side tables and consoles. Nor did the experience discourage John from working in the art world. He set up the Zillah Bell Gallery in 1988, together with the girls’ mother Janie, and, having been introduced to the artists by his friend Norman Ackroyd – with whom he often travels on sketching trips and whose archive the gallery holds – he works with several other Royal Academicians. ‘Each year, Norman curates a selection from the RA Summer Exhibition here,’ says Daisy. ‘It’s so great when you see a Yinka Shonibare or a Michael Craig-Martin in a gallery window – in Thirsk.’

‘The Sculpture Garden is building on what John has started and what is already in this county,’ says Bill. The first exhibition, in the summer of 2021, was a survey of the late Michael Lyons’ works; his estate is represented by Bill and he was one of the founding members of Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Pieces by him remain in situ, alongside works by artists such as Jeff Lowe, Austin Wright and the stone carver Emily Young. ‘We also wanted to give people who live in Thirsk a chance to see beyond the façade of the house and use this garden,’ says Daisy, explaining that picnics are allowed, dogs are welcome (on leads) and there are activities for children. ‘It’s been a private house for so long and you wouldn’t know it has the parkland behind it. We have been so lucky. Not everyone has the chance to grow up around art and sculpture.’

While Daisy and Bill spend a day or two a week in London seeing clients, meeting artists and – in Bill’s case – exhibiting at fairs such as Masterpiece, further plans for Thirsk Hall are developing. Bill has turned an outbuilding into the indoor space Gallery One, which hosts six exhibitions a year. The current programme includes David Hockney’s works on paper and, from mid-October, an exhibition on Gordon House, the printmaker and painter who created album covers for The Beatles. It also hosts events, such as artist talks, life-drawing classes and concerts. These reach their annual climax with the new three-day Thirsk Hall Festival, which is held in August (this summer was its second iteration) and includes music in the town’s church, screenings in the independent Ritz Cinema and a carnival day in the Sculpture Garden. In a discreet corner, seasonal glamping is being set up and it is possible to rent a self-contained flat in the house, decorated with art from Daisy and Bill’s own ever-changing collection.

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This collection, described by Daisy as ‘still young’, is adding another layer to the decoration of Thirsk Hall, introducing Howard Hodgkin, Robbie Fife and Katherine Jones RA to the walls, and making the couple’s own mark on the house. They have revived the kitchen garden, with an area now given over to community volunteers, who are growing produce for local food banks – another means of combining what is by necessity a commercial enterprise (a renovation of the house’s interior is a priority) with something that will benefit Thirsk residents.

‘We hope the local community will feel an element of ownership of the Sculpture Garden, because it’s in their town, open to them and will draw more people here,’ says Bill. ‘Mainly though,’ adds Daisy, ‘we want people to know the feeling of being surrounded by great art and to love it, as we do.’ Their enthusiasm, combined with obvious expertise, bodes well.

Thirsk Hall Sculpture Garden and Gallery One is open from Wednesday to Saturday, 11am-5pm: thirskhall.com | willoughbygerrish.com | cramerandbell.com