Over 30 works, including 6 new commissions, can be seen in the mansion, stables and parkland of the magnificent property, which was once considered one of Britain’s grandest homes.

Attingham is well known for the deer park within the grounds and has always had a strong association with wild, managed and domestic animals. The exhibition will explore evolving human relationships with animals, such as emotional ties to pets, antagonism to pests and admiration and curiosity for birds and butterflies. The exhibits are at once intriguing and in some cases macabre and unsettling.

House of Beasts explores the changing nature of man’s relationship to animals through the years and, by mingling with Attingham’s historic collections, will also create stimulating juxtapositions of the old and new. The show also highlights the fact that animals are a focus for many contemporary artists; indeed, they have been a reference and subject of artwork since time immemorial.

This exhibition supports a three year partnership between the National Trust and Arts Council England to promote contemporary art at National Trust properties.

Meadow Arts has invited a number of artists, including Des Hughes, Ruth Claxton, Tom Gallant, Tessa Farmer, Susie MacMurray, and Sophie Molins to produce works inspired by Attingham’s history and drawing on its rich collections. These new commissions will be shown alongside many further works by high profile and emerging artists.

Susie MacMurray has been commissioned to create a large installation with antlers, which have been collected from the deer herd on the Attingham Estate.

Tom Gallant has taken inspiration from weaver birds. He has used shreds of interior magazines to create nests that emerge from the mahogany panelled cabinets in the Octagon Room.

Des Hughes has also created a new commission in bronze relating to Attingham’s dog-walking population and Ruth Claxton will create an outdoor piece based around an exotic birds nest.

Sophie Molins has made a web based work which tells the story of a music box in the form of a monkey with ruby eyes, given by the second Lord Berwick to his young wife as a wedding present.

Kate MccGwire will reconfigure ‘Evacuate’, a piece previously installed at the Tatton Park Biennial, for Attingham’s kitchen. Made from thousands of game bird feathers, it will twist and creep around the old cooking range.

Tom Freshwater, the Contemporary Arts Programme Manager for the National Trust says, “This show is going to be thought provoking and surprising. We hope visitors will take away lasting memories of Attingham and the unexpected beasts they find when they visit”.

Anne de Charmant, Director of Meadow Arts says, “It is very exciting to be back at Attingham and to be able to offer a further contemporary art show, relating even more closely to the property and its history”.

As well as interacting with contemporary art, visitors will also have the opportunity to learn more about the history of the late Georgian house that was given to the National Trust in 1947 by the 8th and last Lord Berwick. Attingham Re-discovered has been a process of research and careful restoration, demonstrating conservation in action, giving visitors the perspective of the curators and conservators who have been working with great sensitivity to the function of the building as a home, not a museum. Seven years of careful research into Attingham’s extensive archive, the collecting of paint scrapes and microscopic sampling have built a picture of the decorative evolution of the interiors of the house. The Octagon Room is perhaps the best realised of the restored rooms, now decorated, as it would have been under the 2nd Lord Berwick, with a stunning bold black and red graining scheme typical of the Regency period. Visitors should also not miss the atmospheric dining room, set for an evening banquet and the exquisite boudoir.