Finch attends The Country House in the City

Jonathan Finch is just back from a conference in Amsterdam which explored The Country House in the City - and in particular the strong links between the mercantile elite in Dutch cities and their patronage of country houses.

An international line-up of speakers was brought together by the Dutch Castles Foundation, the University of Groningen, and ENCOUNTER (European Country House and Estate Research) network, for which Jon is the UK representative. A fascinating day of papers was followed by an excursion to explore some of the houses themselves between Amsterdam and Utrecht.