A country-house staycation in the north

The Backhouse room at Rockliffe Hall gets its name from the Backhouse family, who founded the Backhouse’s Bank in the mid-18th century. The family were Quakers, originally in the linen industry, moving onto banking then railways, but they were also passionate botanists. The bank’s headquarters were in Darlington, which is where Alfred Backhouse moved to manage it. It was a pleasing synchronicity to learn he had married his wife Rachel in Plaistow, not far away from east