A STATELY home seems an unusual location for a Biennial, given that most of the major contemporary art festivals take place in cities.

Then again, Tatton is so rich in history that there is plenty for contributing artists to respond to when creating a work that relates in some way to its setting.

Some have chosen to focus on the people who lived in the Georgian mansion house, particularly Maurice Egerton, the last Baron Egerton of Tatton, who died in 1958.

He appears in a grainy home video shown on a screen inside one of the art works, driving round in circles on his 3.5 horsepower Benz, the solemn expression on his face contrasting with the innocence of his childish activity.

Just six people can watch the film at a time in a tiny blue-painted caravan called The Smallest Cinema in the World.

By Swedish artist Annika Eriksson, it stands in the sculptured surroundings of Tatton’s garden, not far from Marcia Farquhar’s giant rocking horse, The Horse is a Noble Animal, that is at once familiar and outlandish.

A grey squirrel sneaks past Neville Gabie’s A Weight of Ice Carried from the North for You – a chunk of iceberg he cut in Greenland and brought to England by boat.

Its freezer is powered by solar panels that work more efficiently when the sun is shining and ice is at greater risk of melting.