Petworth 2013

We visited Petworth in 2009, and were completely blown away. That night, I somehow managed to delete my photos before saving, much less posting, them. And no photos were permitted inside the house. What's inside the house, of course, is one of the world's great residential art collections--all owned and managed by the Tate now, with the National Trust--dozens of Turners and Van Dycks, all manner of Gainsboroughs and Reynolds and such, and even a few Bosch, Massys, Teniers, and such to please us, plus an added sprinkling of Lorrain, Titian, et al. And some William Blake. That's just the paintings. The sculpture, about which we know far less, reputedly is equally impressive and important. Then there are the furnishings, the Carved Room, the historic possessions, etc. The Pleasure Grounds, i.e., the Park, is one of Capability Brown's best known achievements and remains much as Turner painted it nearly two centuries ago.

Much to our surprise and pleasure, the "no fotos!" policy of yore has been eliminated. I was thrilled. Alas, lighting in great houses is not always optimal for viewing and photography, and at Petworth the paintings are displayed pretty much in the manner they were found, that is, old-style, stacked one atop another up and down the walls and halls with little regard for author, period, style, nationality, theme, etc. It's not a museum, but then there are few museums that wouldn't sell their souls for what's at Petworth.

Entrance; the family, who have rights in perpetuity, live in
the far third of the great building

Frontal view, from the grounds

A bit of the grounds, including a bit of Brown's serpentine
lake

Some of the older and more exotic furnishings

In some of the private quarters, opened just now and then

In the Carved Room, reputedly Britain's finest...four Turner
landscapes were painted and placed just so dinner guests
facing away from the grounds would have something nice
to look at; note Big Guy over fireplace...flanked by a variety
of Van Dycks

The Molyneux Globe, earliest known English globe; Molyneux
accompanied Drake on the latter's circumnavigation; the Globe
was a gift from Sir Walter Raleigh...Raleigh and the Earl of
Northumberland were cell-mates at the Tower for a time...

Page from a signed first edition of The
Canterbury Tales (nyuk); actually
just a very old incunible, illuminated, acquired
by the 2nd Earl of Northumberland, whose
wife was Chaucer's grand-niece, 1420s or so

Now in a hall of the kitchens/servants building, decorated
with dozens of old fire-backs

At another house, we were told that servants at Petworth
were expected to turn and face the wall when Members of
the Family entered the room...we'll be going to Downtown
Arby's later in the summer and will get to see how things
really were

No wonder there were so many fires...

Main kitchen

Rotisserie

Cookware

All inscribed to avoid confusion with other families'
cookware...

Nymans

From Wakehurst we drove on to Nymans, another home and garden in West Sussex. Nymans is a sad story, a 20th century family that had cultivated the gardens and built a Tudor-style mansion of some size. In 1947, alas, much of the structure--including the great hall--burned. It is a ruin, although, as a folly, it is quite impressive, if a bit close to the present house. A number of rooms are open, and the gardens are still impressive.

Nearly every National Trust site has a garden store--as well
as a regular shoppe, a cafe, a visitor center, maybe even a
restaurant--here in the garden store at Nymans I found my
first black pansies of the season; not to buy, just to look at;
Vicki has forbidden plants in the camper; initially she forbade
all but what I could grow from seed; then, when I acquired
some calamandon seeds in Spain, she reneged; she is right;
the few plants I have had in the camper have been a mess...
before dying or being given away; so I remain content to
look at other peoples' plants; fortunatey, we are in England,
and the whole place is a garden...

Approaching Nymans

The ruined great hall

Family album, including some royal relations

Book room

Perhaps Nymans' most memorable feature: a
1953 television: the lady despised its white
console, we were told, and so a proscenium
and curtains were built to house the set...
just in time for the coronation (one hopes)

More comfort

Outside, a rose climbs a burnt-out wall

The intended folly

A huge wisteria arbor

Looking back to the house

And now in the "wild" garden, across a rhododendron-
lined road

A rhodo-forest

Thus

Wakehurst Place

After Bateman's we set course for Wakehurst Place, another home and garden--mostly garden--and wound up spending the night in the caravan section of the cattle and sheep division of the South of England Show. Sort of a state fair. Really big. It's a long story. Anyhow, next morning we visited Wakehurst Place, which is the "country" site of Kew Gardens, the Royal Botanic Gardens. I think I'll let the pix narrate themselves. It is a gorgeous place, and on a Sunday morning, there were few people with whom to share it.

Mill At Bateman's

Kipling harnessed the river Dudwell for use generating electricity, but the 17th century mill on the property has been restored now to its original use. It was in full operation when we visited on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I have never seen a working mill and enjoyed this one so much I even did a brief video for Penelope.

It's quite simple, really; water stored in the
pond is diverted to turn the really big wheel

Which, through a succession of wheels and gears (all of
them of wood)(and not very simple, really) turns the millstones

The unground grain goes in here

And comes out, all ground up, flour, here, on the floor below;
and that's how they make bread; wait, no, that's the baker;
anyhow, the major take-away is to always disengage the
clutch when there is no grain being ground: with no grain,
the stones get into serious friction, which can cause fires,
which are especially unwanted in flour mills

And, of course, there were blooming rhodos all over the
place, this on the path from the mill back to the house

Bateman's

Deep in the Sussex Weald lies Bateman's, a 1634 Jacobean house whose chief claim to fame was its ownership by Rudyard Kipling from 1902 to 1936, when he died. The house stayed in the family for some more years. Kipling and his wife made many improvements to the house and grounds, of course, but its chief interest lies simply in its association with him.

Bateman's; beautiful sandstone

Looking from the pond--which Kipling created using some of
his Nobel Prize money--to the side of the house

Obligatory wisteria

Drawing room

Lots of India stuff, as one might expect

Thus (done by K's father)

And thus

Painting of Kipling in the stairway to the 2nd
floor

His study; the desk left pretty much as he outfitted it; crumpled
drafts in bin

Vicki and one of the docents in the study

More India

1907 Nobel Prize for Literature