Petworth August 2019

Early in August we took a drive to Petworth - only 26 miles from home. Best to get there early as National Trust parking areas fill up fast. As you can see, if you like to get out and about it's really worth your while joining the NT - along with entry to the area also comes free parking, clean toilets and really good cake. Just one visit a month to a place like Petworth (there are hundreds of places around the UK) and you've got value for money.

On the long walk up from the car park the Doric Temple comes into view. Built in 1744 it was moved by Capability Brown to its present location around 1752.  His real name was Lancelot but his nickname came by his habit of presenting clients with the idea that their gardens had the 'capability for improvement'. He was born to working class parents in the early 1700's. The gardens that he designed and built back in the 1700's endure till today and are distinctly recognisable - no formal lines and patterns, just enhanced natural features. He came in for heavy criticism for these ideals, but here we are 300 years later, still admiring his work.

The Shepherd's hut was probably not in the original plan though. For those with a garden larger than a postage stamp, they're very popular today.

 

Main entrance to the house is through the courtyard alongside the servant's quarters.

 And some enviable espalier ...

Our tour started in the servant's quarters, still in authentic condition.

 In one of the rooms was an exhibition of Peter Thuring's photographs of the wood carvings by Grinling Gibbons. The original carvings are in the Carved Room. The photographs are black and white to show the carvings as they would have been carved back in the 1690s. Age has darkened them from their original light cream, but the b&w photographs eliminate the discolouration of the wood.

At last, into the main house, through the back entrance.

Built in 1682 when heiress Elizabeth Percy, daughter to the 11th Earl of Northumberland, married Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset.

The upstairs part of the house is only accessible with a private tour as Petworth is still the private home of Lord and Lady Egremont, but as we had a Maya in a pushchair (buggy in English parlance), it was downstairs for us.

There's an impressive collection of sculptures and paintings in the North Gallery.

I'm a bit of a geography nut and maps and globes really do it for me, so this Emery Molyneux globe (d.1598.9) was a highlight. Thought to be the earliest English made terrestrial globe still in existence, it has coloured lines which show voyages made by Francis Drake and others.

The series of allegorical murals on the ceilings and walls of the Grand Staircase were painted by Louis Laguerre around 1714. 300 years on, they are still magnificent.

Time for lunch and a bit of dog stalking. Always good doggos to be seen in NT parks

Meet Maya - 8 months old at this stage

On this day, there was a film shoot in the grounds of the house, so this was the best shot I was able to get.

That was a good day out.

Dior Exhibition, V&A Gallery May 2019

Well, isn't this something?  Suddenly there seems to be time to catch up on all the things that got left behind last year - the Dior Exhibition 'Designer of Dreams' at the V&A's new galleries for example. Are you still interested? It was back in May 2019.

Between February and September 2019 almost 600 000 visitors came, saw and hankered after these beautiful dresses, coats, perfumes. Very few of us can afford or even have occasion to think we might wear an outfit resembling even the plainest and most simple of these dresses, but it doesn't stop us getting up close (relatively),  looking and appreciating the craftsmanship and those waists!

From Dior, the original genius who started the fashion house (though his parents, who bankrolled him, wouldn't originally let him use the family name), to the famous names of Yves St Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferre, John Galliano, Raf Simons and Maria Grazia Chiuri - examples of each one's craftmanship and genius was there.

I don't know enough to talk you through any of these gowns, but come along with me as we take a walk through this visual feast of over 500 items, including 200 rare haute couture garments. (500 pictures may have been a bit much, but enough to give you an idea).

'A woman's perfume tells me more about her than her handwriting' - Christian Dior

A room full of calico patterns showing the bare bones of the outfits was in stark contrast to the rest of the exhibition, but nonetheless striking.