Another skirt can't hurt.

There were no plans for me to treat myself to a preloved skirt today, but Oxfam is my friend and this will be perfect for the festive season.

Arilx

The twins and the rockery

 A recent trip to Brighton took me to a part of the city which is quite a way out of the centre and I have only ever passed through in the car or on the bus. However, thanks to Ellie Seymour's 'Secret Brighton' book that I borrowed from the library a while ago, I had more than one reason to stop and tarry a while.

Preston Park has long been known for its 'Preston Twins' which up until 2018 were a pair of 400 year old elm trees which has somehow miraculously escaped the ravages of Dutch Elm disease in the 1970s. Sadly though, for one, its luck ran out and it finally succumbed and the decision was taken to cut it down to prevent the spread of the elm beetle. Such timber needs to have all its bark stripped away after it's felled and that maybe might have been where its story ended. Thankfully the artist Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva had the vision to reimagine it and now it's returned to its home as the 'gilded elm' . It's been left open on one side so that you can see the burrowings of the beetle within the interior which caused its eventual demise. It's rather impressive and heartwarming to see it back standing side by side with its twin once again.

Its surviving twin is now part of the Queen's Green Canopy which is a network of seventy ancient treees chosen to celebrate the late Queen's Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

Whilst there we crossed the road to seek out the Preston Park rockery which is a bit of a hidden gem really. It was designed and landscaped by Captain B Maclaren in 1935 and is based upon the Chinese Willow Pattern. Its claim to fame is that it's the largest municipal rockery in the country. We were there a few weeks ago when there were more autumn leaves still hanging on, but it's worth an explore if you're passing.

More about our time here in a separate post.

Arilx

What a wrench!

Take one old mole wrench and then reimagine it as a fish....

This came to join us at GBT after my most recent birthday a few weeks ago. We don't often buy new stuff for our home, but when we do we try to buy handmade and unusual.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Arilx

Loss

 

A couple sang this song at the folk club on Sunday for Remembrance. Harvey Andrews wrote this about his great Aunt who lost her fiance in WWI. A photo of him hung on the wall which, over the years, had been destroyed by sunlight. Over the last 30 years she had lost her sight so when she asked everyone always reassured her that her beloved was still smiling down upon her. It's very moving, but not very  well known.

Arilx

 

Bare faced Cheek

 Sometimes the right word comes along at just the right time....callipygous. The perfect adjective to describe this cheeky chappie who's to be found in Steyning's parish church. 

Sometimes the world can feel like a heavy place so I'm here just bringing a drop of light relief today.

Arukx

Natural wonder

Another wonderful thing that I was blessed to see a few days ago. Orange peel fungus...not only the perfect colour🟠, but it also has the slightly waxy texture you get with citrus peel🧡

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend. We will be staying here as David has his latest biopsy being done today. He's usually back to his normal busy self within a couple of days.

Arilx

 

Third Time Lucky

 I have been trying to visit Chawton House in Hampshire since June 2020. With the original date and a subsequent one cancelled, we finally met my friend Jane there this year. Persistence really does pay and perhaps, seeing that it's the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth this year, it was more apt this time around.

Jane never lived here, but she, her unmarried sisters and widowed mother, were settled in the old baliff's cottage nearby from 1809 which gave her a period of stability in her life which she hadn't experienced for many years. Hers was an itinerant existence following the death of her father as the ladies were shuttled between different houses and very much reliant upon the good will of family members to keep them. During these settled times she was very productive and produced many of the novels which would see her star rise and her place secured on the all time classics list.

The connection between this large and desirable property is that it was inherited by Edward Knight in 1794 along with several other houses in the county and Gomersham Park in Kent. He was born as Edward Austen in 1767 and was indeed Jane's brother. However, he was adopted by the childless Knight family who were distant relatives of his father's and they made him their heir. Part of the agreement was that he would alter his surname upon his adoptive father's death and to this very day the house remains within the ownership of the Knight family. Here we have the lucky chap and the back view of the house. I had the very best of intentions of taking a photo of the front too, but I was too busy gassing with my pal and the thought wandered out of my head....I had one job to do😀

Despite her never having lived here it's clear from Jane's correspondence that she spent a great deal of time here especially with her eldest niece Fanny.

One of its main draws both for her and for me was the library. It holds the largest collection of books written by women [about 4500] on wide ranging topics anywhere in the world. Amongst its tomes are ones that rare or even unique. In total the library has 16000 books with many of them written by men about women's lives and issues. The room steward pointed out one such volume written by a male about how old maids should conduct themselves. Apparently there are a series of increasingly acerbic handwritten notes written on the pages by Jane herself. I take it that she wasn't best pleased by the content. Due to the fragility of the shelf contents there are no photos allowed, but the house does permit two or three academic fellowships per year. Applicants put in a bid outlining which books they need access to for their research and then the lucky ones are chosen.

It's always worth taking a second look at any painting.....this one is stuffed full of extra details that could be easily missed!

Hopefully some of my photos have conveyed what a delight this place is and the Jane Austen museum is literally just round the corner. If you have a BBC Gardener's World 2 for 1 voucher this covers the entry for both inside and out. I am gradually catching up with my backlog ...in the next post we're off to Brighton!

Arilx