Clandon Park House gutted by fire

Very sad news about the devastating blaze at Clandon Park House, in Surrey (above, before the fire).  According to the National Trust, the flames that began in the basement have left the 18^thc stately home ‘a shell’ after most of the roof, lintel, ceilings and floors collapsed. There is still no access for staff, and all planned events have been cancelled.

We were there a few years ago and like most visitors, were awed by its grandeur and elegance. The elaborate plasterwork and statues of the two-storey Marble Hall (left), designed by the Onslow family’s architects to impress more than 280 years ago, were still doing so. In recent times it’s been a popular venue for weddings and also a movie location. The Duchess, starring Keira Knightley, was filmed there in 2008. The mansion was also home to a prized collection of 18^th c furniture, porcelain and textiles, some of which were rescued by fire crews, staff and volunteers. 

One unusual feature in the grounds that has hopefully survived intact is the Maori meeting house, Hinemihi, brought over from New Zealand in 1892. It’s the second conflagration the whare has  witnessed. She was carved in 1880, in the shadow of a volcano, Mount Tarawera, and named after a revered female ancestor.  During the cataclysmic eruption of 1886 local people sought shelter there as hot magma and ash rained down. The building was half-buried and remained so until bought by the 4^th Earl of Onslow, who was nearing the end of his term as Governor of New Zealand.  In recent years this, the only historic whare in the UK, has been the adopted meeting house of London’s Maori community.  

The National Trust has launched a public appeal to assist Clandon Park House. https://join.nationaltrust.org.uk/donate/selectappeal

Strawberry Hill

Horace Walpole’s Gothic fantasy, Strawberry Hill, has reopened for the summer, with five 'private' rooms, including his bedchamber and the room in which he died, restored and included in the self-guided tour for the first time.

The building is now surrounded by suburbia but when Walpole began rebuilding what was a small house in 1749, it had sweeping views down to the Thames at Twickenham. He and his architects looked to the past and drew inspiration from historic buildings everywhere: fan vaulting in Westminster Abbey, tombs, even the Queen’s Dressing Room at Windsor Castle.  

There are towers, crenellated battlements, elaborate chimneys and pointed arches. This ‘gingerbread castle’ became not only the marvel of the neighbourhood, but so famous that even royalty came to visit. In a letter to Horace Mann in 1763, Walpole complained: My house is full of people, and has been so from the instant I breakfasted, and more are coming; in short, I keep an inn; the sign 'The Gothic Castle' ...my whole time is passed in giving tickets for seeing it, and hiding myself when it is seen.

Today the interior decor has been rescued and carefully restored to its original glory. It still amazes, especially the Gallery (above). But sadly the rooms have lost their extensive collection of furniture and treasures. You look in vain for what was said to be the golden armour of Francis I or for Cardinal Wolsey's red hat, once displayed in the Holbein Chamber (below) - after Walpole’s death, successive owners sold off the contents.

However, thanks to the trust that now cares for the house, there are again books in the library (left) and pieces of replica furniture. The search goes on for the original contents and it's hoped that some may be found and brought back, perhaps on loan. (The rose-wood cabinet in which he kept his priceless collection of miniatures and other valuable items is in the Victoria and Albert museum.) 

 There’s a nice touch in the small room adjoining Walpole’s bedroom:  you can sit at a small circular table and read his most famous work, The Castle of Otranto. This, the first gothic novel – a precursor to Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein -  was inspired by a nightmare he had in June, 1765. It’s full of wronged maidens, doomed romance and supernatural horror. Later he wrote: I had thought myself in an ancient castle (a very natural dream for a head filled like mine with Gothic story) and that on the uppermost banister of a great staircase I saw a gigantic hand in armour. In the evening I sat down and began to write, without knowing in the least what I intended to say or relate.

 Little could Walpole have known as he put pen to paper that his outpourings would spawn a whole subculture that continues to thrive 250 years later. See the staircase and dream.

Strawberry Hill House: 268 Waldegrave Rd, Twickenham, London TW1 4ST
Timed tickets (£12 adults, under 16’s free; concessions); the admission ticket includes an edited version of Walpole's 1784 guide, complete with illustrations. Entrance to the cafe, garden and shop is free of charge.

http://strawberryhillhouse.org.uk/ 

Eric Ravilious at the Dulwich Picture Gallery

It's well worth the journey to south London for this fascinating new exhibition. Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) had a career that spanned both peace and war. The show concentrates on his watercolours, with 90 or so works on display, many from private collections, and not often seen.

They capture fleeting moments: landscapes, gardens and buildings in sun and rain, but with a distortion or unusual angle that is disquieting and makes you look again. (Left: Tea at Furlongs, 1939, ©The Fry Collection)

The Wilmington Giant (©Victoria and Albert Museum), carved into a hillside, is seen through a barbed-wire fence; the White Horse of Westbury is glimpsed through the window of a train carriage, as if someone rushed to take a photo, but didn’t hold the camera straight. November 5 (Private Collection) shows back gardens on Guy Fawkes night. You look down at firework parties and excited crowds, but then see that in one back yard revellers are wearing animal heads – a pagan ritual, perhaps?

In 1939 Ravilious was invited to become an official war artist, with the rank of honorary captain in the Royal Marines. He worked in the UK, the Arctic, Norway and Iceland, his subjects ranging from the meticulous portrayal of the control rooms below London to ship convoys, bomb-defusing operations, gunfire, warplanes in action and life in the confined quarters of a submarine. (Below: Hurricane in Flight, Private Collection).

In 1942 he flew to Iceland with the RAF and joined an air-sea rescue mission, only to be lost when his aircraft disappeared. He was 39. (Below:Midnight Sun © Tate London).

The exhibition takes a thematic approach to his too-brief career, showing how Ravilious integrated rather than abandoned many of his ideas and instincts when he became a war artist. It starts with Relics and Curiosities - paintings that reveal the artist's fascination with interesting objects – then moves on to Interiors, Figures and Forms, Place and Seasons, Changing Perspectives and Darkness and Light, with excellent explanations and descriptions by the curator, James Russell.  It’s the first major exhibition of Ravilious’s works to concentrate on his paintings rather than his print-making, and shows why he is now regarded as one of the 20th century’s finest watercolourists. I'd seen only  isolated examples of his art in the past, so having so many paintings brought together and put in context was a real revelation. Thoroughly recommended.

Dulwich Picture Gallery, to August 31

http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk

National Open Gardens Day - April 17

Celebrate spring next Friday with the UK's first-ever National Gardens Day.

Many places that usually charge for entry or are closed to the public are offering free admission, to give as many people as possible the chance to visit them and be inspired.









The Royal Horticultural Society is taking part, opening its four beautiful gardens - Wisley in Surrey, Hyde Hall in Essex, Rosemoor in North Devon and Harlow Carr in North Yorkshire. Some RHS partner gardens, National Gardens Scheme gardens and others are also opening free on that day. Details at:  http://www.nationalgardeningweek.org.uk/National-Open-Gardens-Day;-17-April.aspx

It's all part of National Gardening Week (April 13 - 19). Launched four years ago by the RHS, it has since grown into the country's biggest celebration of gardening. For details of the talks, walks and places to visit see http://www.nationalgardeningweek.org.uk/