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| The Gallery, Strawberry Hill House - Twickenham, London |
Salutations from cool, grey and sometimes wet south-east England, which is going down for most people as the most disappointing spring and summer for many years. After some weeks of temperatures in the low-to-mid 20s in the first half of June, things turned decidedly less summery and we have languished in the teens for a while now. I, of course, am perfectly content.
Naturally, I picked the one hot day of the summer so far to drive four hours into south-west Somerset to look at a couple of houses for sale, and to trudge around looking at a nearby historic house and garden. More on that later.
Be warned: This will be a fairly lengthy post as it's been some months since I last updated this blog!
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| Throughout March and April, in villages and towns all over Britain, and even along motorways, blackthorn is in blossom. Clouds of white flowers are everywhere, and they fall like confetti as the blossoms die |
Looking back over the past few months, the spring foliage seemed to be particularly glorious this year, perhaps to make up for endless weeks of grey skies and mild temperatures though winter. The blooms also seemed to linger much longer, I assume because of the mild conditions.
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| Each year across England's countryside, the almost fluorescent hue of flowering rape signals that summer is on its way |
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| Vibrant patches of yellow rapeseed fields dot the Wiltshire landscape |
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| The photos never do them justice, but as always in early spring, the woodlands are full of gorgeous, perfumed bluebells |
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| The flamboyant flower of Aesculus hippocastanum, the horse chestnut |
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| Another sign of spring: Some of the locals, blackfaced sheep in a nearby field in Frensham |
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| One of the many 'tunnels of green' in our local area: the magnificent lime and beech avenue in Farnham Park, which stretches for more than a kilometre |
Unlike 2023, it's been a relatively quiet year for visitors from abroad, with only four parties gracing Frensham with their presence between April and June.
At the beginning of April we had a visit from Fairleigh and Jaya, the daughter and granddaughter of our dear friends Ed and Karen. Fairleigh is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Gender Studies at a New Zealand university and she was in the UK for several months undertaking academic research. We had known Fairleigh as a child, teenager and young adult in Canberra but it had been some years since we'd met, and it was really nice to renew the acquaintance and find we were very much in sync in terms of politics, music and film. With her 14-year-old Jaya in tow, we scarpered about the local area taking in the sights, including a visit to Jane Austen's house in nearby Chawton.
Just a few weeks later it was the turn of Fairleigh's parents Ed and Karen to return to Frensham, on their first trip to Europe since before Covid. What a joy to spend time with them after such a gap! As with many longstanding friendships, we picked up like we had only seen each other a couple of weeks ago. Our schedule included leisurely dinners and breakfasts at home, bracing walks on the South Downs and a couple of cosy pub lunches. Ed and Karen then took off for travels around Greece, Sicily and France, meeting up with Fairleigh in the south of France (Jaya had by that time returned home to school in New Zealand).
Many of you will know that I love to cook and I am forever trying out new recipes. In honour of Ed and Karen's visit I attempted the creation pictured below - a dark chocolate tart flavoured with dried black limes and dried rose petals. Even if I do say so myself, it was a triumph! This dessert has all the rich opulence of a French-style tart, with hints of Middle Eastern spices. I will definitely be making it again. Thank you, Waitrose, for the recipe!
Happily we managed to have a final meet-up with Ed and Karen in London in mid-May, hearing all about their European adventures over a fantastic meal at one of the Mildred's vegan restaurants in London, in King's Cross to be precise.
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| Dark Chocolate Tart with Dried Black Limes and Rose Petals Silly me - forgot to take a photo once I had successfully removed the tart from the baking tin 🤭 |
Lesley arrived at the beginning of June for her annual visit to the UK, with a full programme of petsitting assignments across West Sussex, Suffolk, Worcestershire, Somerset and Denbighshire (north Wales). Over Lesley's first few weeks in the country we met up multiple times to visit gardens and historic houses, attend a garden fair and enjoy pub meals including one in the very cute village of Eartham, near Petworth in West Sussex, to celebrate Lesley's birthday. As always I treasured having a close friend in relative proximity over the course of many weeks, during which we tried to make up for the lengthy periods when we don't see each other.
Sadly, Lesley commences her journey back to Australia tomorrow, but we are hoping to have a final drink or two at Heathrow before she disappears back to the southern hemisphere.
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| Who doesn't love a chequerboard lawn?! On Lesley's first day we blew away her long-haul-flight cobwebs with a visit to Vann House & Gardens, near Godalming. As you can tell from my attire, it was a chilly-ish summer day, despite the sunshine |
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| The open gardens in the village of Peaslake (about 20 mins south-east of Guildford) were a tad disappointing, but *OH BOY* they had the best tea tent of any open gardens I've ever visited, including multiple gluten-free options for Lesley. That's a coffee and chocolate cake. It was scrumptious! Plus... |
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| ...there was also a really good jazz trio! |
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| The glories of Surrey ♥️ Rolling fields in Peaslake |
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| Lesley, Kevin and I had braved a long line of cars waiting to enter the Stansted Park Garden show in Rowland's Castle, Hampshire |
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| How fantastic is this dog composed of succulents?! One of the many exhibitors at the Stansted Park Garden Show |
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| Lesley and Kevin in the gardens at Parham House near Storrington, West Sussex |
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| The dovecote at Parham House |
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| The towering windows of Parham House's Great Hall |
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| Incredible display of delphiniums inside the walled garden at West Dean Gardens, near Chichester in West Sussex. Some of them were around 2 metres high! |
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| The impossibly romantic dovecote at West Dean Gardens *swoon* |
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| Part of the Edwardian pergola at West Dean Gardens |
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| The venue for Lesley's birthday lunch - a very cute pub, in a very cute West Sussex village: The George in Eartham, near Petworth |
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| Bottoms up! 🥂 A glass or two of fizz to celebrate Lesley's birthday, at The George in Eartham |
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| Lesley in front of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Singleton, a few minutes from West Dean Gardens |
Lastly, Kate and Hannah joined us in mid June, having travelled to London from their home in New York a couple of days earlier. Kate was another visitor who hadn't been back to the UK since before Covid, and she was thrilled to finally be able to show her wife Hannah around Frensham Heights where Kate was a gap-year placement back in 2009. Again, despite not having seen each other for six years, we fell back into easy conversation and some fascinating discussions were had, comparing Australian, British and American culture. We had drinks and dinner at one of our local pubs with a number of other people from Kate's time at Frensham. It was wonderful to finally meet Hannah, who is absolutely adorable.
Culturally we have had quite a few fun events over the spring and summer, including finally seeing one of our favourite Eurovision acts, KEiiNO, at the wonderful Royal Vauxhall Tavern. It's a venue we've frequented many times over the past ten years for Kate Bush tribute nights. The gig was a sell-out, with a fun crowd who did not hide their adoration for this wonderful trio from Norway. KEiiNO have very enthusiastic fans, some of whom follow them around the world.
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| The always-effervescent Alexandra Rotan, lead singer of Norwegian pop group KEiiNO |
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| Sámi rap artist Fred Buljo, who contributes joik (traditional Sámi singing) to every KEiiNO song. Here he is joik-ing and playing a modern version of a traditional Sámi drum |
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| One of our favourite music venues in London, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern - an LGBTQ+ institution |
One Sunday evening in mid April we nipped down to Portsmouth, less than an hour away, to see Beautiful Mechanica perform live for the first time in many years. This band is the side-project of Graham Sampson who is 'Morrissey' in my favourite Smiths tribute band, The Smyths. Beautiful Mechanica's influences are from dreampop and 'shoegaze' artists such as Cocteau Twins, Cigarettes After Sex and Suede. It was an intimate but excellent gig showcasing Graham's songwriting skills and vocal talent, and I finally got to meet him in person, having become online friends with him a few years ago.
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| Poster for the Beautiful Mechanica gig in Southsea (near Portsmouth) |
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| Graham and the rest of Beautiful Mechanica on stage, wowing the crowd with an evening of gorgeous songs |
As usual we hosted our annual Eurovision party in May. Blimey, what a year for controversy! The Netherlands act was disqualified over a dispute with an Israeli journalist and there were other reports of aggressive behaviour from the same journalist, with several artists lodging complaints with the organisers. This kind of thing has never before occurred at a Eurovision contest, but I suppose some kind of tension was to be expected - many Eurovision fans had wanted Israel to be banned from this year's competition, due to the war in Gaza.
We loved the winning song from Swiss artist Nemo but were a little sad for Croatia's act Baby Lasagne who came so close to winning with their really fun tune. However it was completely unfathomable that my beloved Norway was somehow placed last in the competition, despite a stellar performance by Gåte of a fabulously energetic song that the crowd seemed to love. Gåte have had a successful career in Scandinavian for more than 20 years, merging traditional Norwegian folk music with metal and electronica. Such a disappointing outcome.
Oh well, as I say every year, 'You just can't pick it' in Eurovision. Great songs are overlooked by the official jury and the public alike, and absolutely rubbish songs/acts (yes, I'm referring to YOU, Cyprus!) finish in the top 10. Go figure.
Nonethless, Gåte's profile has been raised internationally and we have tickets to see them perform in London in December, so participating in Eurovision certainly wasn't a wasted effort.
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| Nailing my flag to the mast ahead of the Eurovision 2024 grand final: Yours Truly, before guests arrived for our annual Eurovision party |
One of the things I love about living in the countryside in England is the seasonal programme of quirky community events. Lots of villages annually host a scarecrow competition and Frensham is no exception, with this year's theme being 'Heroes & Villains'. On the first weekend in May I strolled down into the village to join the throng of adults and children following the scarecrow trail with their checklists as there were 57 to see! There was a refreshments tent and a general air of jollity, a lovely activity to while away an hour or so. Apparently more than 2,000 people attended over the three days.
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| Naturally I was delighted to come across this particular creation at the Frensham Scarecrow Festival! #bowieforever |
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| ...and another one for Maree - this scarecrow was easily identifiable as Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox |
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| The Cybermen have invaded Frensham - HEEEEELLLPP 😱 #drwho |
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| The local pub, The Holly Bush, got into the spirit of the Scarecrow Festival with their own creation. I think it was Scooby-Doo? |
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| Darth Vader guarding the signposts down on Shortfield Common, Frensham village |
Meanwhlie, the search for a house continues. *sigh*
We recently widened our search area a little further south-west; still in Somerset but close to the county border with Devon, in the villages surrounding Taunton which is a very substantial and pleasant town.
It's quite a long drive to the Taunton region (about 200km, which means 3-4 hours of driving in crowded England) so I decided to stay overnight and was fortunate enough to line up two house viewings, one on the day I arrived and another on the following day, just before I made the journey home. The first house was a bungalow in a nice village on the edge of the gorgeous Quantock Hills, with the added bonus of being a mere 20-minute drive from the north Somerset coast. The house was very appealing but they are asking too much money - it's still on the market - and I didn't really fall in love with it.
After that viewing I visited Hestercombe House & Gardens, killing a few hours before I could check into my Air B&B accommodation. Blimey, it was hard work trudging around in the 30ºC heat. The woman on the front desk at Hestercombe had told me I should do the full woodland trail as it was very shady, and indeed it was... but it was also very steep! Not ideal terrain on such a hot day. Still, I managed to complete the trail. And the formal gardens themselves were exceptional.
The second property I viewed was a truly adorable cottage in an idyllic village a little further west, heading towards Exmoor National Park. Unfortunately, as expected, it was just a smidge too small in terms of floorspace and storage. We're not looking for something palatial and we don't have a lot of stuff, but we've determined that two fully grown adults do need at least 90 square metres.
It was good to explore this beautiful area as a potential location for our retirement, but I do have reservations. Taunton is perhaps just a bit too far away from Surrey and London.
And so, on we go...
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| This was my Air B&B accommodation for the night - a bedroom in one of the former lodge houses on the Hestercombe estate, near Taunton in south-west Somerset |
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| Hestercombe House, parts of which which date from 1280 |
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| A river of irises at Hestercombe House & Gardens, just north of Taunton in Somerset |
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| View over the Victorian Terrace (foreground) and Edwardian Formal Garden. These were designed by Gertrude Jekyll and Edward Lutyens and completed in 1908 - Hestercombe House & Gardens near Taunton |
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| Peephole feature in one of the garden walls surrounding the Edwardian Formal Garden at Hestercombe |
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| Looking back towards Hestercombe House from the Edwardian Formal Garden |
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| Hestercombe Gardens |
Frensham's academic year finished a couple of weeks ago and we enjoyed a number of social events to farewell departing staff and bid our fellow residents a good summer break. Almost immediately, however, Kevin and Matt took off with their bikes, driving to Scotland to meet up with another friend in order to ride the Hebridean Way which runs from the southern tip of the Outer Hebrides (Vatersay) to the northern end (Lewis), taking in ten islands. They're away for about ten days. I am envious as it's many years since I got to visit those particular islands.
While Kevin has been cycling around the glorious landscapes of Scotland, I've been at home looking after Daisy May who has given us no small measure of worry in the past couple of months. One evening back in May, Kevin was on the couch minding his own business when suddenly Daisy May, curled up beside him, had a seizure. I raced in from the kitchen when I heard Kevin's anguished cries and it truly was horrific to see this poor old girl twitching and spasming uncontrollably, eyes fully dilated and mouth frothing. Thankfully the seizure ended after perhaps the longest 45 seconds of our lives, and then it was off to the emergency vet who declared that Daisy's blood pressure was spiked but that was normal in such a situation. Otherwise she appeared to be fine.
Remarkably, our sweet 18-year-old cat seemed to fully recover within a few hours and has been back to her normal self ever since, though naturally we are now on tenterhooks, anticipating a repeat. We fervently hope that is not the case.
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| I call this photographic portrait 'Cat with Pheasant' As you can see, neither the pheasant, nor Daisy May, are in any way perturbed by each other's presence |
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| Daisy May doing what she does best: snoozing |
During Kevin's sojourn in the Hebrides I recently visited Strawberry Hill House, which has long been on my must-see list. Every time I drive back into that area of London (Twickenham / Hampton Court / Ham / Kingston / Richmond / Wimbledon) I marvel at the wealth of history contained in a relatively small area. When we lived in Epsom this part of south west London was very accessible to us, being only 30-45 minutes from home.
As you will have seen from the lead photo in this blog post, Strawberry Hill House is an absolute knockout.
Considered Britain’s finest example of Georgian Gothic Revival architecture and interior decoration, this was the home of Horace Walpole, England’s first Prime Minister. The house was originally a much smaller dwelling erected in 1698, but Walpole expanded and transformed the house between 1747-1792. Sadly, successive owners John and George Waldegrave tore through their family fortune and then auctioned off nearly the entirety of the house's contents in 1842. Fast-forward to the 21st century and Strawberry Hill House underwent a two-year, £9 million restoration, reopening to the public in late 2010, however most of the paintings are digital copies of what would have once hung on the walls in Walpole's time, and even the books lining the shelves in the library were recently purchased from antiquarian book dealers and are not representative of Walpole's collection.
The interiors are just so surprising and exciting. In addition to many of the rooms being painted or papered in rich jewel tones, unconventionally for the period there is a use of neutral tones - most notable in the house's woodwork. In most grand houses of the period, and beyond, occupants would have suffered the oppressive tones of dark timber.
The most impressive room is The Gallery, with its papier-mâché and gold leaf fan-vaulted ceiling, scarlet damask covered walls and beautiful parquet floor. Apparently Walpole once commented on the room: “I begin to be ashamed of my own magnificence; Strawberry is growing sumptuous in its latter day; it will scarce be any longer like the fruit of its name, or the modesty of its ancient demeanour…” You can hire this room for weddings, private dinner parties etc. I'm sure it costs an absolute fortune but, my goodness, the event would be memorable for your guests!
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| Exterior of Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham, London |
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| Strawberry Hill House abuts St Mary's University, a small university originally founded in 1850 as a college for training Catholic schoolmasters |
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| Another view of the incredibly opulent Gallery, in Strawberry Hill House |
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| The Holbein Chamber at Strawberry Hill House, so named because in Walpole's time it contained 20 original Holbein portraits |
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| The staircase at Strawberry Hill House. The neutral tones of the stairs, railings and panelling is most unusual for an 18th century house |
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| Quatrefoil skylights flood the staircase with natural light - Strawberry Hill House, Twickenham |
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| The Blue Bedchamber, Strawberry Hill House |
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| The Library at Strawberry Hill House, with its elaborately painted ceiling. Those decorative arches actually open out to allow access to the books behind |
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| Strawberry Hill House: the Round Drawing Room |
One of the most appealing things about Strawberry Hill House is that every single window is a work of art. There is stained glass galore, and marvellous shapes - mostly arched trefoil, or quatrefoil. Apparently Strawberry Hill House is remarkable for the fact that none of the windows open out in a traditional way; they are 'pocket' windows that slide sideways into a crevice so that they disappear. The reason for this window design was because apparently Wimpole did not want anything to impede the outside views.
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| Quatrefoil window at Strawberry Hill House |
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| One of the many stained-glass windows at Strawberry Hill House |
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| Newly-mown path through summer grass on Spreakley Common, Frensham, with a stand of lime trees in the distance |
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| Lime tree in flower: the scent of summer |
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| This summer we have regularly had a family of three badgers visiting our terrace in the evenings - this is a blurry shot of mummy & baby badger |
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| Fluffy clouds over Frensham Little Pond, just down the road from home |
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| Another 'tunnel of green' - at Frensham Little Pond |
Until next time,
- Maree xo
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