A dragon at Bodiam Castle

We’ve recently had a few days away with MOH’s family in East Sussex, staying in an AirBnB which looked out over Bodiam Castle. We spent more time indoors that first day than we planned, thanks to Storm Benjamin but as the day went on, and I think the rain finally ran out, we headed to the nearby castle built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dallingridge and his wife Elizabeth.

And it is the fairytale castle with a moat which was once part of a working estate with farmland, wharf and watermill. The site was ‘waterscaped’ by Sir Edward who built this castle with Elizabeth when they married. The purpose of the castle has been debated by historians and it’s believed to have been built as a defence, a status symbol and a home.

The castle had had a bit of a makeover for Halloween, and for the half term. The dragon was a great touch, because every castle needs a dragon, right?

The big kids amongst us also couldn’t resist a quick game of quoits, which was way harder than it looks. That quick game became a battle of wills, as we couldn’t leave until we’d scored at least one - and here’s evidence of the one I scored. I’ll just say that I was the only one to manage this…

No wonder the dragon was looking over us - there were also dragon eggs hatching in the courtyard!

Bodiam also plays host to one of the most important bat roosts in the UK - they’re everywhere once you start noticing them - with three types of bats roosting here: Natterer, Daubenton and the tiny Pipstrelle which we see in our garden at twilight.

As I said it had rained a fair bit, and the lower half of the kitchen was wetter than I suspect it would have been in its day - and I bet cook would not have been amused.

But I bet that large fireplace (one of two in the kitchen) would have been a roaring every day. There’s actually 33 fireplaces built into the walls at Bodiam Castle, and most of them are on the side where the Lord and Lady slept, and not on the servant’s side.

The original portcullis here is made of oak and is one of the oldest in the country, and walking underneath it really does make you wonder about its history, and what it would say if it could.

I took the photo below just above we left the castle, walking under the portcullis and it struck me that they couldn’t be more different, but were just metres apart.

Pausing as we wandered back across the moat my eye was caught by the trees arching to frame a smaller oak tree in the distance. It as a good reminder of just how wonderful nature is and how calming it can be, and how quickly that calm can be restored after a storm.

The bedrooms at Belton

It’s been a wee while since I shared details of my last visit to Belton where I saw their new exhibition, crafting a new narrative, and finally got to revisit the orangery, and I promised to share more from inside the house. So today let’s take a virtual wander around the bedrooms at Belton.

I didn’t remember these from our previous visit, and that’s because I hadn’t seen them. The whole of the upstairs was closed off as we visited soon after the Covid restrictions were starting to be lifted and understandably things were not able to go back to before’s normal straightaway.

The Blue Bedroom was originally designed as a family bedroom, but the information in the room said that the scale and quality of the bed implies it was not made for this room but for a more luxurious state bedroom. It was re-upholstered which covered an original crimson damask.

During the 2002 room’s restoration and conservation of the bed, it was decided to remain sympathetic to its clearly faded colours. The once bright blue silks were reproduced in this paler hue, with the wallpaper reproduced in keeping with the bed, which is why this blue bedroom is a bit paler, and not blue at first glance.

The Chinese Bedroom was one of my favourite rooms. The wallpaper was hand painted in China and intended for export. It’s pink background is now faded and the figures were stylish adaptations to appeal to European consumers. It was hung, unbelievably, in 1830 but probably made much earlier.

What always surprises me by these older wallpapers is how modern and relevant to today’s decor they are. While I’m not sure many of us would have hand painted wallpaper at such cost, or at such scale as here in Belton, but wouldn’t it be nice if we did?

The Queen’s Bedroom has a central position in the house, and was defined as the ‘Best Chamber’ in the 1688 inventory. It was the most lavishly furnished bedroom in the house at that time and would have been offered to only the most prestigious guests. Some of the fabrics have been replaced, but the braids, fringing and tassels are all original.

Another of my favourite rooms is the Boudoir, and while it may seem a strange inclusion here it was originally furnished as a bedroom but then entirely remodelled to create a dressing room for Lady Brownlow. The room has changed over the years, but some of James Wyatt’s design from 1776-7 remains, most noticably the ceiling and the cornice.

The ceiling is amazing and has so much detail, but directly underneath it is a beautiful rug. Isn’t it gorgeous?

The information in the room said that the National Trust have some of Wyatt’s original plans, many of which were never realised. One of those was his design for a carpet to mirror the ceiling, I’m sure that would have been as amazing, but I’m glad it didn’t happen!

Just as we were about to leave the room I spotted these fabulous elephant book ends, now they would definitely be welcome in my house, even more so than the rug.

It was great to see the bedrooms, and I’m sure we’ll be back to see more of the house at some point. Like many places, I think the more you go to a place, the more you get the feeling for it and the more you see, and I know there’s so many more layers to discover and explore.

Quilts at The Workhouse

Over Easter we visited The Workhouse, a National Trust property in near to us Southwell. It was our first visit to our nearest National Trust property, and it turned out to be a hugely educational visit too. It was unlike other properties that we’d visited owned by the trust, and as you’d expect that was largely down to the original nature of the property.

I may share more about the property and its original use in a future post, and it’s a topic that deserves sharing, but for today I’m sharing some pictures and information about some of the quilts on display.

They too have a story, and are part of a community project highlighting the impact of domestic violence.

The information sheet alongside this first cushion quilt above says that ‘each square commemorates a women who was killed by a current or former partner’ and that there are two further quilts and cushion as part of this project.

That any quilt like this needs to exist is wrong, but it’s not the first commemorative quilt that I’ve seen either, sadly. Each square has been sewn with love and I’m sure fierce determination that these women won’t be forgotten, and the hope that no further quilts are needed.

I am questioning though if this would be more correctly categorised as gender based violence, which is also completely unacceptable. While I don’t know of each case represented in these quilts, I do have some knowledge of Sabina Nessa, who was murdered in Greenwich close to where we used to live. Sabina was killed by a man unknown to her, rather than a current or former partner, who is now serving a life sentence for her murder.

The Leighann Wightman quilt above is a tribute to her by her stepmother who wanted to use her time during lockdown to create a quilt as a tribute to women who lost their lives to domestic violence from 2016-2020.

The two cushions on display, made later, represent the women who lost their lives between 2020 and 2022.

The quilt below - The Women’s Quilt - pieces together five hundred and ninety-eight women each of whom were connected by a single thread. Every name is included, along with stars, birds, moons and hearts; their names are stitched in the colours of their eyes, the embroidered loops and waves in the hues of their hair. The poignancy in this detail was hard to miss.

All of the exhibits on show were humbling, and a sober reminder of the world we live in today, and as one of the exhibition boards said ‘the most beautiful project that shouldn’t exist’.