An historic outing....
Today's forecast: 14C/57F cloudy.
Today we went to visit Penshurst Place and gardens as they were holding the Weald of Kent Country Craft Fair. It is about half an hour's drive from us, and we spent about an hour looking around all the stalls and crafts which were fascinating. I ended up buying a thing for the garden (it's a forged dragonfly spike):
Then we walked round to Penshurst Place itself to visit the house which has been used in many historic dramas over the years - the TV version of Wolf Hall was filmed there for example. Under the cut for some photos and history stuff...
It's a pretty impressive building having been added to over the years - originally it was a medieval house built in 1341 for Sir John de Pulteney (one of the Lord Mayors of London).
This is part of the original building - the Great Hall with the minstrel's gallery.
It came into Henry VIII's possession after he had the previous owner - Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham executed in 1521. It was very handy for Henry to use as a base for his hunting and conveniently to woo Anne Boleyn who was living in nearby Hever Castle at the time *g*. The house passed to Sir William Sidney in 1552 as a bequest from Henry's son King Edward VI. It's been in the Sidney family ever since.
I rather liked the fancy panelling everywhere....
Elizabeth I was a frequent visitor to Penshurst Place.
There were other lovely staterooms all over the house. This is the Queen Elizabeth room.
We were both rather fascinated by this 17th century cabinet - all the pictures are made from slivers of semi precious stones (Pietra dura).
Mr Cee liked the armour and arms throughout the house - the sword in front is one that was used to behead people (it has a flat end).
There were little nooks and crannies for servants to hide away in so that they were always available to call on. This cubby has a collection of Chinese crockery in it.
This panelled room holds a State bed which is rather fancy!
After exploring the house we went for a wander around the gardens which are very beautiful. We need to go back later in the year as there were lots of plants that were not quite fully at their peak such as the standard roses below.
There are more pictures and a video of the gardens in the link above the cut.
We went back to the fair to grab some lunch and then we set off home as it had just started to rain. The rain followed us home but it's not been anything other than a very light shower. Tomorrow I think I'll have to water the garden!
The rest of the afternoon Mr Cee has spent washing the cars as they're covered in pollen from all the trees and I've been tidying up the house. Now we are relaxing!
Pinch, punch - it's the first of the month!
1. Is it more or less difficult to be successful in the modern world than it was in the past (10, 50, 100, or 1,000 years ago)?
Depends on what success means. I think it's easier for more people to be successful these days to a certain extent as in the Western world more people have access to education. That doesn't always mean you can be successful, but it gives you more chance than when it was only the wealthy or the males of a population who had educational opportunities (or so I would have thought - but then I've only really spent a few minutes thinking about this question LOL!).
The rest of the questions are here.
Today we went to visit Penshurst Place and gardens as they were holding the Weald of Kent Country Craft Fair. It is about half an hour's drive from us, and we spent about an hour looking around all the stalls and crafts which were fascinating. I ended up buying a thing for the garden (it's a forged dragonfly spike):
Then we walked round to Penshurst Place itself to visit the house which has been used in many historic dramas over the years - the TV version of Wolf Hall was filmed there for example. Under the cut for some photos and history stuff...
It's a pretty impressive building having been added to over the years - originally it was a medieval house built in 1341 for Sir John de Pulteney (one of the Lord Mayors of London).
This is part of the original building - the Great Hall with the minstrel's gallery.
It came into Henry VIII's possession after he had the previous owner - Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham executed in 1521. It was very handy for Henry to use as a base for his hunting and conveniently to woo Anne Boleyn who was living in nearby Hever Castle at the time *g*. The house passed to Sir William Sidney in 1552 as a bequest from Henry's son King Edward VI. It's been in the Sidney family ever since.
I rather liked the fancy panelling everywhere....
Elizabeth I was a frequent visitor to Penshurst Place.
There were other lovely staterooms all over the house. This is the Queen Elizabeth room.
We were both rather fascinated by this 17th century cabinet - all the pictures are made from slivers of semi precious stones (Pietra dura).
Mr Cee liked the armour and arms throughout the house - the sword in front is one that was used to behead people (it has a flat end).
There were little nooks and crannies for servants to hide away in so that they were always available to call on. This cubby has a collection of Chinese crockery in it.
This panelled room holds a State bed which is rather fancy!
After exploring the house we went for a wander around the gardens which are very beautiful. We need to go back later in the year as there were lots of plants that were not quite fully at their peak such as the standard roses below.
There are more pictures and a video of the gardens in the link above the cut.
We went back to the fair to grab some lunch and then we set off home as it had just started to rain. The rain followed us home but it's not been anything other than a very light shower. Tomorrow I think I'll have to water the garden!
The rest of the afternoon Mr Cee has spent washing the cars as they're covered in pollen from all the trees and I've been tidying up the house. Now we are relaxing!
Pinch, punch - it's the first of the month!
1. Is it more or less difficult to be successful in the modern world than it was in the past (10, 50, 100, or 1,000 years ago)?
Depends on what success means. I think it's easier for more people to be successful these days to a certain extent as in the Western world more people have access to education. That doesn't always mean you can be successful, but it gives you more chance than when it was only the wealthy or the males of a population who had educational opportunities (or so I would have thought - but then I've only really spent a few minutes thinking about this question LOL!).
The rest of the questions are here.