Returning north from Arundel (via Littlehampton), I found that my parents, sister and nephew had visited a decade ago. Nephew (then 10) had been asked some questions by a Tourism bod
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Disappointing to read about Arundel - an attraction of that size really should do better. You probably know the National Trust would have taken it over in the 1970s had the sixteenth duke lived...
The second (Phillimore, rather than OUP) edition of John Martin Robinson's The Dukes of Norfolk writes events up in some detail. Bernard, the sixteenth duke had broken the entail already to enable his daughters to inherit parts of the estate, and he was then going to give Arundel and an endowment to the National Trust. His third cousin once removed and successor, Miles, the seventeenth duke, did not like this at all and once he succeeded (unexpectedly, I think - the sixteenth duke was in his sixties when he died in 1975) negotiated himself out of the transfer to retain what was left of the estate (still a lot) and pass it on to his on Edward, the present duke, in due course.
The group I was with decided we wanted the library, but the gardens look well worth having as well. :-)
I take your point about the signage - we tended to wander around trying to work out for ourselves why, for example, there was a map of 19th century Sheffield on one wall - and then discovered a mention of family lands in the area several rooms later. It seemed as if how outgoing the guide was in a particular room made a difference, we got a lot more information if they were willing to jump in and start talking, rather than hiding in the corners or just waiting to be asked questions.
The worst-signed and worst-arranged museum I have ever been to was in Lutterworth. Loadsainterestingstuff happened locally, but you'd have to be very persistent to work this out from the museum.
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I take your point about the signage - we tended to wander around trying to work out for ourselves why, for example, there was a map of 19th century Sheffield on one wall - and then discovered a mention of family lands in the area several rooms later. It seemed as if how outgoing the guide was in a particular room made a difference, we got a lot more information if they were willing to jump in and start talking, rather than hiding in the corners or just waiting to be asked questions.
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