A final National Trust outing..
Today the weather has been a little less sunny, but a bit warmer than yesterday (20C/68F). We got up later than usual, and at around 10am we set off to go and visit Scotney Castle, about a 45-minute drive from our house.
The Castle began life as a fortified house built around 1379 in response to the threat of a French invasion. It had four circular towers at each corner and was owned by the Catholic Darrell family for the next 350 years. In the 1630s, Darrell (William) decided to remodel the building, so he demolished most of the existing castle and used the stone to rebuild a new part.
Eventually, it passed to the Hussey family in 1778, and for various reasons, the Castle was abandoned for a while in the late 1700s until Edward Hussey (the third!), decided he wanted to move back to Scotney and build a new house. This is the 'new house completed in 1837:
More under the cut of the Elizabethan Revival Style...
The main entrance hallway was rather spectacular with panelled and painted walls, and parquet flooring from Frankfurt. The fireplace says 'fear god honor the king' which by the time the house was finished was a bit unfortunate as Queen Victoria was on the throne (ooops!).
Some nice linen fold panelling on this court cupboard near the main front door.
There were some nice paintings here and there..
Still Life of Music Instruments in the style of Pieter Gerritsz. van Roestraten (1630-1700)
The study has a plasterwork ceiling designed by the architect who planned the house (Anthony Salvin) in the Jacobean Revival style.
The Library - it is dressed to show the last owner of the house's use of the room, which was as a comfortable living room (with bottles of booze in evidence LOL!). The wallpaper was originally crimson and gold but has faded to brown over the years.
The Flemish fireplace is rather amazing - there's an inscription: "Sith word is thral, and thought is free. Keep wel thy tongue, I council thee."
The Garden Lobby which has lovely views of the redesigned gardens and the Old Castle which was deliberately 'ruined' to make a good view (and add a folly without building one). I love the ceilings.
The dining room with more lovely ceilings.
This room had the only 'old master' painting in the house - a portrait of Frances Ashburnham by Sir Anthony Van Dyck in 1637.
Above the fireplace, there was A Maid in the Kitchen with Christ in the House of Martha and Mary in the Background by Joachin Beuckelaer (painted in 1565), which focuses on the fruit and meat in the foreground more than the religious content in the background.
Reminders that the house was designed in the time when you'd want to call on servants:
Much of the rest of the house had been modernised in the 1950s, but there were a few rather spectacular bedrooms which kept the flavour of the 1800s...
The Salvin bedroom with a bed specifically designed by Salvin himself.
The Bamboo Boudoir with bamboo-inspired furniture and wallpaper.
And some Chinese prints and porcelain
The Red Bedroom - I've just noticed that if you click on the picture you can see Mr Cee and me in the mirror LOL!
There was a corridor lined with watercolours by Henrietta Windsor-Clive while she was on holiday in Italy in 1848. She was the daughter of Clive of India, and would later marry Edward Hussey III who built Scotney Castle. I really liked these:
We went out to explore the Old Castle (now the folly) after exploring - and found this cut fountain with a playful cat
And here is the Old Castle - now just a shell, although the part with the turret was used by the Estate Bailiff until 1905 - so the view would have included a rather picturesque smoking chimney when he was living there. It was surrounded by a moat and the family used to take boats out in the summer.
The back has a little enclosed garden area which was very pleasant.
We stayed there for around three hours and it was an interesting place.
We have just come to the end of our membership of the National Trust and have decided not to renew it, as it's now really expensive. However, we've certainly got our money's worth of this membership as we've got in free to 15 different NT properties and entry can be anything between £9 and £20 each!
Now we are relaxing as it's Sunday and later we'll have Greek meze for dinner which I'm really looking forward to as we've only had a cheese scone for lunch!
Today's question: 24 - World Rivers Day: Do you live, or have you ever lived, near a river? Are the rivers in your area under threat from climate change?
We live fairly near the Kyd Brook which rises in the village near us and then turns into the River Quaggy as it approaches London. Eventually, it joins the River Ravensbourne and that joins the River Thames in London. During the very hot summers we've had over the past few years it does become very low, but it always seems to bounce back as we don't have hot weather every year.
The Castle began life as a fortified house built around 1379 in response to the threat of a French invasion. It had four circular towers at each corner and was owned by the Catholic Darrell family for the next 350 years. In the 1630s, Darrell (William) decided to remodel the building, so he demolished most of the existing castle and used the stone to rebuild a new part.
Eventually, it passed to the Hussey family in 1778, and for various reasons, the Castle was abandoned for a while in the late 1700s until Edward Hussey (the third!), decided he wanted to move back to Scotney and build a new house. This is the 'new house completed in 1837:
More under the cut of the Elizabethan Revival Style...
The main entrance hallway was rather spectacular with panelled and painted walls, and parquet flooring from Frankfurt. The fireplace says 'fear god honor the king' which by the time the house was finished was a bit unfortunate as Queen Victoria was on the throne (ooops!).
Some nice linen fold panelling on this court cupboard near the main front door.
There were some nice paintings here and there..
Still Life of Music Instruments in the style of Pieter Gerritsz. van Roestraten (1630-1700)
The study has a plasterwork ceiling designed by the architect who planned the house (Anthony Salvin) in the Jacobean Revival style.
The Library - it is dressed to show the last owner of the house's use of the room, which was as a comfortable living room (with bottles of booze in evidence LOL!). The wallpaper was originally crimson and gold but has faded to brown over the years.
The Flemish fireplace is rather amazing - there's an inscription: "Sith word is thral, and thought is free. Keep wel thy tongue, I council thee."
The Garden Lobby which has lovely views of the redesigned gardens and the Old Castle which was deliberately 'ruined' to make a good view (and add a folly without building one). I love the ceilings.
The dining room with more lovely ceilings.
This room had the only 'old master' painting in the house - a portrait of Frances Ashburnham by Sir Anthony Van Dyck in 1637.
Above the fireplace, there was A Maid in the Kitchen with Christ in the House of Martha and Mary in the Background by Joachin Beuckelaer (painted in 1565), which focuses on the fruit and meat in the foreground more than the religious content in the background.
Reminders that the house was designed in the time when you'd want to call on servants:
Much of the rest of the house had been modernised in the 1950s, but there were a few rather spectacular bedrooms which kept the flavour of the 1800s...
The Salvin bedroom with a bed specifically designed by Salvin himself.
The Bamboo Boudoir with bamboo-inspired furniture and wallpaper.
And some Chinese prints and porcelain
The Red Bedroom - I've just noticed that if you click on the picture you can see Mr Cee and me in the mirror LOL!
There was a corridor lined with watercolours by Henrietta Windsor-Clive while she was on holiday in Italy in 1848. She was the daughter of Clive of India, and would later marry Edward Hussey III who built Scotney Castle. I really liked these:
We went out to explore the Old Castle (now the folly) after exploring - and found this cut fountain with a playful cat
And here is the Old Castle - now just a shell, although the part with the turret was used by the Estate Bailiff until 1905 - so the view would have included a rather picturesque smoking chimney when he was living there. It was surrounded by a moat and the family used to take boats out in the summer.
The back has a little enclosed garden area which was very pleasant.
We stayed there for around three hours and it was an interesting place.
We have just come to the end of our membership of the National Trust and have decided not to renew it, as it's now really expensive. However, we've certainly got our money's worth of this membership as we've got in free to 15 different NT properties and entry can be anything between £9 and £20 each!
Now we are relaxing as it's Sunday and later we'll have Greek meze for dinner which I'm really looking forward to as we've only had a cheese scone for lunch!
Today's question: 24 - World Rivers Day: Do you live, or have you ever lived, near a river? Are the rivers in your area under threat from climate change?
We live fairly near the Kyd Brook which rises in the village near us and then turns into the River Quaggy as it approaches London. Eventually, it joins the River Ravensbourne and that joins the River Thames in London. During the very hot summers we've had over the past few years it does become very low, but it always seems to bounce back as we don't have hot weather every year.