Petworth House and Park

Petworth House is National Trust property the COG and I visited this week.  It has the largest collection of art of all the National Trust houses, so is sometimes called The Art House.  (picture from the National Trust site). The Park was designed by Capability Brown, of course.  Frankly we were a little disappointed in it, but that might have been because it was pouring down rain intermittently so we couldn't really enjoy it.

The house itself is probably the grandest interior I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of grand country homes. Only the downstairs rooms were open to the public, and so there were no bedrooms which was a little disappointing. And the downstairs rooms were mostly a gallery for the art.  Having said all that, both the COG and I gasped audibly when we entered the first room, of which this is only a small adjoining alcove:

Turner and Constable lived in residence there for a while and so there's lots of their work. And there are several things by William Blake. There's a lot of classical statuary, as well as some 18th century statuary. But there are also Titians and Van Dykes and a Lely and at least one Claude and many many many more.  There was also one of the earliest volumes of Canterbury Tales, hand copied and beautiful. And, perhaps, the oldest globe of the world from the 1500's.  So. Many. Treasures.

There is a room, called The Carved Room, with carvings by Grinling Gibbons. All of the carving is done to set off the paintings as if the entire room were the frame. The paintings themselves were amazing - I think they'd been recently cleaned because they were so bright and clear. The painting of Henry VIII looked almost 3D, really quite an effect.

As we arrived, the hunt was forming outside. I am against blood sports, but, it was still exciting to see all the beautiful people on beautiful horses. None of my pictures turned out, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Petworth is a lovely village with about a million antique stores and some lovely homes. The House is actually right next to the town - we entered right from the street into the servants quarters, where the shop, the cafe, and the old kitchens were. There was a cook baking there all day and it was truly interesting to see.  The staff had to take all the food through tunnels between the house and the kitchens/servants quarters.  The Trust has made a feature of the servants quarters, explaining a little about what happened Downstairs, how the servants lived etc. 

Petworth Village

I feel somehow that I should just mention that the house, in its oldest parts, is over 800 years old.  It belonged to the Percy family, who came over with the Normans and were one of the most powerful and richest families of England, and Europe for hundreds of years.  Maybe still are.  The current Lord Whatnot and family still live in the house, which was acquired by the National Trust in lieu of death duties, along with part of the art collection. Reading about the history of the family is like reading an historical novel. Someone in the family was there for every thing that happened since the Conquest. 

London to Brighton Veteran Car Rally

Today was the London to Brighton Veteran Car Rally. We walked down to the Marine Parade, on the sea front, to see it.  It has grown very cold here with high winds and we are expecting heavy rain, so everyone was leaving a couple of hours early.  The COG might have gotten some pictures, but I've left it to the film Genevieve.  In the first few minutes of this clip, there are a couple of scenes of cars arriving in Brighton, with the pier in the background and the lacy metal arches in the foreground.  That's where we were - it's just down the road from our flat.

On Taking Public Transport

Yesterday we went to a National Trust property about 35 miles west and a little north of Brighton. The bus trip took 2 1/2 or 3 hours each way. That may seem like a lot of time to get such a short distance but we were happy with that.

We talked about hiring a car, but decided against it because we like traveling in buses. When you are in a bus, you get to see the countryside in a way you don't when you are driving, because you are worried about traffic and navigating and you have to keep your eyes on the road. In a bus, someone else does all of that. In a bus, you sit up a little higher than a car, so you can see over hedgerows and fences. And we always enjoy people-watching on buses.

Because we were on the bus, we could see over the beach toward the ocean along part of the drive; we saw a fruit tree blossoming out of season in someone's yard; we saw a huge tree, obviously felled by the storm on Monday and not yet cleared because it wasn't blocking the road; we saw some lovely houses hiding behind hedges or fences; and we had amazing views of the Arun valley and various other beautiful places along the way.

Cars are great when you have someplace specific to go that's difficult to get to by bus. I used to love having one when we came on visits the the COGs parents when the kids were small. In those days, the car became a kind of temporary haven our private space for the duration.  In a car, you can cover a lot of territory more quickly and you are free to deviate from the plan for the day.   We could, for example, have stopped at the Roman Villa we saw a sign for, if we'd had a car. Or because we had a car in Normandy last summer, we were able to stop at the various beaches which was not something we had planned for.  So there's definitely a place for cars. And, if we'd had a car yesterday, we wouldn't have had to wait for the 1 bus per hour, or figure out where to catch it.

On the other hand, while waiting for the bus,  we chatted to someone and looked around the charming old village, which we wouldn't have done if we'd been parked in the car park next to the main road that skirts the village.

So, that's why we like taking public transport - especially buses. It's because the getting there is half the fun. Sometimes more than half.

Goldfish!

Spotted in our local supermarket. Pepperidge Farm Goldfish, here called 'Finz'.

Bruges: Part III

With just 2 hours left, we took a canal boat ride.  The ride took only 30 minutes, but we ended up waiting for 45 minutes to get on the boat.  Here are some pictures I took - not great ones, but they give a flavor of the town from the canals.

 This is just a gratuitous Belgian Ent, captured on film from the water.

 This illustrates the difficulty of picture-taking on the boat trip.

 This was in an area of town where the Tanners worked. I wonder if the Dyers were nearby. Both smelly occupations.

I just love these old houses with the basements with docking facilities.

 I think the tour guide said this unusual house with the wooden facing was used in the movie, In Bruges.

So that was the tour.  Quick, but interesting and I learned something by listening to both the English and the French dialog.  The word 'Burgher', as in the wealthy ruling class of a medieval city is translated in French as 'Bourgeois'. Which might be the most interesting (to me) thing I learned today. 

After the tour, we needed to make our way back to the bus, so we meandered a bit, and bought Belgian Waffles for a snack.  Mine was Caramel, the COG asked for 'Slagroom' not knowing what it was. Isn't he brave. It was whipped cream, so he was rewarded for his courage. 

They were very sweet and not a life-changing experience. I'm sure there are better ones somewhere.

Then, back to the bus; back through the Chunnel; back home by 10:30 or 11:00.  The COG now feels satisfied that he can check Bruges off his lifetime list. I haven't told him I'd like to go back and spend a couple of days in a room overlooking a canal and visit every church and museum in the town.  

Bruges: Part II

Bruges is a very pretty, very old town. It was important early on, then its fortunes declined, saving all the pretty old buildings from redevelopment. It also survived WWI and WWII, probably because there is no industry there except tourism.

We found it to be oddly laid out. Because we are Modern Dorks, we downloaded apps instead of maps and guidebooks. They were all crap. So by the time found the tourist office and a proper map and obtained .50 euro pieces for the toilets, 2 hours had passed. Then, by the end of lunch, (Moules Frites and local beer for the COG, Lamb Carbonnade and local beer for me) 3 hours had passed. 

 Notice the excellent dragon park benches.  

The Tourists - we were tourists, of course, but there were so many tourists. And it's not even high season.  There did not seem to be any business in Bruges except tourism.  Which always feels a little odd. Like Disney World, only without cartoon characters to pose with.

There were other things to pose with, of course.   Like Living Statues of Gargoyles. 

and

But mostly it was just pretty.

There's a horse drawn carriage at the back of this street. There are many of these and you can hear them coming by the soft clop clop of the hooves. To keep the streets clean, the horses wear a kind of chute under their backsides, with a hefty container attached. 

As always, check the COG's blog for better pictures.

A Day Out in Bruges: Part I

The day started very very early.  We caught the bus to the coach stop at 5:20am. Not my finest hour.

When we got to Pool Valley, where the coach was to pick us up, we met fellow travelers. The instructions about exactly where in Pool Valley the coach would stop were unclear, so we all raced around looking for a likely bus stop. When the coach arrived, we were flushed with running around and we had gotten to know each other a little. 

We drove a couple of hours to the Chunnel, where the coach drove into an enormous train car - the largest ones in the world, according to Wiki. The train car held our coach and two cars, one in front, one behind, with similar cars stretching in either direction. This was taken from the back window of the bus.

 We were able to get out of the coach for the 35 minute (25 mile) trip from Dover to Calais. It was crowded. with only a couple of feet on either side of the bus.  It was such a weird experience because you couldn't tell you were moving very very fast.  The windows were black outside, so no visual suggestion of speed and because we were inside another vehicle the only motion was a slight rocking underfoot. It was very quiet.   

Once in Bruges, they dropped us off outside the main center of town around noon, telling us they'd meet us back there in 5 hours.  We crossed a canal into a small park called Minnewater Park.  I felt right at home - Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnehaha, Minnewaska etc.  

Bruges Part II is next.