F E AT U R E
Room to grow Growing up in a historic home makes for family stories. Francesca Emms tells us some of the highlights of that Featherston childhood.
M
y Mum likes to tell the story of the first time she and Dad took us kids to see Longwood. It was the summer that I was seven. Apparently I spun around singing, ‘I think I’m gonna like it here!’ I don’t remember doing this. But I was an attention-seeking middle child obsessed with Annie so I’m sure it’s true. Anyway, I was right. That first visit was spent racing around counting toilets (current count is 14), getting lost in the trees, and picnicking on the lawn. We got to choose which of the eleven bedrooms we wanted. I went for one with an archway over the door and a view of the front lawn. My older sister Georgia took the Yellow Room which boasts a fireplace and two entrances. Four-year-old Sammy was put in the Red Room, probably because it was closest to the Blue Room, the master suite, where my parents were. I felt like I could be any of the redheaded characters I loved – Orphan Annie, Pippi playing in her rundown mansion or Anne of Green Gables letting her imagination go wild. This dream house came with some challenges – its sheer size to start with. A restoration project becomes a marathon when the
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