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EDITOR'S LETTER Coastal views, healthful air and magnificent mountains: the Victorians knew what they liked from their holidays, and the destinations featured this issue were firm favourites. The genteel towns of Devon’s south coast (The English Riviera, p14) ooze the charm of a bygone era, and the beauty of the Lake District (Romancing the Lakes, p64) drew Victorian city-dwellers in droves. The best historic houses are full of the stories of their former occupants. Polesden Lacey in Surrey was once home to a rags-to-riches society hostess (Mrs Greville’s Treasures, p24); while Kelmscott Manor in the Cotswolds, owned by the designer William Morris, played host to a scandalous love triangle (Life’s rich tapestry, p48). We also profile castle-builder extraordinaire Edward I (The Warrior King, p33), revisit the Titanic 110 years after its sinking (Belfast’s Titanic legacy, p75) and follow Paddington Bear’s journey, from darkest Peru to tea with the Queen (Paws for thought, p56). Enjoy the issue!
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St Michael’s Mount
CONTENTS
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VOLUME 90 ISSUE 5
PHOTOS: © MKGOLDER/ISTOCK/ SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES LONDON (KELMSCOTT MANOR)/TOURISM IRELAND/CHRIS HILL
FEATURES 14
Natasha Foges Editor For the best articles straight to your inbox, sign up to our free BRITAIN newsletter at www.britain-magazine.com/newsletter
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FIND YOUR
BRITAIN 6
THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE
HISTORY HERITAGE TRAVEL CULTURE
Fall for the
Lake District
Romantic landscapes & quaint villages
KING OF THE CASTLES
WIN
a week on the beautiful Yorkshire coast
Edward I’s mighty legacy
HIGH FLIERS
Behind the scenes with the Red Arrows
On the
Titanic trail
VICTORIAN SCANDAL
Love and betrayal in the Cotswolds
SEPT/OCT 2022 £4.95
Discover the story of the doomed ship in Belfast
OFC BRI_SeptOctFINALV2.indd 2
www.britain-magazine.com
27/07/2022 12:30
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Cover image: An autumnal view of the Lake District National Park © Ed Rhodes/Robert Harding
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THE ENGLISH RIVIERA Dotted with quaint little towns, this stunning stretch of South Devon coastline comes into its own once the summer crowds have departed
MRS GREVILLE’S TREASURES One of the most celebrated hostesses of the Edwardian era, Margaret Greville amassed many collectibles at her Surrey manor, Polesden Lacey
THE WARRIOR KING From Flower of Chivalry to Hammer of the Scots, Edward I has had more nicknames than any other monarch, but how did he measure up to them?
THE REAL JAMES HERRIOT The All Creatures Great and Small author and vet tended to animals on the Yorkshire Dales, but how much truth was there in his much-loved tales?
LIFE’S RICH TAPESTRY As Kelmscott Manor reopens after a three-year renovation, we explore the stories and scandals behind William Morris’s idyllic Cotswold retreat
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FEATURES 56 61
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LETTERS
9
THE BULLETIN
46
COMPETITION
75
CITY GUIDE: BELFAST
80
A DAY WITH...
82
THE GREAT BRITISH QUIZ
www.britain-magazine.com
PAWS FOR THOUGHT Having arrived in London with just the bear necessities, Paddington has been a popular figure for 64 years – what’s the key to his lasting success?
ST IVES Artists have long been drawn to this breathtaking harbour town in West Cornwall
ROMANCING THE LAKES Follow a literary trail around Windermere and Grasmere, jewels in the crown of the magnificent Lake District
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Egyptian exhibitions, pretty handmade pottery and water voles Win a seven-night getaway to Yorkshire Steeped in history, Northern Ireland’s capital now celebrates its maritime heritage
Test your knowledge of Britain’s tastiest pudding, pies and snacks in our new quiz
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BRITAIN is the official magazine of VisitBritain, the national tourism agency. BRITAIN is published by The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ Tel: 020 7349 3700 Email: info@britain-magazine.com Editorial Editor Natasha Foges Art Editor Rhian Colley Assistant Editor Henrietta Easton
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IN THIS ISSUE SCOTLAND
LAKE DISTRICT p64
BELFAST p75
NORTHERN IRELAND
YORKSHIRE DALES p40
BRITAIN (ISSN 1757-9732) (USPS 004-335) is published bi-monthly by The Chelsea Magazine Company, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ , UK Distributed in the US by NPS Media Group, 2 Enterprise Drive, Suite 420, Shelton, CT 06484. Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, CT and other mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to BRITAIN, PO Box 37518, Boone, IA 50037-0518 Publications Mail Agreement Number 41599077, 1415 Janette Ave, Windsor, ON N8X 1Z1. Canadian GST Registered Number 834045627 RT0001 © The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd., 2022. All rights reserved. Text and pictures are copyright restricted and must not be reproduced without permission of the publishers The information contained in BRITAIN has been published in good faith and every effort has been made to ensure its accuracy. However, where appropriate, you are strongly advised to check prices, opening times, dates, etc, before making final arrangements. All liability for loss, disappointment, negligence or damage caused by reliance on the information contained within this publication is hereby excluded. The opinions expressed by contributors to BRITAIN are not necessarily those of the publisher or VisitBritain.
EIRE ENGLAND WA L E S
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THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE
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YOUR LETTERS
Write to us with your thoughts on the magazine and memories of Britain
I loved your recent article about King Arthur’s Cornwall [Vol 90 Issue 4] as it reminded me of many happy holidays from my childhood. We went every year and I loved clambering over the ruins of Tintagel and visiting the mystical St Nectan’s waterfall, when not exploring the caves and rock pools of the area’s wonderful beaches. A magical place indeed! Stephen Morrissey, Montreal, Canada
Our star letter wins a copy of Gilded City, a fascinating journey through London’s medieval and early modern architecture (Unicorn, £25).
QUEEN VICTORIA RECONSIDERED A recent documentary about King George III opined (via current medical experts) that he likely suffered from bipolar disorder, while not taking into account that Queen Victoria’s famous temper tantrums were akin to that. She was never meant to be Queen and wasn’t in line for the throne but her uncle had no heirs, so she was thrust into the job unexpectedly. I’d guess that the burden of being Queen at a very young age was overwhelming for her at times – and she had nine children! She could also have had some long-term after-effects: gynaecology and mental healthcare wasn’t as sophisticated as they are today, so she may have been suffering with undiagnosed disorders. Pamela Towart, via Facebook
BIG BEN’S BACK
LOVE FOR LANCASHIRE
Thank you so much for your insightful article The Time Machine [Vol 90 Issue 4]. Every summer holiday, each of my three children pick a topic to learn more about during their time away from school. This year my middle daughter, Erin, chose Big Ben, after hearing her classmates discussing the famous tower. Your article covered pretty much everything we needed to know, and we all learnt lots of new facts about the infamous bell. A particular favourite was that the tower once contained a prison cell for unruly MPs! We’re planning a trip to London soon to see (and hear) the newly restored clock tower in all its glory. Nicola Richardson, East Sussex, UK
I was very glad to see that the map in the Lancashire article [Vol 90 Issue 3] included my hometown of Southport. When I was born there it was in Lancashire, but has now been redrawn into Merseyside. However, those of us born there, way back then, still think of ourselves as Lancastrians! It was so nice to see an article about my old stomping grounds and places I’ve visited over the years when back seeing family. One of my oldest memories from my first trip back was seeing Blackpool Tower from the top of the rollercoaster at Pleasureland in Southport. On my last trip home, I went to Lancaster for the first time and learned about the Pendle Witches on a tour of the castle and prison. Somewhere I haven’t been is Helmshore Textile Museum or Queen Street Mill near Burnley. There’s always somewhere else to add to the list of places to go. Denise Bridge, Ontario, Canada
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HISTORY / NEWS / REVIEWS / INSPIRATION
The
BULLETIN Egyptian mysteries, Roman ingenuity and a very British country-house escape
ANNIVERSARY
This year Hadrian’s Wall, Britain’s ancient Roman frontier in the north, celebrates its 1,900th birthday. Built at the request of Emperor Hadrian in 122 AD, it marked the border between Britain and unconquered Caledonia in the north and is the largest Roman archaeological feature in Britain, running a total of 73 miles from Wallsend in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west. To mark the momentous birthday of this
UNESCO World Heritage Site, a year-long festival is taking place, with a packed programme of events and activities. Whether you want to experience life as a Roman soldier, understand how and why the wall was built, or take part in a creative writing workshop, the 1900 Festival (until 23 December) has something for everyone. 1900.hadrianswallcountry.co.uk
PHOTO: © ALAN COPSON/AWL IMAGES
1,900 years later
HISTORY / NEWS / REVIEWS / INSPIRATION
SHOPPING
Hedgerow happy
P L AC E S TO S TAY
Rural retreat Just opened in Berkshire, The Retreat at Elcot Park is an exemplary country-house hotel. A winding drive leads to a fine red-brick manor house overlooking the rolling North Wessex Downs. The rooms have bags of rustic charm – William Morris wallpaper, comfy armchairs, canopied beds and antique prints set the tone. The standout is the Percy Shelley Suite, named after the Romantic poet, whose family moved here after he died in Italy. There are tennis courts, an infinity pool and a croquet lawn, as well as two excellent restaurants and a swish spa, but make time to explore the local area too – Highclere Castle of Downton Abbey fame, Newbury racecourse and the antiques shops of Hungerford are among the local draws. www.retreatelcotpark.com
The end of summer in Britain is, arguably, the most beautiful time of the whole season, with leaves on the cusp of autumn colour, woodland animals getting themselves ready for the winter, and the hedgerows bursting with berries just waiting to be made into a delicious pudding. British pottery brand Emma Bridgewater has encapsulated all of this in its new collection. Our pick is the pretty Hedgerow set (from £14), which features colourful rosehip and elderberry motifs on plates, jugs, teacups and more. www.emmabridgewater.co.uk
N AT U R E
Waterside wildlife
EXHIBITION
Egyptian intrigue In 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings: the first intact pharaoh’s tomb to be found. A century later, it’s still one of the most important archaeological discoveries of all time. Tutankhamun: Excavating the Archive (until 5 Feb 2023) at Oxford’s Bodleian Library uses photographs, letters and diaries to paint a vivid picture of the events. Continuing the theme, the British Museum’s Hieroglyphs: Unlocking Ancient Egypt (13 Oct until 19 Feb 2023) will celebrate 200 years since hieroglyphs were first deciphered after the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, expanding our understanding of human history by 3,000 years. visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk; www.britishmuseum.org
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PHOTOS: © TOM GREENLY/ASTRID TEMPLIER/TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM/ HARRY BURTON/WILL PRYCE
Water voles, an endangered species in Britain, are being reintroduced on the 725-acre Trentham Estate in Staffordshire as part of a UK-wide project to boost the vole population. More than 200 water voles have been released into Trentham Lake, which was designed by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown at the heart of the estate, in the hope that they will establish a self-sustaining population. To help them on their way, thousands of native marginal wildflowers and reeds have been planted, alongside meadows, feeder brooks and watercourses to create their perfect habitat. Look out for these fluffy creatures on your next visit. www.trentham.co.uk www.britain-magazine.com
OPENING
Palatial splendour Set between the two buildings of the Old Royal Naval College Famed for its opulent interiors, the studio-home Victorianfirst in Greenwich, London, the Queen’s House wasof England's artist andbuilding, former President the Royal Academy, Lord Leighton, classical built in theof17th-century by architect Inigo reopens October after an £8m Visitors to the I. Jones forinAnne of Denmark, as atransformation. gift from her husband, James house, London’syears Holland once again to to Fourinhundred later,Park, the will splendid royal be villaable is due experience rooms infollowing all their glory, including the famedwhich Arab reopen on the 11 October extensive renovations,
collection of art – including key works by Gainsborough and Hall, with floors tiles collected during travels. The Hogarth – and made originalfrom features, such as the TuliphisStaircase. renovation revealenough previously unseen historic including If that’s notwill reason to visit, it is likely to features, be the home Leighton’s Winter Studio,portrait while upcoming of the historic Armada of Queenexhibitions Elizabeth Iwill (pictured celebrate theofartist Holland ParkofCircle, his group of artist above), one the and mostthe iconic images any British monarch. friends collaborators. The and painting has beenwww.rbkc.gov.uk/museums the subject of intensive fundraising
have seen an overhaul to the galleries housing its famous
to save it for the nation since it was put up for sale. With the
HISTORY / NEWS / REVIEWS / INSPIRATION
READING CORNER Take inspiration for your British adventures from these great reads The BBC Puzzle Book by Ian Smith & Dr Gareth Moore (£14.99, Frances Lincoln). Celebrate 100 years of this British Institution by testing your knowledge of its most famous programmes.
In the 18th century, custards were served in delicate glasses, alongside jellies and syllabubs
RECIPE
Custard Creams An insight into the Great British pudding in its various forms, Pride and Pudding by Regula Ysewijn (Murdoch Books, £30) contains over 80 recipes, using documents dating back to the 14th century. From well-known desserts like bread-and-butter pudding to the more obscure, but equally delicious snake fritters, this is a cookbook for history buffs and foodies alike.
I n g re d i e n t s : 4 egg yolks
20 g (3/4 oz) raw sugar
1 teaspoon orange flower water
1 cinnamon stick
425 ml (15 fl oz) thick (double) cream
Method: Whisk the egg yolks with the orange flower water in a large bowl. In a medium saucepan, bring the cream, sugar and cinnamon to a simmer. Remove the cinnamon stick. Pour a little of the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks and whisk thoroughly. Continue to add the hot cream in batches, whisking constantly, until you get a smooth custard. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan, put it over low heat and stir with a spatula until just thickened, ensuring the eggs don’t scramble. Remove from the heat and allow to cool in the saucepan until the custard is cold enough to scoop into glasses or teacups. Dust some mace or nutmeg on the custards before serving.
A l m o n d c u s t a rd To make this into an almond custard, omit the orange flower water and whisk the egg yolks. Crush 50g (1¾ oz) blanched almonds with 1 teaspoon of rosewater using a mortar and pestle and mix with the cream before bringing it to a simmer with the sugar and cinnamon. Remove from the heat, strain and mix the hot cream with the eggs as above. For a stronger marzipan flavour, add a few blanched apricot kernels to the mix.
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Devil-Land: England Under Siege, 1588-1688 by Clare Jackson (£35, Allen Lane). The winner of the Wolfson History prize explores Britain’s turbulent century under Stuart rule. Homecoming: The Scottish Years of Mary, Queen of Scots by Rosemary Goring (£22, Birlinn). The dramatic story of the ill-fated queen’s lichildhood years in her homeland. Queen of the Savoy: The extraordinary Life of Helen D’Oyly Carte by Elisabeth Kehoe (£25, Unicorn). A lively account of the life of the Victorian businesswoman and founder of the Gilbert & Sullivan franchise. The Flower of all Cities by Robert Wynn Jones (10.99, Amberley Publishing). An exciting account of London’s early history, from the Romans to the Stuarts.
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PHOTO: © DAVID CHAPMAN/AL AMY
english riviera
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english riviera
The
English Riviera This stunning stretch of South Devon coastline, dotted with quaint little towns, comes into its own once the summer crowds have departed WORDS CLARE STRONG
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uel bon pays!”, exclaimed the Frenchman on first sighting this stretch of the English coastline: “What a beautiful country!” The foreigner was Napoleon Bonaparte. After his disastrous defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, the military leader was held captive in a ship called the HMS Bellerophon, which dropped anchor for a couple of days near the Devon fishing village of Brixham. Like many before and after him, Napoleon was captivated by the particular light and beauty of this stretch of coast, with its steep wooded cliffs plummeting down to the sparkling English Channel. Though Bonaparte didn’t actually set foot in Devon, the resorts along Torbay’s coastline have much to thank him for. In the early 19th century the Napoleonic Wars convulsed the continent, making it difficult for rich elites to escape for their ‘grand tours’ of Paris, Venice and Rome. With the sunny pleasures of France and Italy out of reach, the well-heeled of England looked closer to home – and the gaze of many fell on Torbay, an area of South Devon covering 22 miles of coastline. Its mild winters and long hours of sunlight meant the stretch was soon nicknamed ‘the English Riviera’, with palm tree-lined boulevards cultivated to rival the Croisette at Cannes.
It’s no surprise that summers here are busy, but the area’s balmy climate makes a visit in the autumn or spring just as appealing, allowing you to explore the Riviera’s picturesque harbours and quaint villages in relative peace. A quartet of delightful towns is threaded along the coastline. ‘Queen of the Riviera’ is Torquay, which has been attracting visitors to “take the cure” – also known as swimming in the sea – since Victorian times. Once Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s railway had snaked its way to the edge of the town, it boomed – to the consternation of some. In the early 19th century one local vicar declared that “two hotels in the town would be detrimental to its moral health”. He would blanch to visit Torquay today, with its large wedding cake-like hotels staring boldly out to sea, its swanky restaurants (one boasting a Michelin star) and jolly, hospitable air. The same delights that attracted the Victorians lure millions to Torquay each year: “healthful” air, a rare amount of English sun, and wide, breathtaking views of the Channel. On sunny days, when Torquay’s harbour is a forest of yacht masts, you could easily mistake the sweep of blue before you for the Mediterranean Sea. Just east of Torquay is Babbacombe, which boasts the highest clifftop promenade in England. This genteel spot
Napoleon was captivated by the light and beauty of this stretch of coast, with its steep wooded cliffs plummeting down to the Channel
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PHOTO: © MARK L AKEMAN PHOTOGR APHY 2015. ILLUSTR ATION: © MICHAEL A HILL
Previous page: Brixham harbour at sunset Top right: Torquay’s attractive harbour is a real haven for boat lovers Bottom right: The Dartmouth Steam Railway passes Goodrington sands beach, a favourite with holidaymakers
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Clockwise, from top left: The Babbacombe Cliff Railway has shuttled passengers for almost a century; a replica of the Golden Hind sits in Brixham Harbour; local seafood is served at some of Europe’s best restaurants; a quaint cottage in Cockington
is furnished with bright flowers, welcoming benches and a telescope through which – when the skies are clear – you can see the Portland Bill lighthouse in Dorset. Running from the promenade down to Oddicombe beach is the Babbacombe Cliff Railway, a cream-and-burgundycoloured funicular which was built in 1926. Many a weary traveller has been thankful for its existence, for the forest-covered cliffs are too steep for many to scramble down and the beach too charming to miss. In 1846, Queen Victoria declared it “a beautiful spot... red cliffs and rocks with wooded hills like Italy and reminding one of a ballet or play where nymphs appear – such rocks and grottoes, with the deepest sea on which there was no ripple.” Today the eagle-eyed may spot one of the local dolphins frolicking in the waves. Fifteen minutes down the coast is Paignton, which proudly offers all the elements of a traditional English
seaside holiday: beach huts painted all the colours of the rainbow, a broad sweep of sandy beach and a majestic pier stretching 250 metres into the sea. To the south of Paignton Sands, tucked behind a harbour wall is one of the area’s most enchanting beaches, Fairy Cove, a bay of clear water sheltered by russet cliffs. Completing the quartet is Brixham, an impossibly pretty fishing town where pastel-coloured cottages jostle for space on a steep hillside overlooking the harbour. Known locally as ‘fishtown’, Brixham is defined by the industry that has sustained it for centuries. Early-bird visitors can book a tour of the local fish market and watch the day’s catch of bream and sole being auctioned off, destined for dinner service at some of Europe’s finest restaurants. Those rising at a more civilised hour can enjoy a coffee at the Breakwater Bistro, a waterfront café which offers the perfect perch to watch the trawlers, rowing boats and yachts coming and going. Brixham’s most famous boat doesn’t go anywhere. For 50 years the harbour has been home to the Golden Hind, a replica of the galleon in which Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe in the 16th century. Visitors
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PHOTO: © PHOTO.ECCLES/ALAMY/MATT AUSTIN
Brixham is an impossibly pretty fishing town where pastel-hued cottages jostle for space on a steep hillside overlooking the harbour
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english riviera
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can explore its five levels, inspect the rigging and gaze out to sea from its prow, marvelling at how this small vessel made it through the stormy Atlantic and vast Pacific and returned in one piece. Try not be alarmed if you find yourself eye to eye-patched eye with a cutlass-bearing character; each spring Brixham holds a Pirate Festival at which locals dress up, sing sea shanties and enjoy displays of naval firepower along the sea front. Four miles inland from Brixham you’ll find “the loveliest place in the world”, the title bestowed on Greenway House by its former owner, Agatha Christie. The wildly successful crime novelist is the English Riviera’s most famous daughter. Born in Torquay, she worked in its
Above: The library at Greenway House, the former holiday home of author Agatha Christie, now owned by the National Trust Right: Thatcher Point at Torbay, which provides views out towards the island of Thatcher Rock
military hospital during World War One, honeymooned in the Grand Hotel, and spent holidays in her estate overlooking the banks of the River Dart. It is easy to see why Christie adored Greenway, a large white Georgian villa which with its perfect symmetry might be mistaken for a doll’s house. Sunlight pours through its huge sash windows onto the faded sofas in the cosy library and drawing room, which are just as the Queen of Crime left them; on a quiet day you can almost hear the clack of the typewriter keys. Greenway has its own railway station – Greenway Halt – on the Dartmouth Steam Railway, a heritage line that allows visitors to travel back in time onboard lovingly maintained steam engines as they puff along the coast
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PHOTO: © NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/ANDREAS VON EINSIEDEL
The rooms are just as Agatha Christie left them; on a quiet day you can almost hear the clack of the typewriter keys
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english riviera
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english riviera
For more on beautiful Devon, see www.britainmagazine.com
from Kingswear to Paignton. The same company operates boat trips and vintage paddle steamers, with the popular Round Robin excursion taking in towns along the coast by steam train, ferry and river cruise. Not all of the English Riviera’s treasures are found on the coast. A few miles inland is Cockington, which could stake a claim for being the prettiest village in Devon. Dating back beyond the Domesday Book, the village is rich with exceedingly old buildings, from a thousandyear-old church to a 14th century blacksmith’s forge, which might have sprung out of the pages of a Brothers
In pretty Cockington, cob-andthatch cottages line narrow streets, giving the impression that the clock stopped here centuries ago Grimm storybook. Cob-and-thatch cottages line narrow streets, giving the impression that the clock stopped here over a couple of centuries ago. Weavers Cottage Tea Shoppe offers the perfect spot to sample the must-eat local delicacy: warm scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam. Remember, though, that this being Devon and not Cornwall it is essential that the cream is spread before the jam… No trip to the English Riviera would be complete without a visit to the Berry Head National Nature Reserve, a promontory at the southern end of the bay offering spectacular views of the sea on three sides. Visitors can wander among the ruins of several 19th century military forts, remnants of the days when the threat of French invasion menaced the British Isles. Today children scamper along their walls and sit astride cannons that point out to sea – and to the ghost of Napoleon himself.
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Above: Paignton Pier first opened to the public in 1879 and is one of the most popular attractions on the English Riviera
THE PLANNER GETTING THERE Trains from London Paddington to Torquay take around three hours. The area is well served by the Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat Company and by an efficient local bus network. www.thetrainline.com; www.dartmouthrailriver.co.uk WHERE TO STAY The Cary Arms Hotel and Spa is the last word in luxury accommodation on the Riviera, situated under Babbacombe Downs and near a shingle bay with its own resident seal. Its charming inn serves exemplary seafood caught a stone’s throw from the hotel, sometimes to the accompaniment of a live pianist. Rooms are decorated in fresh, contemporary style, while the spa offers all the modern treatments you could wish for. In Torquay, the Grand Hotel is a much-loved favourite right next to the town’s railway station. Its seafront bar and lounge offers spectacular views of the bay through floor-to-ceiling windows, while the outdoor pool is a perfect place for a
splash in the summer months. www.caryarms.co.uk; www. richardsonhotels.co.uk WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK As well as the Cary Arms restaurant, the area offers several seriously good restaurants, often – unsurprisingly – with an emphasis on local seafood. In Brixham, Rockfish is a local favourite, offering spectacular harbourside views and the freshest catch. Serious foodies will want to check out The Elephant overlooking Torquay harbour, recipient of the town’s first Michelin star, which excels in imaginative dishes such as monkfish grilled over embers. Those looking for the perfect platter of old-fashioned fish, chips and mushy peas should head to the hugely popular Hanbury’s in Babbacombe. www.therockfish.co.uk; www.elephantrestaurant.co.uk; www.hanburys.net
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stately homes
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stately homes
Treasures Mrs Greville’s
Margaret Greville rose from humble origins to become one of the most celebrated hostesses of the Edwardian era, amassing an extraordinary collection of treasures at her Surrey retreat, Polesden Lacey WORDS SANDRA LAWRENCE
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PHOTO:© NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/CHRIS DAVIES/JAMES DOBSON/DAVID BRUNETTI/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES
“I
would rather be a beeress than a peeress.” Mrs Margaret Greville, society hostess par excellence, not only admitted but celebrated her humble beginnings. She was born in 1863, the illegitimate daughter of a cook at McEwan’s brewery in Edinburgh. The brewery owner, multimillionaire William McEwan, was Margaret’s rumoured true father, and he eventually married his mistress when Margaret was 21, making her the heiress to an astonishing fortune. McEwan, a ‘disruptor’ himself, famously refused a title, saying “I would rather be first in my own order than at the tail end of another”. He’d made his money himself; he needed no airs and graces to spend it. Like father, like daughter. This attitude did not endear Margaret to the aristocracy and the reputation she has attracted down the decades has often not been kind. She has been decried as social-climbing, meddling and, worse, trivial. When writer Harold Nicolson noted “the harm which these silly, selfish hostesses do is really immense” he was writing generally, but he was implying Margaret. The photographer and diarist Sir Cecil Beaton described her as “a galumphing, greedy, snobbish old toad who watered at her chops at the sight of royalty.” Even her marriage to the Hon. Ronald Hulk Greville in 1891 is likened by the National Dictionary of Biography to a “grappling hook onto society”. Sir Oswald Mosley, hardly a paragon of virtue himself, described her as a “blousy old barmaid”. Was she really that bad? The truth is, we can’t know. “One of our real challenges is that Mrs Greville had all
her papers burned on her death,” admits Richard Ashbourne, the National Trust’s Assistant Curator for London and the South East. “This limits our understanding of her in her own words.” Ashbourne has been working with the team at Polesden Lacey, the Edwardian house in Surrey that was Margaret Greville’s weekend retreat for over three decades, on a new way of trying to appreciate and understand her. A new exhibition, Treasured Possessions: Riches of Polesden Lacey, attempts to portray Mrs Greville from her point of view. “We wanted to look at her through her love of collecting,” says Ashbourne, “asking what those objects say and trying to find a new narrative. In the past there have been certain views about Mrs Greville. Some there is evidence for, but some is based on the way she was perceived by her friends – and her enemies. Some of the criticism by her contemporaries was inspired by envy and resentment for her success.” Mrs Greville’s ‘success’ lay in her capacity for lavish entertaining, one of the great upper-class accomplishments of the Edwardian age. She began hosting grand dinners and parties in the 1890s but upped the grandeur after her husband’s premature death in 1906. Instead of marrying again, she devoted herself – and
The society hostess Mrs Margaret Greville not only admitted but celebrated her humble beginnings
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Previous spread, left to right: The iconic portrait of Margaret by Carolus-Duran, in the picture corridor; a view of the east front of the house This page, clockwise from far left: Polesden Lacey was built in 1824; a photograph of Margaret Greville; brooches on display at the exhibition, set with the cipher of Edward VII; a porcelain vase and a crystal dog from the exhibition
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Clockwise from above: A Johann Zoffany portrait of the Viennese dancer Eva Maria Veigel being hung as part of the exhibition; the house is well-known for its extravagant gilding and opulent decor; a decorative box in the shape of a folded letter is on display at the house
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Polesden Lacey – to what became known as ‘Fridays to Mondays’. The staggeringly beautiful mansion, with its distinctive yellow render and elegant setting – the view across the valley was described by one visitor as “a peep of beautiful distance” – was remodelled as the ultimate house party retreat. Charles Mewès and Arthur Joseph Davis, famed architects of the Ritz, were brought in to create opulent rooms that would be, as Margaret put it, “fit to entertain maharajas”. Her home was transformed into what could be mistaken for a top-class hotel. “After a little antechamber to build excitement, you would have passed into the main hall, much like a hotel lounge,” explains Ashbourne. Over drinks, anticipation would build via a gigantic painting of a lifesize Mrs Greville set at the top of the staircase. Then the hostess herself would descend, making a dramatic, theatrical entrance. “You’d see the painting and then you’d see the woman.” ‘Maggie’ Greville knew who to
invite. One of the pieces in the exhibition is a shagreen box presented to her by King Edward VII at her very first house party. She also entertained Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary, who shared her love of expensive objets d’art and would turn up unannounced for tea. The future King George VI and his bride Elizabeth Bowes Lyon spent their honeymoon at Polesden Lacey in 1923: “So shrewd, so kind and so amusingly unkind, so sharp, such fun, so naughty,” the Queen later described her. Where royalty went, so followed the aristocracy, and Mrs Greville became one of Britain’s most famous – and polarizing – society hostesses. Those receiving that coveted envelope could look forward to a weekend of unrivalled opulence. The Daily Telegraph reported in 1930 that the food at Polesden Lacey was “unsurpassed anywhere”, and guests were treated to lavish dinners, strolls round the rose garden, tea in the loggia and evenings full of society chatter and gossip in the Saloon. National Trust volunteers have nicknamed this extraordinary confection the Gold Room. Every surface not deep red or ornate plasterwork is gilded to
She entertained Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary, who shared her love of expensive objets d’art and would turn up unannounced for tea
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PHOTO: © NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/JAMES DOBSON/DAVID BRUNETTI/ANDREAS VON EINSIEDEL
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stately homes Top to bottom: Three items from Margaret Greville's ten-piece Fabergé collection: a pink egg with a diamondstudded clasp, a bookmark with pearls and diamonds and an ornamental frog; Princess Eugenie wearing the Greville emerald Kokoshnik Tiara at her wedding in 2018
within an inch of its life, lit by a 4,000-piece chandelier. Naturally, their hostess would have booked a famous music hall act or two for a private performance. The pièce de resistance of the weekend was, however, something far smaller. Advised by the best art historians and dealers, Mrs Greville was a true art connoisseur but her world-class collection was, perhaps, outshone by a fabulous array of exquisite objets d’art, made by the finest craftsmen of the age. While much was purchased personally, many of the best items were presents, the giving and receiving of which was an important social ritual among the upper classes. “Gift-giving was the thing and Mrs Greville was adept at that social game,” explains Richard Ashbourne. There are gifts from Queen Mary in the exhibition, including a beautiful blue and gold box. Most were displayed for guests to see and comment on, so that Mrs Greville could say, ‘Oh, yes that was a gift from King Edward, isn’t it lovely? So generous…’ Her Fabergé collection is particularly interesting in that respect. “You wouldn’t buy something for yourself at Fabergé,” notes Ashbourne. “You bought gifts. You see that in the ledgers, with spikes in the sales around social occasions such as weddings, birthdays and Christmas. Vita Sackville West once said if you’re given a Fabergé gift, it means that a relationship is in danger of becoming serious”. There are ten Fabergé pieces in the Greville collection, the classic ‘Fabergé egg’ being the most spectacular. Pink with a diamondstudded clasp in the shape of a snowflake, it is breathtaking, but equally telling are a Fabergé gum pot (for
sticking postage stamps), a well-used bookmark set with seed pearls and a rose-cut diamond, and six tiny, intricately carved animals. Someone clearly knew that Mrs Greville had a weakness for pets. She is even buried near to her beloved dogs, which lie in a special dog cemetery in the grounds. Even after her death in 1942 Margaret Greville has been castigated for leaving her jewellery to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, rather than to ‘worthy causes’. Nobody really knows the full extent of the famous Greville bequest (see box, below) but it does include treasures such as Marie Antoinette’s diamond necklace, Catherine the Great’s diamond ring and Empress Josephine’s emeralds. Yet Mrs Greville did leave something very special to ‘the people’. She bequeathed Polseden Lacey to the National Trust, along with its priceless collection of art, the entire collection from her Mayfair home and a generous endowment. She specifically stated that Polesden Lacey should be enjoyed by as many people as possible, displayed as an art gallery, a wish the Trust has fulfi lled ever since. The new exhibition places specific emphasis on Mrs Greville’s ‘treasures’, yet possibly the most extraordinary item on display is not a Fabergé egg, nor the ruby and diamond brooch worn to Edward VII’s coronation. It is in fact Mrs Greville herself, staring triumphantly down from her portrait’s ornate frame, reminding us all of opulent times past and a formidable woman who knew exactly what she liked. Treasured Possessions: Riches of Polesden Lacey runs until 30 October 2022, and from 1 March until 29 October 2023. www.nationaltrust.org.uk
THE MYSTERY OF THE GREVILLE JEWELS
PHOTO: © NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/DAVID BRUNETTI/POOL/MAX MUMBY/GETTY
When Margaret Greville died in 1942, she bequeathed her jewellery “with my loving thoughts” to the Queen Mother. Only the royal family knows the full inventory of the bequest, but it is thought to amount to more than 60 pieces. One of the most precious is the Greville tiara, made by Boucheron in a towering honeycomb formation, now worn by the Duchess of Cornwall. Five years after receiving the Greville bequest, Queen Elizabeth gave her daughter Princess Elizabeth a distinctive V-shaped diamond and ruby necklace, also by Boucheron, as one of her wedding gifts. She wore the necklace regularly in the early years of her reign, and it was recently spotted for the first time in many years, worn by the Duchess
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of Cambridge at a state banquet. Another prized piece is the Greville emerald Kokoshnik Tiara, admired globally when Princess Eugenie chose it for her 2018 wedding to Jack Brooksbank (left) – the first time it had been seen since Margaret Greville was photographed wearing it in 1937. The Greville jewels made an appearance in the Platinum Jubilee portraits, when Her Majesty wore diamond and platinum Greville Ivy Leaf Clips given to her by her mother. Many more pieces in the collection have never been seen, but with a new generation of married princesses and duchesses in the royal ranks (since tradition dictates only married women wear tiaras), who knows what treasures might yet appear for the first time?
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HISTORY
The
WARRIOR KING From Flower of Chivalry to Hammer of the Scots, Edward I had more nicknames than any other monarch, but how did he measure up to them? WORDS NEIL JONES
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history Opening page: A statue of King Edward I in Cumbria Opposite, clockwise from top left: The great gatehouse at Denbigh Castle; the Coronation Chair was made for Edward I; the
wedding of Edward and Eleanor in 1254; Simon de Montfort is killed at the Battle of Evesham; Eleanor's tomb at Westminster Abbey This page: a painting of Edward I at Westminster Abbey
PHOTOS: © STAN PRITCHARD/ALAMY/FLORILEGIUS/GRANGER/HISTORICAL PICTURE ARCHIVE/CHRONICLE/ANGELO HORNAK/ALAMY/CADW/WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT (CROWN COPYRIGHT)/JIM DYSON/DEAN AND CHAPTER OF WESTMINSTER
T
he medieval chronicler Peter Langtoft, a contemporary of King Edward I, forecast that people would talk about the ‘handsome and great’ monarch for as long as the world lasts, ‘For he had no equal as a knight in armour / For vigour and valour, neither present nor future.’ Edward certainly has a long-lived reputation, resonating down the centuries through his many famous nicknames: the English Justinian, the Lawgiver, the Father of the Mother of Parliaments, Flower of Chivalry, Hammer of the Scots and, more informally, Longshanks – at six-feet two-inches tall he towered over his subjects, both physically and metaphorically. In the 750th anniversary year of his accession to the English throne in 1272, it’s the perfect time to ‘speak of King Edward and of his memory’ to consider how his deeds measure up to his dazzling image. Born in 1239, the eldest son of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence, Edward was a hot-headed, arrogant youth, whose violence on one occasion resulted in him paying a fine to a servant he had struck and injured. Yet, it was also claimed the young prince was protected by angels, miraculously escaping harm; for example, when lightning struck his entourage killing two other people. When Henry, accused of misgovernment, fell out with his barons, Edward at first supported his charismatic uncle, Simon de Montfort, who led the baronial clique against the Crown. But by the time civil war erupted in 1264, father and son were reconciled and fought together at the Battle of Lewes, which ended with both of them being captured. The Song of Lewes (c.1264) unflatteringly noted of Edward: ‘A lion by pride and fierceness, he is by inconstancy and changeableness a pard [leopard]’. After Edward escaped and killed de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham (1265), Henry was once again free to reign, but for the next seven years until his death in 1272, he effectively left his son in control of government. Edward was on crusade abroad when he heard of his father’s demise, but with the barons dutifully swearing fealty to him, and with England in the hands of regents like his trusted clerk Robert Burnell, he felt sufficiently secure to return at a leisurely pace, only arriving back for his magnificent coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1274. By now Edward was 35 years old and much matured. His marriage, aged 15, to 13-year-old Eleanor of www.britain-magazine.com
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history
For more than a century, relations between England and Scotland had been remarkably peaceable, but that was about to change
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history
PHOTOS: © MEDIA WORLD IMAGES/GRANGER/HISTORICAL PICTURE ARCHIVE/ALAMY
Left: A statue of Robert the Bruce in Stirling, Scotland, who crowned himself King of Scotland in 1306 Right: A 14th century manuscript of King Edward I presiding over his Parliament, with Alexander III, King of the Scots on his right, and Llywelyn, Prince of Wales on his left
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Castile in 1254, may have been a political match to help protect Gascony, England’s only remaining land in France, but the union had flourished into a deep love that would produce 16 children (five reached adulthood). Also by Edward’s side providing a stabilising influence was Burnell, who became his chancellor. The new king was tested early in his reign by the repeated refusal of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, to pay him due homage and, losing patience, Edward invaded Wales with ruthless effect in 1277. Llywelyn’s later death in a skirmish in 1282 and his brother Dafydd’s brutal execution in 1283 dealt Welsh dreams of an independent country a crushing blow. Edward, meanwhile, romanticised his adventures with Arthurian-style Round Table court celebrations at Nefyn in North Wales. An ace soldier and military leader, Edward was also a shrewd strategist, consolidating his conquests in Wales through a no-expenses-spared programme of castle building: most notably the bristling fortresses of Conwy, Caernarfon, Beaumaris and Harlech in his ‘Iron Ring’ around the mountains of Snowdonia, the fountainhead of Welsh resistance. Today boasting World Heritage Site status, the mighty quartet embody the genius of the top military architect, Master James of St George, whose cutting-edge ‘walls-within-walls’ designs culminated in the imposing sophistication of Beaumaris. Edward established new towns and trading centres populated with English settlers in his conquered land, most linked to his castles and surrounded by walls. Officials were appointed to administer the principality, the English shire system was introduced, and according BRITAIN
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to legend, Edward even schmoozed recalcitrant native nobles by promising them a Prince of Wales born on Welsh soil and speaking no word of English – then promptly presented them with his babbling baby son, born at Caernarfon Castle. In fact, Edward junior was 16 when he was formally made Prince of Wales, a title reserved ever since for the heir apparent of the British throne. Aside from exploits in Wales, the first half of Edward’s reign was remarkable for its huge wave of legislation, with important statutes passed nearly every year from 1275 to 1290: tackling corruption, reforming legal and administrative matters, and laying the basis of modern land law that helped to hasten the end of feudalism. Edward also understood the benefits of gaining popular support for his decisions and, continuing de Montfort’s earlier experiment when the latter ruled the country for a year after the Battle of Lewes, the king involved more people in parliament. Thus, in 1295 he summoned representatives of the church, barons, and shires and boroughs to what became known as the Model Parliament, setting the tone for future parliaments. “What touches all, should be approved of all,” he declared, though he was motivated by the pressing need to raise money and support for his costly military undertakings rather than notions of democracy. The 1290s were a particularly troublesome time for Edward. Having systematically stripped England’s Jews – for long the chief moneylenders to barons and royalty – of their wealth, he expelled them in 1290 amid rising tides of nationalism: an episode that left an indelible stain on his character. That same year his beloved wife Eleanor died, followed two years later by his stalwart supporter Burnell, and he never again found such good advisers. Deeply grieving Eleanor, “who in life we loved dearly and, dead,
Deeply grieving, the king had 12 ornamental crosses built to mark the route of Eleanor’s funeral procession from Nottinghamshire to London
DID YOU KNOW? Edward originally chose to be called Edward IV, after Edward the Elder, Edward the Martyr and Edward the Confessor, who had all reigned before 1066 when the numbering of Kings was introduced ● Edward’s second marriage, in 1299, to Margaret, the 20-year-old sister of the King of France, produced three children – giving him a total of 19 legitimate children, the record for any British monarch ● The Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey, made by order of Edward I to hold the Stone of Scone, has been the centrepiece of coronations for 700 years. The Stone was officially returned to Scotland in 1996, and will return to its 'spiritual home', Perth, in 2024, as the focus of a brand-new museum ● Edward’s last wish before his death was that his body should not be buried until Scotland had been conquered. This request was not carried out, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey ●
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PHOTOS: © M&N/DEREK CROUCHER/ALAMY
Above: An Eleanor cross in Cheapside, London, erected by Edward I in memory of his wife, is pulled down in 1643 after its Catholic imagery caused resentment Opposite: Conwy Castle was built by Edward I between 1283 and 1287
we do not cease to love,” the king had 12 ornamental crosses built to mark the route of her funeral procession from Nottinghamshire to London. For more than a century, relations between England and Scotland had been remarkably peaceable but that, too, was about to change. Edward had hoped the infant queen of Scotland, Margaret, ‘Maid of Norway’, would marry his heir Edward, leading in time to the union of the two countries. But Margaret died in 1290, prompting Scottish magnates to call upon Edward to adjudicate between candidates vying for the succession. He nominated John Balliol, soon to be viewed by the Scots as a spineless pawn of the English king. A series of Scottish rebellions and ferocious counter strikes by Edward followed, during which the latter seized the Stone of Scone, the ancient symbol of Scotland’s monarchy used for centuries in the inauguration of Scottish kings. Stresses mounted as Edward now found himself having to campaign in France to regain Gascony, as well as in Scotland, where control proved elusive. No sooner had he overcome and executed the Scottish ‘Braveheart’ William Wallace, than Robert the Bruce had himself crowned King of Scotland in 1306 and the fight continued. Hastening north again to do battle in 1307, Edward was struck down by dysentery and died aged 68. The Hammer had failed in his ambition to subjugate Scotland, and his actions bedevilled relations between England and Scotland for many years to come. But, if he is judged by the standards of the time, he was an outstanding king: a powerful warrior and statesman who kept hold of Gascony and firmly stamped his authority on Wales. Looking back today we also see a consummate administrator and legislator who, even if self-interestedly, took significant steps towards the development of a democratic parliament. Historians will ‘speak of King Edward and of his memory’ for many more years yet.
history
For more on England's kings and queens, see www.britainmagazine.com
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The real
James Herriot The author and vet behind the All Creatures Great and Small books tended to animals in the Yorkshire Dales by day and wrote books based on his experiences by night. But how much truth was there in his much-loved tales? WORDS FELICITY DAY
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HERITAGE
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his real life, disguised (and sometimes embellished) for their appearance in print. Just as Alf himself became Herriot, the town of Thirsk was turned into Darrowby village and shifted into the heart of the Dales; its glorious rolling hills and endless dry stone walls providing an idyllic backdrop to the action. Dates, too, were manipulated so that Wight’s fictional counterpart – trained in Glasgow like himself – arrived at his mildly eccentric but undeniably charming boss Siegfried Farnon’s surgery at Skeldale House in 1937, two years before the outbreak of the World War Two. In reality, Wight escaped the Nazi bombs then raining down on the Sunderland docks, and arrived at 23 Kirkgate just as the real-life Donald Sinclair was taking off to start his RAF training, leaving his new employee – inexperienced in the ‘dirty, uncomfortable and dangerous’ work with sheep and cattle – to take the bull by the horns, quite literally. Impatient and unpredictable, yet utterly charismatic, the widowed Donald was by all accounts the one character far more unconventional in fact than he ever was in fiction. From putting the phone down on the
The gently humorous recollections of his rural practice proved to be catnip to contemporary readers (including, reportedly, the Queen)
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Previous page: The Yorkshire Moors National Park, where Alf Wight lived and worked This page, above: A photograph of Jim and Alf Wight treating a dog; Alf Wight on his farm with a newborn lamb and its mother Opposite page, top to bottom: a still from the TV adaption of All Creatures Great and Small; the town of Grassington in Wharfedale stood in for Darrowby in the TV series
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PHOTOS: © GUY EDWARDES/AWL IMAGES/JOHN SHERBOURNE/ANL/SHUTTERSTOCK/HELEN WILLIAMS/ CHARLES FEARN/PLAYGROUND ENTERTAINMENT
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t all began in the early summer of 1940 with an advertisement: a vet wanted for a practice in Thirsk. ‘Mainly agricultural work in a Yorkshire market town’ the notice said. With vacancies few and far between, it grabbed the attention of one reader, by no means averse to working with creatures rather greater in size than the cats and dogs currently occupying his time in the northern city of Sunderland. After only the very briefest of interviews with his new employer, James ‘Alf’ Wight accepted the post, little knowing that it was a decision that would one day make him the most famous vet in the world. For it was the stories Wight saved up over the next 30 years, as he served the farming community around that bustling town on the edge of the North York Moors, that he channelled into a bestselling series of memoirs, published in the 1970s under the name of his veterinary alter-ego, James Herriot. The gently humorous, semi-fictionalised recollections of his rural practice proved to be catnip to contemporary readers (including, reportedly, the Queen) and turned Herriot into a household name – one discovered by a whole new generation more recently, too, thanks to the smash-hit TV adaptation, All Creatures Great and Small, expected to return for its third series this autumn. But while Herriot’s may be the famous name, forever associated with a green and sheep-strewn corner of Yorkshire, Wight’s books were actually autobiographical in more than just a professional sense. Many of the intensely likeable characters and amusing anecdotes, which mean they translate so purr-fectly into the TV version of a restorative tonic, were people and events from
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House were actually relatively short, because within just a year of arriving in Yorkshire, Wight had not only met but also married his wife, Joan. A secretary for a local corn merchant rather than a farmer’s daughter like her fictional counterpart Helen, she did, however, have a serious suitor against whom the softly-spoken vet competed – though not one she ever scandalously jilted at the altar. After their wedding, Wight made his own attempt to complete the RAF’s flight training, frustrated in his case by a pre-existing medical condition, which meant that he, too, never saw active service. Instead, he and Joan settled into the local community; 23 Kirkgate becoming both veterinary surgery and Wight family home for several years after the end of the war, in the wake of Donald’s remarriage to an unflappable local woman named Audrey. It was in that picturesque part of Yorkshire that they met the many personalities – of both human and animal variety – who would later be shepherded into the Herriot stories.
Like her fictional counterpart, Joan had a suitor against whom the vet competed – though not one she ever jilted at the altar
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PHOTO: © MATT SQUIRE/PLAYGROUND TELEVISION UK LTD/ROBERT BIRKBY/AWL IMAGES LTD
practice’s clients when he got fed up of listening, to steering his car using only his elbows and shirking night-time call outs, some of his behaviour was outlandishly erratic. On one occasion in later years, according to Wight’s son Jim, he fetched his shotgun and fired into the wall inches above the head of a dinner guest whom he considered to have outstayed his welcome. Nevertheless, after he was kicked out of the RAF a matter of months into his training for lying about his age, he and Wight became lifelong friends and partners in the Thirsk practice. Into the writer’s life he brought his younger brother Brian, who eventually became the model for endearing rogue, Tristan Farnon. In truth, as on TV, the younger Sinclair was an easy-going mischief-maker who remained largely immune to his sibling’s tirades – especially those about his repeated failure of his veterinary exams, which took him more than ten years to pass in all. Their days as a bachelor trio at the real-life Skeldale
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Some clients received only the barest of disguises: the unforgettable Mrs Pumphrey, whose dog Tricki Woo is a TV scene-stealer, was unquestionably Sowerby resident Marjorie Warner, who really did expect thank-you notes for the Fortnum & Mason hampers she dispatched to the Wight family to be written to her Pekingese dog – who ought, she made absolutely clear, to be addressed as Bambi Warner, Esq. She bore no grudge when she discovered her starring role, recognising herself immediately – though not everybody given a fictional counterpart did so, even after Wight’s cover was well and truly blown.
The locals took his worldwide fame in their stride, keeping his welly boots firmly on the ground – just the way Alf himself wanted it. In fact, he continued practising as one of their local vets well into his 70s, despite his phenomenal literary success. He was, he always maintained, ‘99-per-cent vet and one-per-cent author’ – though at times, the cats, dogs and hamsters to be found in the surgery’s waiting room were far outnumbered by hordes of overseas tourists, clutching their cameras and clamouring for an autograph; fame being the one beast that not even the real James Herriot had the power to tame.
Above, left to right: The principal cast of the TV series, which will return for a third series this autumn; the church at Burnsall in North Yorkshire was used to film the famous scene where Helen almost got married in the TV series
ON THE HERRIOT TRAIL Alf Wight’s former surgery at 23 Kirkgate in Thirsk is now a museum, fully restored to the way it looked in the 1940s when the house doubled as his family home. For opening times and visitor information, see www.worldofjamesherriot.com. The current TV adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small, shown on Channel 5 in the UK and PBS Masterpiece in the US, was filmed around the Yorkshire Dales. The historic town of Grassington in Wharfedale
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(around 30 miles from the real Herriot country around Thirsk) stood in for Darrowby, and provided period-perfect exteriors for Skeldale House and the Drover’s Arms pub. Many of the scenic shots came courtesy of the Wharfe Valley area, particularly around Malham and Kettlewell. Tour companies offering dedicated All Creatures Great and Small tours include Real Yorkshire Tours (www.realyorkshiretours.co.uk) and Tours International (www.tours-international.com).
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Tapestry Life’s rich
William Morris’s idyllic Cotswold retreat has reopened after a threeyear renovation. We step inside to uncover the stories and scandals of Kelmscott Manor WORDS HENRIETTA EASTON
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Previous page: William Morris's bedroom at Kelmscott Manor, with his beautiful Lily wallpaper Top left: A woodcut of William Morris by R Bryden Bottom left: A photograph of Jane Morris in 1865 by John Robert Parsons Opposite: An exterior of Kelmscott Manor, Morris's 'heaven on earth' home
PHOTOS: © INCAMERASTOCK/ALAMY/SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON (KELMSCOTT MANOR)
sunny day in June was the ideal time to visit the newly reopened Kelmscott Manor, dripping in lush greenery, its door framed by perfectly placed roses, with that evocative smell of English summer in the air. Once the country retreat of William Morris, the textile designer, poet, novelist and father of the Arts and Crafts movement, Kelmscott reopened to the public this spring, after three years and a £6m renovation. Set in the beautifully unspoilt Cotswold village of Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, the manor had been closed to allow for structural repairs to be made to the house, and for the redisplaying of original furniture and artwork to provide a more accurate impression of what the house would have looked like in Morris’s day. Approaching the house, walking past quaint cottages, farm buildings and green fields, you get a sense of the beauty and seclusion that so inspired Morris, and you’re left in no doubt as to why he referred to the Manor as ‘heaven on earth’. When Morris first came across this exquisite example of 17th century Cotswold architecture, he felt so inspired by the craftsmanship of the house, the history of the landscape, and the flora and fauna of the gardens that he took on the tenancy. Morris rented Kelmscott Manor for 25 years until his death in 1896, initially as a joint three-year lease with his friend, the Pre-Raphaelite artist, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. During this time Morris established himself as one of the country’s foremost designers, becoming the owner of his own furnishing and decorative arts firm Morris & Co in 1875, and beginning his renowned experiments with textile dyeing and weaving. Thanks to Morris’s legacy, Kelmscott is now widely recognised as one of the most significant collections of late Victorian decorative art in the country. Visitors can see an incredible collection of Morris’s possessions and works, including furniture, original textiles, pictures, carpets, ceramics and metalwork. The manor gardens are a perfect haven, with the expertly designed and beautifully manicured walled garden standing adjacent to wild meadows. The gardens also house a group of historic barns, a dovecote and a stable, once home to ‘Mouse’, the Icelandic pony that Morris brought back from the country for his daughters. Wandering through the estate gardens, Morris’s inspiration is clear: so many of his beloved designs and motifs grew from plants and trees growing in the verdant space, such as Willow Bough (1887) and the iconic Strawberry Thief (1883). Each of these designs are repeated again in textiles inside the manor, from chairs and wallpaper to plates and curtains. After Morris died in 1896, his widow Jane and his
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PHOTOS: © SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON (KELMSCOTT MANOR)/CHRIS CHALLIS PHOTOGRAPHER/ABCBRITAIN/ALAMY
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Clockwise from left: The Tapestry Room with Spring by Breughel above the fireplace, which belonged to Rossetti; Kelmscott on the frontispiece of Morris's News From Nowhere; Morris's quill pen is on display at the manor; Kelmscott Manor dates back to the 17th century
daughters continued the tenancy. May Morris died in 1938, and bequeathed the house to Oxford University on the condition that the contents were preserved, and the public were granted access. The university passed the house to the Society of Antiquaries, London in 1962. Under May’s strict orders, the house is preserved as it would have been in Morris’s day, and visitors can walk through the rooms he worked in and experience the inspiration he felt when he lived there. From the idyllic views of cows grazing in the nearby meadows to the gardens in full bloom and the sense of history that pervades the house, it’s hard not to feel similarly inspired. With so many wonderfully decorated rooms, it’s not easy to pick a favourite. Kelmscott’s Curator, Dr Kathy Haslam, likes Morris’s bedroom best: “The room features new hand-blocked wallpaper in the colourway he would have known, and the reinstatement of some of the items precious to him… It has become a space where objects meaningful to Morris have come together again, and express his energy and enthusiasm as antiquary, scholar and collector.” After the renovation, the house evokes the life and character of its one-time owner more than ever. “Visitors can now enjoy the manor through the prism of Morris,”
says Dr Haslam. “It still feels remote, still retains its rural landscape context and the sense of fragile ancientness Morris was so deeply attuned to.’’ Walking through the house, visitors will also notice the paintings, photographs, and a handful of possessions, of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Morris’s friend and co-tenant. Adorning the walls and complementing Morris’s beautiful motifs, many of these paintings and photographs are of Morris’s daughters, and even more are of his wife, Jane. Though there’s evident harmony between the artwork, the house and Morris’s interiors, digging a little deeper reveals a sadder story. There was another reason Morris was so eager to rent the secluded manor, away from the hustle and bustle of the city – and prying eyes. Around 1865, six years before Morris discovered Kelmscott, his wife Jane began an affair with Rossetti, for whom she modelled. Their affair became the subject of much public attention, with the satirical magazine Punch even publishing an unfortunate cartoon of an adoring Rossetti feeding Jane strawberries. Rossetti’s paintings of Jane reveal an obvious obsession with her, and although the relationship was extremely painful for Morris, it was his belief that as an autonomous individual, Jane should have the freedom
Morris was eager to rent the secluded manor away from the city – and prying eyes
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nursed William through his final illness and was left white-haired from the trauma of it. Although Jane later admitted that she had never truly loved William, it seems that their life, works and children together were enough to keep her in the marriage. Jane continued the tenancy after William’s death, eventually buying the house in 1913, before dying a year later. Whether it was the beauty of the house, the memories of her relationship with Rossetti, immortalised in the art on the walls, or a dedication to her husband and his work, something kept her there. When asked about William Morris’s most important legacy, Dr Kathy Haslam believes it is ‘‘encapsulated in his epithet ‘To grumble and not to act – that is throwing away one’s life.’ He was a doer, channelling his enormous energies in so many ways – through study, creativity and activism – and refusing to be daunted by the challenges of life.’’ Kelmscott Manor is an everlasting example of this attitude. Faced with a failing marriage and a broken heart, yet refusing to complain, Morris created his own ‘heaven on earth’, whose beauty endures to this day. Kelmscott Manor is open from April to October, Thursday to Saturday. www.sal.org.uk/kelmscott-manor
Above: The panelled White Room with Blue Silk Dress by Rossetti, perhaps his most iconic portrait of Jane Morris
For Morris, an adventure in Iceland was an escape from his crumbling marriage and broken heart
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PHOTO: © SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES LONDON (KELMSCOTT MANOR)/CHRIS CHALLIS PHOTO-GRAPHER
to explore her emotional life. Morris was still in love with his wife, and with her (and, by default, his) reputation on the line in London, looking for somewhere where she could be with Rossetti in private was critical; and so appears Kelmscott Manor. It is believed that Morris’s pain and emotional isolation during their affair contributed to his decision to travel to Iceland in 1871, almost immediately after he had signed Kelmscott’s lease. For him, an adventure in Iceland was an escape from his crumbling marriage and broken heart. Jane ended her affair with Rossetti in 1876, due to a dramatic decline in his mental health: he was experiencing schizophrenic-like episodes and was addicted to chloral and whiskey. After his death, Jane admitted that she had loved him, but had fallen out of love with him when he began destroying himself. They did, however, remain friends until Rossetti’s death in 1882, with Jane continuing to model for him on occasion. After his death, Jane embarked on another affair, this time with poet and political activist Wilfred Scawen Blunt, which continued until 1894. Despite the enormous public rift in their marriage, Jane and William were married for the rest of their lives. She
KELMSCOTT MANOR
The inspirational home of William Morris
VISIT THE COTSWOLDS RETREAT OF VICTORIAN DESIGNER WILLIAM MORRIS VISITING HOURS (APRIL - OCTOBER) Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays 10.30am to 5pm After two years conservation and improvement works, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and others, the Manor is open to visitors once again. Explore William Morris’s “Heaven on Earth” and view the iconic collection of artwork and objects owned and designed by the Father of the Arts & Crafts Movement. Discover why the Cotswold home became an inspiration for him and his family and explore the gardens, enjoy homemade food from our licensed tearoom and visit our gift shop. One of the 100 Irreplaceable sites A History of England in 100 Places (Historic England)
For more information and to buy tickets online visit
WWW.KELMSCOTTMANOR.ORG.UK Kelmscott Manor is owned by the Society of Antiquaries of London (registered charity 207237). Address: Kelmscott Manor, Kelmscott, Lechlade GL7 3HJ | Tel: 01367 252486 | Email: admin@kelmscottmanor.org.uk Follow us on Facebook: @KelmscottManorCotswolds, Instagram or Twitter: @kelmscottmanor
Paws for thought An orphan arrives from Darkest Peru with just the bear necessities, wins over hearts and minds, and then crowns 64 years of success by taking tea with the Queen. So what is the secret of Paddington’s perennial appeal?
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n Christmas Eve 1956, with snow falling, a young BBC cameraman named Michael Bond entered the marble halls of a splendid Edwardian Beaux-Arts department store on London’s Oxford Street and headed for the toy department. This was Selfridges, always spellbinding at Christmas, but what happened that day had a very special magic. Alone on a shelf sat a teddy bear, looking “rather forlorn”, Bond would later recall. Feeling sorry for it, he bought it as a gift for his wife, Brenda. “Had there been two bears I might have given them a passing glance, but I could hardly ignore one bear all by itself, with Christmas coming on.” If Michael and Brenda sat down the following day to listen to the young Queen Elizabeth II’s Christmas message, broadcast from the study at Sandringham, they would have heard her plea on behalf of people driven from their homes by war or violence. “We call them ‘refugees’; let us give them a true refuge; let us see that for them and their children there is room at the inn.” As a teenager growing up in Reading, Michael had stood on the station as trains clattered through, bound for the West Country, bearing child evacuees from the Blitz. He had watched harrowing newsreels of Jewish child refugees, rescued by the Kindertransport, each clutching “a little case or package containing all their treasured possessions”, and each with a label round their neck. “There’s no sadder sight than refugees,” he once said. His day job with the BBC kept aspiring writer Michael busy, but he had had a little publishing success with his short stories and was sitting at his typewriter on ten days’ leave, a blank sheet of paper before him, as he cast around for inspiration. In an instant he caught
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the glassy eye of the teddy bear, who was giving him a “hard stare” from the mantelpiece, and thought “What if…?” What if a real, live bear found himself on Paddington station? He would be a refugee from a far country, wearing a government surplus duffel coat and a bush hat. “Mr and Mrs Brown first met Paddington on a railway platform,” he jotted down – and, within those ten days, he had finished his first Paddington book, featuring one of the most beloved, enduring and empathetic characters in children’s literature. A Bear Called Paddington tells how the Browns came upon an orphaned bear from “Darkest Peru”, sitting on a suitcase, wearing a battered hat, a gift from his Uncle Pastuzo, with a label round his neck penned by his Aunt Lucy at her retirement home in Lima, ‘Please look after this bear. Thank you.’ “I came in a lifeboat and ate marmalade sandwiches. Bears like marmalade,” the bear confides to the Browns, who take him home to live with them at 32 Windsor Gardens, and, in a very British way, decide to call him Paddington because they simply cannot get their tongues around his Peruvian name. Always polite, courtly of speech, if hapless, Paddington creates chaos around him, but, as children’s writer Michael Morpurgo wrote, “he’s not just a charming bear… he reflects the best of us… through his innocence and kindness he relates to everyone – adults as well as children”. He is also touchingly optimistic, “a hopeful bear at heart”. Among a cast of other engaging characters, Samuel Gruber, an elderly Hungarian with an antique shop on Portobello Road, is Paddington’s friend and ally. He was apparently based on www.britain-magazine.com
PHOTOS: © BUCKINGHAM PALACE/STUDIO CANAL/BBC STUDIOS/HEYDAY FILMS/PA MEDIA/GEOFF PUGH/SHUTTERSTOCK/PA ARCHIVE/PA IMAGES
WORDS ROSE SHEPHERD
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Clockwise from far left: The first Paddington film was released in 2014, and was nominated for two BAFTAs; the Queen's afternoon tea with Paddington Bear was kept as a surprise for everyone, including her family; the first book, A Bear Called Paddington, was released in 1958; Michael Bond created his beloved character from a lonely-looking teddy bear he'd bought in Selfridges
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In 2000 a lifesize bronze statue was unveiled on Paddington Station, which, on the death of Michael Bond in 2017, aged 91, became a shrine to the author, where Londoners left jars of marmalade and other touching tributes. Paddington is the face of Robertson’s Marmalade; he has appeared on a 50p coin and a postage stamp. More than 20 Paddington books have been published, in 30 different languages, including the Latin Ursus Nomine Paddington. The movie Paddington, released in 2014, was followed by Paddington 2, in 2017, when the original starry cast, which included Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters, Sally Hawkins, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi and Imelda Staunton, were joined by Hugh Grant. Paddington 3 is expected to be released next year. On his passing, Michael Bond left us one last precious gift, Paddington’s Finest Hour, completed just before he died and published posthumously in 2018 on the 60th anniversary of A Bear Called Paddington. But a finer hour was yet to be. In June 2022, Paddington was honoured to join the Queen for afternoon tea at Buckingham Palace to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee. As delirious crowds on the Mall whooped and waved their flags, Paddington stood on his chair to deliver a message for all of us. “Happy Jubilee, Ma’am, and thank you… for everything.” “That’s very kind,” said Her Majesty, and here is the essence of the Paddington story, its perennial appeal, why it warms the hearts of young and old. Born of an impulse purchase, because a soft-hearted man felt sorry for a stuffed toy, it’s about kindness.
Michael had intended Paddington to have travelled from Africa, but as there are no bears there, he became a Peruvian spectacled bear
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PHOTOS: © CHRIS DORNEY/BBA TRAVEL/DYLAN GARCIA/UKARTPICS/CHRIS HARRIS/ALAMY
Michael Bond’s literary agent, Harvey Unna, a German Jew who fled the Nazis, arriving in England with just a suitcase and £25. Michael had originally intended Paddington to have travelled from Africa, until Harvey pointed out that there are no bears – or barely a bear – there, so instead he became a Peruvian spectacled bear. Paddington made his publishing debut in October 1958, earning Bond a princely £75 advance, and, in those less rapacious times, it would be 14 years before anyone thought to capitalise on his image. For Christmas 1972, Shirley and Eddie Clarkson designed a prototype soft toy and gave one each to their daughter, Joanna, and son Jeremy (the writer and broadcaster best known for presenting the BBC’s Top Gear). The Wellington boots were the Clarksons’ innovation, allowing the bear to stand. Michael Bond granted them global licensing rights to manufacture Paddington toys, a holy grail. Already published in Swedish, Danish, Dutch and Japanese, Paddington was set to take the world by storm. Today Paddington paraphernalia includes purses, pencil cases and pyjamas, coasters and colouring books, backpacks, T-shirts, jigsaws, skittles… There have been Paddington musicals, stage shows, ice shows, puppet shows and TV adaptations. In 1985, Paddington was the subject of a Sunday Times Magazine “Life in the Day” column. A year later he joined Richard Branson in his attempt to beat the Atlantic Blue Riband speed record and attended the Conservative party conference with Margaret Thatcher. His official autobiography, The Life and Times of Paddington Bear, by Russell Ash and Michael Bond, was published in 1988.
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Clockwise from far left: A sculpture of the bear at Paddington Station; Chalcot Crescent in Primrose Hill was used as the street where the Brown family live in the films; a rare first edition of the novel shows Bond's annotations; Alice's Antiques Shop in Portobello plays a starring role in the second film; fans paid tribute to Bond on his death in 2017
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S
t Ives is as pretty as a picture. Its tangle of ancient alleys opens out to reveal a harbour whose clear, lagoon-like waters mix shades of blue that you’ll find in no artist’s palette – though countless artists have tried to recreate it over the years. Many painters set up their easels on ‘The Island’ – actually a headland, dividing the Porthmeor area to the north-west from Porthminster to the east and south – which has spectacular views of the town and harbour. The little Chapel of St Nicholas here was once used as a place of worship for sailors, and later by customs officers to look out for smugglers along the coast. Far below, the harbour bobs with colourful fishing boats. Even though this scenic fishing village has drawn artists since the start of the 19th century, it wasn’t until the mid-20th century that St Ives became the centre of an art movement: the St Ives School. The artists that really put St Ives on the map were Ben Nicholson and his then wife, the sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth, who www.britain-magazine.com
ST IVES
Artists have long been drawn to this breathtaking harbour town in West Cornwall WORDS NATASHA FOGES
settled with their children in the area at the outbreak of war in 1939. Hepworth’s distinctive sculptures in bronze, stone and wood are still on display in the jungly, flower-filled garden where the sculptor herself placed them, now the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden. Her studio, where she worked until her death in 1975, has been atmospherically preserved, with her overalls, tools and Above: The view over St Ives’ picturesque harbour towards ‘The Island’ Next page, from left: St Michael’s Mount; Tate St Ives; the town’s pretty cobbled streets have attracted artists since the 19th century
plaster casts just as she left them. You could spend a leisurely afternoon weaving through St Ives’ network of ancient lanes, known as the ‘Down-a-long’. The curious street names here (Mount Zion, Chy-An-Chy, Wheal Dream) might have you wondering as to their origins, while rows of quaint cottages and courtyards vibrant with flowers conjure an almost Mediterranean feel. Among the shops and bakeries wafting the irresistible scent of Cornish pasties are numerous artists’ studios and galleries. The two-week St Ives September Festival – a celebration of the Arts and music – sees open studios, painting workshops and more. The art trail continues at Tate St Ives. This world-renowned gallery, set in a former gasworks overlooking the Atlantic, makes the most of the special quality of light for which the town is famous. Vast windows and curved walls frame the glorious sea views, vying for your attention with the impressive collection of modern European art, with works by Matisse, Rothko and Picasso. BRITAIN
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A 20-minute drive south is magical St Michael’s Mount, a castle-crowned island that’s connected to the town of Marazion at low tide by a cobbled causeway in the summer months (in winter access is by boat only). Originally a Benedictine monastery, it has also been a castle and a prison at different points in its history. St Michael’s has been the home of the St Aubyn family since the mid-17th century, though the abbey is run by the National Trust. Ghostly tales and legends swirl around this ancient site, from the giant Cormoran who is said to have built the mount (and was finally slain by a local boy) to the spectral Lady in Grey, who is believed to have been the nanny of the St Aubyn family in the 1750s. The Mount was famously painted by Turner, during a tour of Cornwall that is thought to have influenced the artist’s later experiments with colour and light. “I have never seen so many natural beauties in such a limited spot as I have seen here,” he wrote. In broad brushstrokes, it’s what still draws so many artists to this bewitching part of Cornwall to this day. For more on what to see and do in Cornwall, see www.britain-magazine.com
TRAVEL ESSENTIALS GETTING THERE Trains from London Paddington to St Ives take around 6 hours; or there’s an overnight sleeper service. Newquay Airport, with flights from Gatwick, Manchester and Edinburgh, is a 50-min drive from St Ives. www.gwr.com; cornwallairportnewquay.com WHERE TO STAY The Pedn Olva, perched on granite rocks above the sparkling waters of St Ives Bay, is a lovely place to stay. The simple but stylishly decorated rooms enjoy wonderful sea views, and there’s a convivial bar and restaurant to enjoy, as well as an outdoor heated pool. pednolva.co.uk WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK Tables at the Porthminster Beach Café are highly sought after for the sea views and delicious freshly grilled lobster. Tucked away in the old fishing quarter, The Mermaid also has a tempting array of seafood, served up amid an atmospheric jumble of nautical decor. www.porthminstercafe.co.uk; www.mermaidstives.co.uk FURTHER INFORMATION www.stives-cornwall.co.uk
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PHOTOS: © MKGOLDER/GEORGE STANDEN/ISTOCK/LUKE HAYES/TSI
Conclude your art tour with a visit to the century-old Leach Pottery on the edge of town, often considered the home of British studio pottery. Established by the potter Bernard Leach, it’s now dedicated to his work, as well as being a working studio that trains the next generation of St Ives studio potters. You can even book a taster session on the potter’s wheel. If St Ives has inspired you to pick up a paintbrush, there are more luminous skies and shifting seascapes to be found in the surrounding area, as well as some intriguing myths and legends. A 10-minute drive away is the mining village of Zennor, in a landscape that’s scattered with mysterious prehistoric sites. The village is famous for the medieval carving of a mermaid holding a comb and looking glass inside the 12th-century church of St Senara. As legend has it, a local man named Matthew Trewella had a beautiful singing voice and always sang the closing hymn in church services. His voice carried to a nearby cove, where a mermaid was entranced by it and lured Matthew to the sea, never to be seen again. The mermaid motif also appears on the bronze dial on the church’s clock tower, with an inscription dated 1737.
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the lake district
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the lake district
Romancing the Lakes Follow a literary trail around Windermere and Grasmere, jewels in the crown of the magnificent Lake District WORDS NATASHA FOGES
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the lake district
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lake to admire the scenery. This excursion is now provided by Windermere Lake Cruises, whose steamer-style vessels and modern launches glide up and down the lake. From the deck you can spot the mock-Gothic Wray Castle on the western shore, where Beatrix Potter and her family spent their first summer in the Lake District in 1882. A new exhibition at the castle displays the photographs of Rupert Potter, Beatrix’s father, which reveal a passion for the local nature that he passed onto his daughter. Beatrix spent her days sketching the mountains, woodlands and flowers: the first glimmer of a love for the landscape that would last for the rest of her life. Many happy summers followed, and Beatrix’s holiday sketches evolved into picture stories for her family and friends. The tales featured a mischievous rabbit named Peter, a hedgehog named Mrs Tiggy-Winkle and many other lovable creatures. The Tale of Peter Rabbit was published in 1901, and with the proceeds Beatrix bought herself a holiday home above Windermere. Hill Top, a small working farm with a rambling cottage garden in the village of Near Sawrey, provided inspiration for many of her famous stories. Step into the simple farmhouse and it is as if its one-time owner has just left the room: a fire crackles in the grate and Beatrix’s clogs sit neatly under a chair. All of the furniture is hers, from the willow-pattern plates displayed on the scrubbed oak dresser to the grandfather clock ticking
Previous page: Grasmere is one of the smallest lakes, and is set in a beautiful landscape Opposite: Wray Castle, which sits on the western shore of Lake Windermere, is where Beatrix Potter and her family holidayed in 1882
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ILLUSTRATION: LAURA HALLET. PHOTOS: © NADIA ISAKOVA/AWL IMAGES/NATIONAL TRUST
T
here’s something about the Lake District – something that sparks the imagination and soothes the soul. A picture-perfect expanse of rugged peaks, placid waters and rolling farmland, neatly divided by dry-stone walls and dotted with stone-built villages, northwest England's Lake District has the double accolade of being both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a National Park. Walkers wax lyrical about its famous fells (as the hills and mountains are called here), but it’s just as rewarding to explore it in a more leisurely way – perhaps following the trail of two literary lights who found inspiration here a century apart. One of the area’s most famous devotees was Beatrix Potter, the much-loved children’s author who escaped the constraints of Kensington and found peace in a cottage above Windermere. A century earlier, the Romantic poet William Wordsworth spent his most prolific years in Grasmere. The lakes of Windermere and Grasmere are just three miles from each other, connected by regular buses, so it’s easy to plot a route through the romantic landscapes that inspired these great writers, and visit their wonderfully evocative homes. Our tour begins around Windermere, the biggest of the area’s 16 lakes, at over ten miles long. It has long been the most popular of the Lakes, ever since the arrival of the Kendal and Windermere rail line in 1847. Wealthy families built holiday homes overlooking the water and took steamers across the
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Top: Hill Top, where Beatrix Potter wrote and illustrated many of her famous tales, was left to the National Trust Above left and right: Visitors to the farmhouse can see how the author lived and worked Opposite: Take a lake ferry across Windermere from the Waterhead Pier in Ambleside
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cosily in the corner. The parlour is a surprising contrast, with its elegant furniture and marble mantlepiece: a reminder that, while Beatrix immersed herself in country life, her background was in the wealthy middle classes. The informal cottage garden is a delight, immediately recognisable from Beatrix’s famous illustrations. You can imagine Peter Rabbit hopping up the flagstone path in search of cabbages, and Jemima Puddle-Duck laying her eggs in the rhubarb patch. In 1913 Beatrix married local solicitor William Heelis and moved to nearby Castle Cottage, but she kept Hill Top as a place to work, entertain and display her collections. Beatrix left Hill Top to the National Trust on her death, stipulating that it was to be preserved as she left it – a large part of its charm. At the Beatrix Potter Gallery in the pretty village of Hawskhead, you can get up close to illustrations of her
THE MYTHICAL TIZZIE-WHIZIE When tourists first began to arrive in the Lake District at the end of the 19th century, the boatmen of Bowness-in-Windermere, the main town on the lake, spotted an opportunity. They informed tourists that a creature called the ‘Tizzie-Whizie’ could be seen around the lake, encouraging them to pay for boat rides to spot it. The creature was shy and water-loving, they said, with the body of a hedgehog, the antennae of a bee and a fluffy tail like a squirrel. To silence any doubters, they produced a ‘genuine photograph’ of the mysterious creature, which had supposedly been lured to the photographer’s studio with ginger biscuits. Thousands of postcards of the image were printed and sold by the Bowness boatmen on their popular Tizzie-Whizie hunts: the tourists’ only real chance of seeing the elusive creature.
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PHOTOS: © STEVE VIDLER/AWL IMAGES/NATIONAL TRUST/ALAN COPSON/AWL IMAGES
the lake district
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Left to right: Dove Cottage was the Wordsworth siblings' first home in Grasmere; the poet's final resting place is the graveyard of the village's St Oswald's Church; the Lake District's rich boating history is celebrated at Windermere Jetty Museum
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beloved characters, and follow the story of Beatrix’s evolution from children’s author to passionate conservationist: upon her death, Beatrix left 4,000 acres of land in the Lake District to the National Trust in order to save it from development. Before leaving the lake, stop off at the wonderful Windermere Jetty Museum, which celebrates the rich history of the Lakes with a world-class collection of boats. You’ll find an array of special vessels here, from Beatrix Potter’s ramshackle rowing boat, made of old floorboards, to record-breaking speed boats and the collection’s flagship, the dazzling steam launch Branksome, built in 1896. Fitted out with walnut panelling, velvet upholstery and a silver tea service, it’s one of the finest Victorian steam launches in the world, meticulously restored in the on-site conservation workshop. You can even join a cruise on one of the museum’s gleaming Edwardian launches too. From Windermere, travel winding lakeside roads to beautiful Grasmere, the lake best known for its association with the poet William Wordsworth, who famously declared it ‘the loveliest spot that man hath ever found’. Recently opened after a £6.5m reimagining, Wordsworth Grasmere incorporates Dove Cottage, where the poet moved in 1799 with his sister Dorothy. Wordsworth was inspired to write many of his best works here, while Dorothy penned her Grasmere Journal, a vivid chronicle of their daily life. The cosy cottage, with its stone floors, dark-panelled rooms and glowing fires, transports you back to the time when it was a bustling family home,
PHOTOS: © STEVE TAYLOR ARPS/ALAMY/COLIN PALMER PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY/WINDERMERE JETTY MUSEUM
Grasmere is best known for its association with Wordsworth, who declared it ‘the loveliest spot that man hath ever found’
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the lake district while you can explore handwritten manuscripts, journals and letters in the excellent museum next door. En route to the Wordsworth family’s next home, Allan Bank, follow your nose to the Grasmere Gingerbread Shop, where the spicy-sweet treat was invented in 1854; the store has barely changed in the years since. Before establishing as a shop, the building housed the village school, where Wordsworth once taught. It was at Allan Bank, a handsome Georgian villa with views over Grasmere, that Wordsworth began his Guide to the Lakes (1810), in which he first mooted the idea of ‘a sort of national property’ that everybody ‘had the right to enjoy’, long before the existence of national parks. It was well over a century before the Lake District eventually became one, thanks to the efforts of a later resident of the same house, Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley. One of the three founding members of the National Trust and a passionate campaigner for conservation, Rawnsley – aided by his great friend, Beatrix Potter – was instrumental in preserving the Lake District. Allan Bank was left to the National Trust in 1951. When a terrible fire ravaged the interior in 2011, rather than restoring it, the Trust left its walls bare and its rooms empty. It’s now a historic house with a difference, with comfy chairs in which to sit and take in the views with a cup of tea – something of which Wordsworth would approve: he spent a small fortune shipping chests of
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the lake district
THE PLANNER GETTING THERE Great Western Railway runs direct services to Oxenholme Lake District from London Euston (2hr 40min). From here, you can catch a train to Windermere (20min). Stagecoach runs a regular bus service in the area, while Windermere Lake Cruises offers boat trips. www.gwr.com; www.stagecoachbus.com; www.windermere-lakecruises.co.uk
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WHERE TO STAY Rothay Manor is ideally sited between Windermere and Grasmere in the pretty town of Ambleside. Plump for one of the eight suites in the new Pavilion, which are spacious and stylish, with generous bathrooms. www.rothaymanor.co.uk WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK Rothay Manor has two restaurants: a fine-dining option with a refined eight-course tasting menu, and an informal bistro, with local produce such as Cumbrian lamb and cured chalk stream trout on the menu. Destination restaurant The Forest Side grows many of its own ingredients and is known for unusual flavour combinations. The Cuckoo Brow Inn is an unpretentious pub near Hill Top, while the cosy Hole in t’ Wall in Bowness dates back to 1612. www.theforestside.com; www.cuckoobrow.co.uk; holeintwall.co.uk
PHOTOS: © ANDREW ROLAND/ALAMY/WINDERMERE LAKE CRUISES
Twinings tea from London. Just three short years later the Wordsworth family moved again, this time to Rydal Mount, another pictureperfect house in a delightful garden. Set above Rydal Water, a slip of a lake between Grasmere and Windermere, the house was Wordsworth’s home for 37 years until his death in 1850. Wordsworth wrote the immortal lines ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ here (Daffodils, 1815) and landscaped the wonderful Romantic-style garden. Still crammed with his furniture and possessions, from his inkstand and quill to the picnic box he took on rambles, Rydal Mount embodies the spirit of the poet. ‘I often ask myself what will become of Rydal Mount after our day’, mused Wordsworth in 1840. He might, indeed, have also wondered about the fate of the wider Lakeland landscapes that he so loved. Thanks to his early campaigning, the pioneering work of Beatrix Potter and the efforts of the National Trust, the Lake District is wonderfully unchanged – and is still inspiring poets, ramblers and dreamers alike all these years later.
Above: As well as inspiring William Wordsworth, Grasmere is where gingerbread was invented in 1854 Left: You can cruise across Lake Windermere in style aboard a classic steamer-style boat
FURTHER INFORMATION Visit the Lakes’ visitor centre, Brockhole, for more on the area’s history, activities and events. www.brockhole.co.uk; www.visitlakedistrict.com
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UK’s Most Popular Published Artist 2022
Lucy’s love for the Lakes started at a young age and it is one of her favourite places. From regular holidays as a child, she now visits with her own family choosing to spend time at their caravan in Keswick, exploring some of the best scenery you can find. It is this longstanding love affair with the lakes and her time spent in Keswick that has inspired new works of art in a dedicated collection showcasing this wonderful region through the seasons. Well known across Yorkshire, the North-East and beyond for
art galleries and a successful e-commerce website serving
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NO
BIGGER STORY.
PRIDE NO BETTER PLACE
TO HEAR IT
TOLD.
BELFAST WAS TITANIC’S HOME, IT STILL IS.
Discover the world-famous story through the eyes of those whose hard work and ambition built her at the Titanic Experience in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A D V A N C E B O O K I N G O N LY A T T I TA N I C B E L FA S T. C O M
belfast & the titanic
BELFAST’S TITANIC LEGACY
On the tenth anniversary of its opening, we revisit Titanic Belfast, which tells the story of the ‘unsinkable’ ship and the city that built it WORDS NATASHA FOGES
ILLUSTRATION: © LIZ KAY
“W
e have had a wonderful passage up to now. There has been no tempest. It is very nice weather but awfully windy and cold.” Esther Hart, from Ilford, Essex, penned a letter to her mother from the Titanic on Sunday, April 14, 1912, just hours before the liner struck an iceberg and sank to a watery grave. Esther and her daughter Eva escaped the disaster in a lifeboat, but there was no room for Esther’s husband Benjamin, who went down with the ship. Titanic Belfast, the city’s landmark attraction, is full of such heartbreaking stories. The location of the building itself, which was constructed ten years ago to commemorate the centenary of the sinking, immediately captures the www.britain-magazine.com
imagination: it stands alongside the slipways where the Titanic was built, and towers above the River Lagan where she was launched. The silvery structure, glinting to resemble rippling waves (or a giant iceberg, perhaps) is 38 metres tall, the same as the hull of the Titanic, its four corners jutting out to echo the hulls of ships. Inside, nine galleries chronicle the life of the liner. The journey begins in boomtown Belfast, which clanged with industry in the mid-19th century, from linen mills to ropeworks to the Belfast docks. It was in the Belfast shipyards that Harland & Wolff, the world’s largest shipbuilding firm, partnered with White Star Line, the prestigious shipping line, to create a ship that would set a new benchmark of excellence in naval architecture. BRITAIN
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wealthy Americans at the end of their European tour. The Titanic sailed for New York on 10 April with 2,223 passengers and crew on board. Just a few days into the voyage, on the night of the 14 April, the ship struck an iceberg at high speed. A sombre gallery evokes the panic of the following minutes and hours with displays of the increasingly desperate wireless distress calls. As the only firstperson, real-time record we have of the tragedy, it is one of the most poignant parts of the museum. “Come quick. Engine room nearly full” was the last message sent out, just a few minutes before the Titanic broke in two and disappeared beneath the icy waters, causing the deaths of 1,517 people. The ship was carrying lifeboats for only 1,178 people, many of which were not full when they left. Inquiries were held into how the ship hailed as ‘unsinkable’ had ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Theories ranged from the speed at which the ship was travelling to the lack of binoculars for the ship’s lookout boys, and the fact that it had not heeded warnings of “bergs, growlers and field ice”, as one ship’s captain described them. Fortunately for the people of Belfast, a city that relied heavily on its
“Come quick. Engine room nearly full” was the last message sent out, just a few minutes before the ship disappeared
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shipbuilding industry, it was not the construction of the Titanic that was called into question, but, concluded the British Inquiry, “the excessive speed at which the ship was being navigated”. Despite this, it took a long time for Belfast to come to terms with the tragedy, which was felt by many as an almost personal loss. In 2012, the centenary year of the disaster, however, the Titanic became a unifying symbol, and the opening of Titanic Belfast a catalyst for a different kind of industry: tourism.
Clockwise from top left: The statue on Titanic Belfast's plaza, Titanica, was designed by artist Rowan Gillespie; the Titanic's tender ship, the SS Nomadic sits at Hamilton dock; visitors can explore the last-remaining White Star Line ship; the Titanic Hotel is located in the old Harland & Wolff headquarters
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PHOTOS: © TOURISM IRELAND/ TITANIC BELFAST
In one of the galleries, a ride takes you through a reconstructed shipyard, surrounded by a cacophony of hammering, drilling and the shouts of dockworkers – a din that could be heard across the city. When the Titanic was built, she was the pride of Belfast, and 100,000 people gathered on the banks of the Lagan to cheer as she was launched from the slipway on 31 May 1911. Having passed this critical first test, she was fitted out – a task that took more than 3,000 Belfast men ten months to complete. Reconstructed cabins show the luxury to which First Class passengers were treated: the finest rooms had wood panelling, carved oak bedsteads, carpeted floors and a bell to summon a steward. Third Class passengers, meanwhile – mostly emigrants heading to America in search of a better life – had basic bunk beds in up to ten-berth cabins. On 2 April 1912 at 8pm, the Titanic left Belfast on its maiden voyage. The ship arrived in Southampton – then Britain’s leading transatlantic port – on 4 April, where it was dressed with flags to greet its first passengers. The ship was loaded with provisions for the voyage, including 40,000 eggs and 15,000 bottles of ale. On 10 April, it arrived at Cherbourg, France, to pick up more passengers, many of whom were
belfast & the titanic
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belfast & the titanic There are now a number of Titanic sights and tours around town, and the enduring fascination of the story draws people from all over the world. Next to Titanic Belfast is the SS Nomadic, one of the tenders that ferried passengers from the Cherbourg quayside to the Titanic, and the last remaining White Star Line ship in the world. Restored to her 1911 glory, with ornate plasterwork and the original wooden bar, the Nomadic has four decks to explore. Stepping on board gives you a real sense of the contrast between the separated class areas on board, and allows you to see up close the luxurious finishes that her sister ship was known for. The surrounding ‘Titanic Quarter’ has been regenerated in the last decade, though you can still trace much of the original design and features of the shipyards. Harland & Wolff remains a significant business in Belfast, though it now builds wind turbines rather than transatlantic liners. Its yellow gantry cranes, known as Samson and Goliath, are a famous Belfast landmark, dominating the skyline. The old Harland & Wolff headquarters are now the five-star Titanic Hotel, and the grand, vaulted Drawing Offices, where the ship was designed, now house the hotel’s restaurant. The old Pump House, meanwhile, next to the dry dock from which the Titanic was launched, is being transformed into a whiskey distillery and tourist attraction. The Titanic trail continues at Belfast City Hall in the heart of town. Here, in a garden whose planting mirrors the colours of ice and water, is a memorial plinth listing, in alphabetical order, the names of the
1,512 people that perished. Unveiled to mark the centenary of the disaster, it is the only memorial in the world to commemorate all of the victims, passengers and crew alike. The final stop on the trail is the Ulster Transport Museum, seven miles outside Belfast, where the TITANICa exhibition uses more than 500 artefacts to tell the ship’s story, from the tools owned by a Harland & Wolff shipwright to White Star Line
tickets and memorial postcards. Even 110 years after the disaster, the story of the Titanic still fascinates and horrifies us. The tale of human progress and pride quashed in such a dramatic way, and the stories of toil, tragedy and heroism, have not faded with the passing of the years. Although the tragedy undeniably cast a long shadow over Belfast, the city’s Titanic legacy is something of which it can, once again, be proud.
Clockwise from top: The Titanic was the pride of Belfast in 1911; the Ulster Transport Museum's exhibition holds more than 500 ship artefacts, including this White Star Line's captain's hat; this tea set is also on display
GETTING THERE Belfast has two airports. City Airport is a 10-minute drive from Titanic Belfast, while the International Airport is a 30-minute drive. The Titanic Quarter is a 25-minute walk from the city centre. www.belfastcityairport.com; www.belfastairport.com WHERE TO STAY AND EAT The Titanic Hotel, set in Harland & Wolff’s former headquarters, is just a stone’s throw from
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Titanic Belfast. Memorabilia and original pieces, such as the mahogany drawing table of Thomas Andrews, the Titanic’s chief naval architect, give it a sense of history. The Wolff Grill, in the original Drawing Office No. 2, is an inviting place for dinner, with refined dishes such as seabass with spiced red grape, clams and roast hazelnut. www.titanichotelbelfast.com TICKETS AND TOURS Titanic Belfast and the SS Nomadic are open
year-round; a joint ticket gets you into both. The Discovery Tour, booked through the museum, is a guided outdoor walk through the historic area around Titanic Belfast. Titanic Tours Belfast offer a 3-hour tour that includes the lesser-known sights, led by the descendant of a Titanic crew member. www.titanicbelfast.com; titanictours-belfast.co.uk
i
FURTHER INFORMATION www.ireland.com
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PHOTOS: © MARY EVANS/ ULSTER TRANSPORT MUSEUM
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A day with...
WING COMMANDER DAVID MONTENEGRO The Team Leader of the Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force’s much-loved aerobatic flying squad, takes us skyward
BRITAIN: When did you discover your passion for flying? DM: When I was seven, I travelled with my parents to see family in Colombia. On a twin-engine propellor flight from Bogotá to Pasto, we were buffeted by turbulence and I remember watching the pilot grapple with the controls to land the aircraft safely. It was the first time I’d seen fear in my parents; however, I found it exhilarating and thought ‘this is the job for me’! I was further inspired by demonstrations at the Biggin Hill Airshow, near my family home – by the age of 11, I was hooked on aviation. B: When did you join the Red Arrows, and how did you become Red 1 [the team leader who flies in the front position]? DM: When I joined the RAF in 1999, I was selected for the fast-jet training stream. It all began at age 18, upon securing an RAF flying scholarship at Manchester University, completing elementary training at the Manchester and Salford University Air Squadron – largely thanks to my instructor, Squadron Leader Rod Newman. On graduating, I joined the RAF, went to officer training at RAF College Cranwell, was selected as a pilot and did fast-jet training at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, followed by advanced jet-training on Hawks at RAF Valley. Then I had frontline, operational tours as a fighter pilot. I was selected for the Red Arrows in 2009, becoming Synchro Leader after three years. After tours, including as a special projects officer within the US Marine Corps, I was made Red 1 in 2015. I became Officer Commanding of the Red Arrows in 2020. B: What do the Red Arrows stand for? DM: At home and overseas, the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team brings people together with a demonstration of precision and professionalism. Watching fast-jets looping and flying in close formation is a thrilling proposition, regardless of age, background
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interview
or location. Over recent months, this has been highlighted more than ever before, as millions returned to events disrupted by the pandemic. As a team, we were heartened to see groups, especially families, back at these occasions, which are so valuable to countless communities. Whether live or virtual, our aim remains constant: to inspire.
PHOTOS: © MOD/CROWN COPYRIGHT 2022/ILCPHOTO/ISTOCK/MAX MUMBY/INDIGO/GETTY
B: On a training day, what’s your routine? DM: On a standard training day, each pilot will fly up to three sorties, beginning with a weather-focused briefing at 0800, followed by a sortie debrief, and so on, Monday to Friday. It’s intensive, and very different to life on the frontline, where you might spend four hours planning a mission, six hours in the aircraft, three hours in the debrief and then perhaps not fly for another six days. B: What are your responsibilities as Red 1? DM: Red 1 is a role that comes with immense responsibility and pressure. You’re in charge of all aspects of the display, from running the training programme to choreographing the show. A good example of what the role demands was when I led the team on an Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern tour, during which we displayed in China for the first time in the Red Arrows’ history. Taking 12 single-engine jet aircraft across 22,000 miles and 17 countries to get there and back in nine weeks was not without its challenges – not least getting through thunderstorms over India and Pakistan – but the tour proved a major success, reaching more than one billion people and helping to support a range of UK interests and objectives. B: What’s most rewarding about your role? DM: Despite the challenges of being Red 1, the joy of flying a full display in sky-blue conditions represented the best days in the job, when all the pressures simply evaporated. There’s something incredibly special when you and the team are perfectly www.britain-magazine.com
Above, left to right: The Red Arrows put on a spectacular show as part of this summer’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations for the Queen; Young Prince Louis drew attention at the Jubilee’s Trooping the Colour ceremony when he clutched his ears while watching the stunning (but noisy) Red Arrows flypast from the Buckingham Palace balcony, alongside the Queen, his mother, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and sister, Princess Charlotte
in sync. Many times, cresting the top of a loop surrounded by red jets, I’d allow myself to take in that second and think, ‘There’s no single place I’d rather be right now than leading this team.’ B: Can you describe the responsibilities and challenges of your present role? DM: The best thing is leading 130 talented people to safely achieve our mission objectives. I love the diverse nature of my work – moving between intricate aviation risk management and planning global tours, to engaging with a huge cross-section of society. And, to do all this while still flying the Hawk? It’s a really good job! B: How do you feel before an important flight, such as the Platinum Jubilee flypast? DM: While, as a display pilot, you’re aware of the occasion – especially when it’s a huge, international event – it’s important to focus on the mission in hand and follow carefully rehearsed procedures. After a big flight, when you see media coverage and feedback, that’s the time to appreciate the moment. B: Have you met any of the Royal Family? DM: In July 2016, I was fortunate to meet Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George at
an airshow in Gloucester. I had met Prince William at a charity event the previous year, but this was the first time I’d experienced the cameras that accompany senior members of The Royal Family at public occasions. The previous year, at the Queen’s birthday flypast, the media captured images of Prince George waving as the aircraft flew overhead and got great pictures of him being lifted into the cockpit of my aircraft after expressing an interest in the Red Arrows jet. B: How does it feel to lead a world-recognised team like the Red Arrows? DM: As a pilot you feel hugely privileged when, during one of our looping manoeuvres, you catch a glimpse of the thousands of spectators below. We hope that by watching our displays and being able to meet the team, people of all backgrounds are inspired to think, feel and – importantly – do things differently, creatively or innovatively. We’re incredibly proud of our heritage, and are always looking to advance our preparation and performance in the constant pursuit of excellence. David Montenegro’s new book, The Red Arrows, is published by Century (£20). BRITAIN
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THE GREAT BRITISH QUIZ
Do you know your British puddings and pies? Put your knowledge of the country’s traditional dishes, snacks and sauces to the test Which English county is famed for its hotpot, a meat and vegetable stew topped with sliced potatoes? a) Lincolnshire b) Lancashire c) Kent
The three points of the ‘Yorkshire Triangle’ are Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell. Which fruit is grown here? Cawl refers to a traditional broth or soup of which country in the UK? At which historic royal palace can you visit the Chocolate Kitchens (below)?
What’s the difference between a Devonshire and a Cornish cream tea?
Which snack is Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire famous for? a) Sausage rolls b) Scotch eggs c) Pork pies
First served in the south west of England, what name is given to a pastry pocket (above) stuffed with beef, turnips, potatoes and onions? Which of the following ingredients is not in Worcestershire sauce? a) Molasses b) Tomatoes c) Anchovies
A school near Windsor is famous for producing prime ministers and a summer dessert of meringue, cream and strawberries. What is it? Which London landmark inspired the name for HP Sauce? What are the strips of toast used to dip in a soft-boiled egg commonly known as?
‘Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o the puddin’-race!’ What (pictured above) is the Scottish poet Robert Burns addressing? Unscramble WE TALK TABLER to find a classic sweet pie from Derbyshire made with jam and almonds.
Which word refers to a layered dessert of cream, fruit, custard and sponge cake that’s a special-occasion favourite (above)?
PHOTOS: © VISITSCOTLAND/LUIGI DI PASQUALE/BHOFACK2/ISTOCK/HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES/MAKI STUDIO/ALAMY
What name is given to a British cold meal of bread, cheese and onions, usually accompanied by butter and pickle?
ANSWERS 1 In Devon it’s cream first, then jam; in Cornwall it’s the other way around 2 a ploughman’s 3 c) pork pies 4 haggis 5 Bakewell tart 6 b) Lancashire 7 Cornish pasty 8 b) tomatoes 9 trifle 10 rhubarb 11 Wales 12 Hampton Court 13 Eton 14 Houses of Parliament 15 soldiers
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26 OCTOBER 2022 –1 JANUARY 2023 R OYA L S H A K E S P E A R E T H E AT R E
Photo by Hugo Glendinning
S T R AT F O R D - U P O N - AVO N
BOOK NOW rsc.org.uk The work of the RSC is supported by the Culture Recovery Fund The RSC is generously supported by RSC America The work of the RSC Literary Department is generously supported by The Drue and H.J. Heinz II Charitable Trust