Saturday, August 3, 2013
Sussex Downs: Petworth and Arundel
A
very comfortable night again in Battersea saw me awake at 7.00 am and getting
ready immediately for our daytrip into the Sussex countryside. Roz, my friend,
who owns a car (a rare thing in London) and has Saturday off, decided to take
me on a jaunt. I made haste and packed my belongings and placed them in the
trunk of her car as we intended to make use of it to drop me and my baggage off
at Amen Court for my last week here—at the home of my friends Cynthia and
Michael. Once I went through the process of packing and making sure I had
everything, I showered, we sat down to brekkie (muesli and yogurt with coffee)
and we were off.
Into the Sussex Countryside:
We had intended to go to Chichester
and since it is not too far away, Arundel. But, as luck would have it, on approaching
the South Downs, we realized that we were not too far from Petworth—a National
Trust property that both of us were keen to see. Roz is a member of the
National Trust and entry as well as parking are free for her. My own membership
has elapsed but I never lose the opportunity to enjoy one of the gracious
properties that this institution maintains.
It was a glorious day—indeed we were
blessed with fabulous temperatures. A blistering sun has given way to a far more
benign one and as we drove past the far suburbs of London and into the Surrey countryside,
we kept exclaiming about the freshness of the greenery and the lovely rural
air. In less than two hours, we were at Petworth.
Getting to Know Petworth House:
I
have to admit that neither Roz nor I knew much about Petworth other than that
it is one of those ancient country piles into which the hoi polloi are now welcomed. I paid the 12 pounds entry fee that gave
access to the house and gardens, but we only had time to view the house and its
contents—which, if you did it with care, would take a day all by itself.
After
Roz parked, we walked on the gravel pathway past interesting Greek follies to
get to the entrance of the house. A short ‘Introduction to Petworth’ talk was
in progress by one of the volunteers, and although we missed the first five
minutes of it, we joined it. It gave us a slight clue as to the home’s
pedigree. And this is what we discovered:
The
home was built on vast land that belonged to the Percy family, ancient Dukes of
Northumberland (bequeath to them by royal charter on winning the favor of the
King). I remembered a Henry Percy in Shakespeare’s Richard II—and yes, he belonged to this family. Somewhere in the
hoary past, the Percys became bankrupt and one of the more astute members of
the family joined forces with the Seymour family (if the name is familiar, it
is because Jane Seymour became the third wife of Henry VIII and mother of his
son, Edward VI—he unfortunately died at the age of 9 and never acceded to the
throne. Jane died while giving birth to him and is supposedly the only wife
that Henry really loved.). Again, as the decades went by, one of the family
members married into the Wyndham family--which led to the influx of a huge dowry.
In marrying his title with her money, the grand manor was created. It is built
in the English Baroque style—which, like Syon House, is very plain on the
outside. Thus, most of the home is an early18th century showpiece of wealth and
taste but the chapel and the undercroft kitchens are original to the 13th
century. The current owners of the home are known as the Earls of Egremont—they
continue to inhabit a small part of the property and the house although the
rest of it passed into the hands of the National Trust that has run it since 1947.
The
current state of the home derives from the vision of the 3rd Earl of
Egremont who was a great art lover and who opened the home to some of the
leading artists of the day—Turner, Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, etc. are
known to have frequented the home and created studios for themselves on the
premises. Turner spent large portions of time there and created a great number of
works—both inspired by the grounds that were landscaped by the 18th century’s
great landscape designer Capability Brown and by the large number of canvasses
that had resided in the home—today, these may be viewed on the walls of the ‘galleries’.
They are numerous and of varying quality and some are badly in need of
cleaning. But they give a succinct idea of what money could buy in a bygone
era. Large rooms today function as galleries for the showcasing of a massive collection
of paintings, sculpture and decorative objects (furniture, light fixtures, etc.).
Although
the art work by itself is stupendous, to my mind this house was fascinating for
the Carved Wood Room—the brainchild of Grinling Gibbons, the great 18th
century wood artisan who decorated some of the finest homes and cathedrals in
the land. His genius is plainly evident in this long gallery decorated with Tudor
portraits (Hans Holbein’s famous one of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, for
instance) where flowers, fruit, skeins of leaves and garlands, cherubs, even
portraits of children have been ingeniously carved and then pinned to the walls
in a delicate form of decoration that has to be seen to be believed. Never have
I been treated to such artistic extravagance and I was enthralled.
The
Grand Staircase leading to the top floor (closed to visitors) was painted from
floor to the ceiling by the French artist Louis Laguerre—and, honestly, it has
to be seen to be believed. It presents worthies of the family enthroned in the
heavens—I mean how modest is that? An exuberant presentation of color and
pattern, no amount of pictures could possibly do justice to it. This room came
after we had feasted our eyes in room after room on works by Turner,
Gainsborough, Reynolds, Lely, Van Dyck, Ruisdale, Hobbema, even a rare Bosch.
It was truly an incredible art collection—not to mention a treasure trove of
sculpture—but for that, one has to devote an entire day.
Already
tired, we decided to visit the café for a spot of lunch and settled on cheese
scones with butter and cheddar cheese with a pot of tea for me and a cappucinno
for Roz and then we were on our way. We admired the wonderful border of Queen
Anne’s Lace punctuated only with the occasional blood red poppy—never have either
of us seen a border that is so simple yet so arresting. A few minutes later, we
were in the car and heading into the village of Petworth to explore it.
Endearing Petworth Village:
Petworth Village is small and charming
and crammed with antiques shops. It truly is one of those little red tiled roof
villages of England that time forgot. Extremely narrow cobbled lanes wound
towards an ancient church whose grave stones have turned grey with time and the
weather. We entered a couple of shops by way of exploration but did not linger
too long as we had more to see and the day was wearing on rapidly. Still, I
know that although our visit was brief, I have been left with a load of
pictures that will always bring back lovely memories for me of a place I have long
wanted to explore (I had passed briefly through it, four years ago, by car with
my friend Stephanie at the wheel—but we had no time to stop and explore it
then) and felt very pleased to have inspected it at long last.
And On to Arundel:
By
this point in the day (it was almost 3. 15 pm), both Roz and I realized that getting
to Chichester was pointless—and we decided to get to Arundel first with the
idea of exploring its lovely castle. Since Roz had never been there (I had
visited only briefly with Stephanie, four years ago), it made sense to see the
town together. And what a lovely town it is! Like Petworth, Arundel is old,
quaint, charming and retains an abundance of character in his crumbling Tudor
gabled houses, its antiquated stone shops, its slate and red tiled roofs and
its winding streets, crammed with tea rooms and antiques shops. I have a
special fondness for a multi-dealer shop close to the Castle that is perched high
on a hill. Inside I went and out I came with another English porcelain Hammersley
cup and saucer for my collection with darling little birds painted all over
them.
Skipping the Castle:
On parking our car close to the castle,
we discovered that we had only an hour to see it—and the place needs at least two
if one wishes to do justice to it. So we decided to visit the castle on another
day and simply proceed into the town and browse in its shops. It was a lovely afternoon
for such a mission and we had a great time together.
Visiting the Churches:
Arundel is known for its churches:
there is a small Anglican one called the Church of St. Nicolas but the great
attraction is the Gothic Catholic Cathedral of St. Philip Howard which is also
perched high up on a hill and can be spied, like the castle, for miles before
arriving in the town. We made a visit to the Cathedral and walked around its
towering nave and altar. A recent wedding had led to beautiful flowers crowding
the altar and the lectern—it was truly very pretty in that stark stone
interior. Similarly, we paused in the Anglican Church and found that a wedding
had recently taken place there too.
Time for A Cream Tea:
And then it was time for a
traditional Cream Tea and we found a charming tea room in the heart of the
village that offered scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam and cakes!
Roz had Carrot Cake, I had the superb Coffee Walnut Cake that I never miss in
England. All was delicious and, quite replete with our meal, we strolled to the
stone bridge that spans the river that runs through the town before we got back
in the car and started the drive back to London.
Settling down outside St. Paul’s
Cathedral:
Having finally reached the last week
of my stay here in the UK, I have moved into the Christopher Wren-built home of
my friends Bishop Michael and Cynthia who are like family to it. Cynthia and I
consider ourselves to be sisters and it is always a bit like coming home each
time I enter their gracious residence on Ludgate Hill right outside St. Paul’s
Cathedral. Roz braved London traffic (thankfully, the roads have opened up
after a huge cycle race that has closed all access to their place during the day)
and deposited me and my belongings safely into Amen Court where I shall stay for
the next 7 days.
Roz stayed for a glass of red wine during
which she got introduced to Cynthia and Michael and then she was off. I spent a
while chatting with my friends and catching up with them, skypeing with Llew
and then unpacking and settling into my room on the upper floor.
Cynthia fixed a simple dinner—pea pullao,
cabbage and carrots for veg, a small salad and Waitrose Chicken Korma which was
just delicious. It was time to call it a day and at 11. 00 pm, we went up to
bed.
Until tomorrow, cheerio!
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