Category Archives: Home, Family & Fun

Once a Light Blue always a Light Blue? A mother’s Boat Race dilemma…

Posted on March 31, 2013 by | Comments Off

When my son got in to Oxford University one of the first observations from other family members was “Well of course you’ll be supporting Oxford in the Boat Race now.”

Oxford--Cambridge-Boat-Ra-001

I was astounded! My answer was immediate and unequivocal, rejecting all their pre-suppositions and expectations of parental support: Absolutely no way!  Once a Light Blue always a Light Blue!

So this Easter Day for the first time a sporting event, the 159th University Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge, will, in our household, be followed keenly but firmly from opposite sides of the fence or River.

Cambridge oar Oxford oar

My son, possibly in a desperate attempt to sway me, has taken up rowing for Trinity College (the dark blue one), with accompanying mother’s-heart-strings-tugging freezing 6am starts on the Isis, punishing training schedules and extraordinary fridge-emptying food consumption.  There’s even the added emotional enticement of a 2012 Olympic medal winning member of his college, Constantine Loulondis, rowing in the Oxford Boat, plus the memory of last year’s Oxford crew’s traumatic loss, which they will be desperate to rectify.

Fortunately said-son will be keeping his distance standing somewhere on the (freezing) banks of the Thames this afternoon while I will be watching in front of a warm fire.  The main thing is that now he is at Oxford he completely understands my point of view.

oxfordspires KingsCollegeChapelWest

Meanwhile, away from the sporting rivalry, I love both Oxford and Cambridge as two very beautiful, very different places to visit. And as a Blue Badge Tourist Guide qualified to take groups to Oxford, and as an Alumna of Cambridge able to take guests back there too I enjoy sharing the best of worlds…

… apart from today. Although in my heart of hearts, having now seen the work and commitment my son puts in to row at college level,  I am just totally in awe of the sporting ability and dedication of both crews.

Besides, whatever the outcome in the rowing,  Cambridge won the Varsity Football yesterday…

Amanda Hutchinson   Amanda sig first name

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Posted in 2012 Olympics, Blue Badge Tourist Guides, Events, Home, Family & Fun, London

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Lord Astor – town and country

Posted on February 28, 2013 by | Comments Off

Edwardian Picnic
Thinking ahead to a beautiful summer, put these dates in your diary for a little piece of upper class nostalgia. Hever Castle in Kent is creating an Edwardian weekend 25-27 May 2013. Enjoy the pleasures of an Edwardian country weekend when ‘Lord Astor’ and his guests take lunch on the lawn against the backdrop of Hever Castle. This new event recreates life in the Edwardian era (Downton Abbey et al) and shows what life was like in a grand country residence in the early twentieth century.

‘The Big Edwardian Picnic’ promises fun for all the family, with prizes for the best dressed Edwardian boy and girl each day. Visitors will meet the butler, the lady’s maid and cook in an interactive play outlining life below stairs when the Astor family hosted lavish house parties at Hever Castle.

Two Temple PlaceIf you can’t wait for a dash of Astor until May, then get along to Two Temple Place, Embankment, London. This opulent property was built for American millionaire William Waldorf Astor in 1895 as his London town house, complete with baronial hall and it is truly magnificent.

A Fish Sale on a Cornish Beach by Stanhope A. Forbes

It has been in use as a public art gallery since 2011 and the current  exhibition AMONGST HEROES : the artist in working Cornwall currently on display, it really is breathtaking in its quality of light and gritty realism and all the better for being free! Click on the link for opening hours details.

If you cannot make it to Kent this summer you will certainly want to go to Cornwall – STAY VACATIONS are so us!

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Posted in Blue Badge Tourist Guides, Events, Home, Family & Fun, Kent, London

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How the other half live

Posted on January 12, 2013 by | Comments Off

 

There’s no doubt that Downton Abbey has been a fantastic success if even if the rose coloured spectacles have become a little cloudy down the years. The Country House life has a place in the hearts of many anglophiles, and there is room in those hearts for members of the dotty upper class set; the nice-but-dim products of overly small gene pools.
Blandings cast BBC Sundays
The author PG Wodehouse, no stranger himself to this society, caricatured its representatives in an unforgiving fashion. Unforgiving, because as with all parody, there is an element of truth that we can recognise. If you enjoy this type of humour, you are in for a treat on  Sunday evenings when the BBC is showing a new six-part adaptation of Blandings Castle with an all star cast.
Blandings is based on Wodehouse’s much-loved accounts of the fictional life and times of the amiable Lord Clarence Emsworth the 9th earl,  played by Timothy Spall, and his beloved pig, Empress. Jennifer Saunders is back on screen playing his sister Connie. Mark Williams, known to many as the head of the Weasley clan is the butler, David Walliams at his most supercilious is Lord Emsworth’s secretary. Many of the smaller roles are taken by unexpected artists – watch out for Paloma Faith!
Pictures courtesy of Aidan Monaghan

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Posted in Home, Family & Fun

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Keep the Home Flag Flying

Posted on January 11, 2013 by | Comments Off

Earlier this week I gave a collective vote of thanks to the Americans who rescued so many great houses in the area, plus of course, Downton Abbey, and now it’s time to give recognition to the Brits who  kept going through the good and not so good times.

Lullingstone CastleLullingstone Castle at Eynsford, Kent. The original house mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, is one of England’s oldest family estates having been in just five families in 900 years. The current owner Guy Hart Dyke is the 19th generation to live at the Castle. The next generation is embodied in Tom Hart Dyke more famously known for his intrepid plant hunting activities and being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tom was kidnapped by Columbian rebels and held hostage for nine months before one day his captors told him to go and never to return. During captivity Tom had staved off boredom by designing in his mind a World Garden which he then planted in the grounds of Lullingstone on his return.
Knole House entranceKnole House, Sevenoaks is set in a huge  deer park with the house remaining much as it was back in the early 17th century.  Knole is one of the largest country houses in England and is  reputed to be a  calendar house, having 365 rooms, 52 staircases, 12 entrances and 7 courtyards. Knole is the family seat of thirteen generations of Sackville-Wests.  The current occupier is Robert Sackville-West , the 7th Baron Sackville. Robert’s ancestor, the author Vita Sackville-West lived at Knole, but as a mere woman, could not inherit it;  she once described her family as “a race too prodigal, too amorous, too indolent and too melancholy; a rotten lot, and nearly all stark staring mad.”
 
Titsey PlaceTitsey Place, again with pre-Norman conquest origins, the house came to prominence with its owners during Tudor times when it is said that William Gresham could mount his horse in Limpsfield Surrey and ride 23 miles to his London house without stepping off his own land. The house and estate has been in the same family for over 450 years and at times it has been one of the largest estates in the south east of England.
 Penshurst Place panoramaPenshurst Place has been owned by the Sidney family since 1552;  gifted  by King Henry VIII’s son, Edward VI; to his loyal steward and tutor, Sir William Sidney. Sir William’s grandson was the Elizabethan poet and courtier Sir Philip Sidney. More recently, after Penshurst suffered damage during World War II, another William Sidney, 1st Viscount De L’Isle and the last English Governor-General of Australia,  inherited and moved into Penshurst Place with his family in 1946 and brought the house and gardens back to their former glory.
If when perambulating the grounds of any of these houses you happen upon a gardener of indeterminate age, greenish jacket out at the elbows, accompanied by a smallish hairy terrier of questionable parentage, remember to tug your forelock at the end of the conversation, for you will have been talking with the unpaid staff aka The Owner of The House.
It’s not all Hugh Bonneville and luscious lemon Labradors in the real world, don’t y’know!

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Posted in Home, Family & Fun

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Thank you America for Downton Abbey

Posted on January 9, 2013 by | Comments Off

Highclere Castle aka Downton AbbeyWell, now the fuss and furore over Matthew’s presumed death on Christmas Day has subsided, I want to say thank you to all the wealthy Americans who bought houses in England in the last century. Without them and their dollars much of Britain’s Stately Home Heritage would have mouldered into ruins instead of the inspiring properties enjoyed by the as public they are today.

We appreciate the foresight of William Waldorf Astor who declared that ’America was no longer a fit place for a gentleman to live’, and in 1891  crossed the pond to purchase the Cliveden estate in Buckinghamshire and bring up his family.

Hever CastleIn Kent, In 1903 he acquired and restored Hever Castle, childhood home of Anne Boleyn & used it as a family residence. A new exhibition is opening at the Castle celebrating the Astor years and the restoration of the Castle plus the chance to watch the Astor family’s rare archive collection of home movies.

WW Astor’s son Lieutenant-Colonel John Jacob Astor V,  was thoroughly anglised ; a British military officer, statesman, a newspaper proprietor and recognised by a grateful nation as 1st Baron Astor of Hever DL.

Chiddingstone Castle

He bought Chiddingstone Castle in the delightful village of Chiddingstone.

Ightham Mote, SevenoaksAstor’s neighbour just down the road in the other direction at Ightham Mote was the American businessman,  Charles Henry Robinson of Portland Maine who bought the moated house in 1953. Robinson, had seen the house as a younger man and returned with the intention of buying it, but changed his mind on the journey home. Amongst family papers in Portland was found the “Letter of Withdrawal”, a letter drafted on the Queen Mary liner by Robinson stating that he had changed his mind about buying Ightham Mote. However, because the ship’s Post Office was closed, the letter was never sent,  Robinson reconsidered and sent an offer for the house. The letter is now in the Ightham Mote library.

In the Mote’s crypt  there is a memorial plaque , with the inscription “A Pilgrim Returned”.  Robinson’s grandmother, Emily Cobb, was descended, via two different lines, from those who had sailed on the Mayflower.

Leeds CastleLeeds Castle in Lenham Kent is yet another Country House rescue story. Bought in 1926  by  the Hon. Olive, Lady Baillie,  daughter of Almeric Paget, 1st Baron Queenborough, and his first wife, Pauline Payne Whitney, an American railway & oil heiress. Lady Baillie redecorated the interior, working with the French architect and designer Armand-Albert Rateau  and  later, with the Paris decorator Stéphane Boudin.

During the early part of World War II Leeds Castle was used as a hospital where Lady Baillie and her daughters hosted burned & injured Commonwealth airmen as part of their recovery (ringing any Downton bells?)

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Posted in Events, Home, Family & Fun, Kent

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Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without Charles Dickens

Posted on November 30, 2012 by | Comments Off

Dickens festival RochesterWith the seasonal nip in the air it’s time to head to Rochester this weekend for the annual Dickens festival.

Kent and Rochester in particular, played a large part in Dickens’ life and his books, with the notable exception of A Christmas Carol. This is the book that earlier in 2012 was voted by parents as the book they most wanted their children to read. But unfortunately it just does not feature Kent, unless you can establish a link to the description of Ebenezer Scrooge’s boyhood ‘mansion of dull red brick’ which has some similarities to Dickens’ home at Gad’s Hill.

Throughout the weekend Rochester is celebrating its place in Dickens’ life with a series of parades and performances along the picturesque Rochester High Street with people dressed in the most wonderful Victorian costumes. You’ll see characters from many of Dickens’ books and all manner of chimney sweeps, marching pipers and even Queen Victoria. There’s a Christmas market and stalls for Christmas shopping and plenty of opportunities to keep out the cold with mulled wine, mince pies & hot chocolate. Each day culminates in a parade and carols in the shadow of the spectacular gem of Norman architecture, Rochester Cathedral.

If you can’t get down to Rochester this weekend, then get your Charles Dickens fix by seeing the new Great Expectations film on general release today Friday 30th November, plenty of Kent to see and plenty of great characters promising to be very well cast including Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham.

Enough to make even Scrooge smile!Memories are long in this part of Kent! questions

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Posted in Events, Home, Family & Fun, Kent

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Thanksgiving greetings to all our American friends!

Posted on November 22, 2012 by | Comments Off

Thanksgiving Greetings from Kent, also known as ‘The Garden of England’ to all our friends and clients across the USA.

Here are some pictures of some of the wonderful Kentish Harvest: apples, hops and grapes from The Garden of England!

Kent is home to Canterbury Cathedral; The White Cliffs of Dover; Chartwell, home of Sir Winston Churchill; Hever Castle, home to King Henry VIII’s second wife Anne Boleyn and Vita Sackville West’s Sissinghurst Gardens, to name just a few of our beautiful and historic county’s ‘must see’ sights.

Check out our website to plan your guided visit to the beautiful South East of England and all its historic treasures.


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Posted in Home, Family & Fun, International Links, Kent

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Bonfire Poem

Posted on November 3, 2012 by | Comments Off

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I see no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent

To blow up the King and Parli’ment.

Three-score barrels of powder below

To prove old England’s overthrow;

By God’s providence he was catch’d

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Have a wonderful, spectacular and safe evening!

 

iMemories are long in this part of Kent! questions

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Posted in Events, Home, Family & Fun, Kent

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The Many Delights of Skyfall

Posted on October 27, 2012 by | Comments Off

South East Tour Guides spent a blissful evening at the Odeon in Tunbridge Wells last night in the company of good friends watching the long awaited film Skyfall. As always the latest Bond movie had something for everyone: exciting chases using an extraordinary range of vehicles, plenty of drama, tension and emotion, a globe trotting range of locations and, for me and all other Daniel Craig fans, an exceptionally generous and blissful amount of on-screen time for the immaculately be-suited (most of the time) man  himself.

Spoilt for choice for favourite moments the men chose the opening chase sequence whereas in the somewhat biased (unanimous) opinion of the female members of our group it didn’t get close to the bath towel moment….

Too much risk of revealing spoilers to describe the film in any more detail here, but with my Blue Badge Tourist Guide hat on I also enjoyed spotting the film’s often surprising camera shots of some of London’s most iconic views and buildings. In addition to Olympic Games venues there will definitely be plenty of scope for including some of the locations featured in Skyfall (albeit often being put to somewhat different uses) on future tours of London.

It was also fun to see a painting we focus on at the National Gallery appearing in the film,  although sadly Daniel Craig has  yet to sit down in front of Turner’s Fighting Temeraire any time I’ve been there.  Already voted the ‘People’s Most Popular Painting’, the bench in front of it will no doubt now be in the running to become ‘The People’s Most Popular Bench’.

      

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Posted in Events, Home, Family & Fun, London

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Old bikers never die

Posted on October 1, 2012 by | Comments Off

Sunday afternoon at Camber Sands was delightfully warm and sunny with the tide way, way out exposing the miles of glorious golden sand; it was a great day for dogs and kids (both little &big). There were a number of tinies in bathing suits & before you have an involuntary shiver in sympathy, the water is almost at its warmest at this time of year. No, no “it’s all relative to the air temperature” grumbles please, the water felt warm even to this middle aged paddler.

The expanse of sand, sea and sky is a sight for sore eyes and has to give the best coasts in mainland Europe a run for their money.

Talking of running brings me back to dogs – here’s a photo of a dog who travels in style on the back of a biker’s trike and he loves it.

He was on a day trip out from Eastbourne and had had a fantastic time on the beach. I snapped him just as his master was revving up the lean machine, a 3.5L V8 to be precise.

You can just spot him in his rucksack on the trike, in middle between his master and mistress.

Ahhh,  it’s the smell of  burning leather……

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Posted in Home, Family & Fun, Kent

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