Lewes: Day 4

Off this morning to Charleston the home of artists Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and various Bloomsbury types.  The house was lived in by Duncan Grant until he died, age 93, in 1978.  The housekeeper had died 7 years previously and the house had fallen into disrepair.   It has now been rescued and restored and various paintings and artefacts that used to belong in the house have been returned or lent.  Bell and Grant decorated the house and it's an eclectic mix of the old and the new (for the times).

We had booked some time ago on a special tour which had to be cancelled and when we arrived for our re-booked tour, we were presented with a voucher for a free tea or coffee and the customer service manager sought us out and took us on a quick private tour of the kitchen, which isn't on the 'normal' tour.   We joined our tour guide and set off round the house.   She was excellent and kept going in the face of a lot of dead-pan faces!  Why do people on tours look so glum? 

No photographs aloud in the house, so here are a few 'borrowed' ones.

Having read the book 'Deceived with Kindness' by Angelica Bell (who was in fact the daughter of Grant and wasn't told until she was 18 and also married a man who turned out to be her father's former lover) I found the house a bit melancholy.   There was a lot of disappointment and unrequited love in that house.  After the tour we had a walk round the garden and then a quick sandwhich and free tea for lunch.

Post lunch we put on our walking boots and set off to walk 2.5 miles to Berwick Church which boasts murals painted by Grant and Bell and then back again.  Lovely rolling scenery made the 5 miles or so seem much harder work than a flat Norfolk 5 miles! Worth it though and perfect weather for walking.