First, we went to Snowshill Manor. This country house was owned by Charles Paget Wade (1883-1956), an eclectic collector of what seemed like everything. He admired and appreciated craftsmanship of all kinds. He didn't live in his house--that was for his collections (22,000 items). Instead he lived in the barn and slept in a Tudor box bed. The guide said that he was arrested once for walking around London wearing one of his suits of armor.
His collections include samurai armor, needlework, paintings, furniture (armoirs, chairs, etc), small carvings made out of chicken bones by men in prison, model ships, masks, clocks (he loved clocks), swords, instruments, globes, spinning wheels (there was an entire room of them), dolls and toys, pots and pans, shuttles used in weaving, shields, keys, canes, the list goes on and on. You can look through the collections online here.
It was so unusual. I loved seeing everything. I'd love to work there as an archivist or registrar. My favorite room was the attic. It was filled with bicycles (they were even hanging from the ceiling), and around the edge were baby carriages and carriers from different time periods.
Next we drove to Chipping Campden.
The only other stop we were able to make was Bourton-on-the-Water, a picturesque little village I didn't get any particularly good photos of. The lady in the photo below was tending to her garden in wellies and an apron. Many homes' yards go straight to the river, while here, a canal meets up with her garden.
No comments:
Post a Comment