The mouldering accumulations of the ages

Off to a spectacularly bizarre place called Snowshill Manor with Sue and Lorraine. It was a Mervyn Peakish treasure trove of mad collections of objects (over 22,000 of them) from all over the world, and from many periods. It is a lovely house, parts of it dating back to 1500, in honey coloured Cotswold stone set into the side of a hill. It is surrounded by picturesque cottage gardens.

The mad collector was Charles Padget Wade, who was also its last owner. He was an architect, who eventually ended up living in the house next door when he had stuffed the place with his own enormous collection. There were some of his paintings there too, which were quite good, and he was clearly an excellent writer too. There was a quote from his journals on the wall which described his passion for collecting, which culminated with: "with dim mysterious interiors, heaped high with the mouldering accumulations of the ages", which perfectly described the effect of the dimly lit manor house. Not to mention the eccentric and knowledgeable National Trust volunteers.

Beautiful gardens too. Lorraine snuck off to hug a tree at one point as is her way. Then we spent time in Broadway, a lovely little town with its main street lined with honey coloured buildings. We stopped off for some tea there, and we had fun with Lorraine and Sue talking their early experiences in the London Hospital, which at the time required them to wear full length purple cloaks.

John and Sue later also drove me out to see the sunset from Dover Hill, which was stunning in orange and purple. Massive view down into the Vale of Evesham. I really like John and Sue. John has a good sense of humour, and he pointed out for example the Sea Cadets building (in what is about the furthest away from the sea you can get in the UK). And we a good laughing, and bantering with John about football. He is a wrong-headed Arsenal supporter. He is quite interested in Flash, and showed me the very basics in the evening. I am thinking of learning enough to do simple animations with it. In the evening we tucked into excellent Beef Wellington that John had also cooked. Ended the day with a spot of football on the television and a few beers.

Below vintage bikes parked at Snowshill, the sunset under threatening clouds from Dover Hill, Lorraine caught mid-tree hug, which due to the perspective and size of the tree makes her look gnome sized. (Other snaps to come).



Comments