Bredonborough.
Another beautiful day in Bredonborough. Gentling by the back door…
This week's Country Life…
… has this in its property pages…
… Fernhill House, Witchampton, is on the market…
This was my home between 1980-87, first big renovation project & where I was living when we buried my Father & I married my Wife. The then recently-widowed lady who bought Fernhill in 1987, when T & I were leaving to set up home at Reddish House in Broad Chalke (16 miles north), was the Mother-in-Law of a Sherborne House person of courses Four & Five. The widow was moving to Dorset to be near her son & his family, on the other side of Sturminster Newton.
Mrs. Pigeon…
This is Mrs. Pigeon's second hatching this season, in the old pear tree espaliered along the entrance drive from the Square. Pigeons are always a good omen in the Fripp family.
Garden Sitting Room I…
The laying of carpets in two offices at World HQ has enabled me to move (what was) the dining room table from here to Office No. 2 over there. Dining rooms are no longer a feature of many English homes: the function has passed mostly to kitchen-dining rooms.
Garden Sitting Room II…
The tiny Wellington boots & sandals on the top shelf are the actual footware worn by Tiny Willcox into this building, then the Willow Tea Rooms, when she was not long into this life. The Willow Tea Rooms became a home once more c. 1975 when Mr. Merry acquired it. Mr. Merry sold on c. 1995, downsizing within Bredonborough in his post-mature years, and only flying from this world about 3 months ago.
Mr. Grumpy…
The portrait is 1665 of a Restoration gentleman not looking too happy with the Stuarts returning to the throne. In front, a bishop's metamorphic chair c. 1680-1700, probably from Somerset. Country churches often kept a suitably dignified chair for the bishop's occasional visitation and, since the presence of the Bishop didn't take up too much of the Church year, for the rest of the time the chair converted into a table. The back of the chair slides forward, and a table appears.
Artist As Old Goat…
English houses are a wonderful accretion of different bits, styles, fashions, adjustments, renovations & extensions. The front of this house is 1760 but on an older building, and the cellar is older still. The tiled floor in the hall is c. 1890.
To The Back Door…
23.45 An afternoon gentling with T, an evening of stuff, carrying & organising.
Now awaiting the late arrival of Bill Rieflin from the REM show in Cardiff. T has driven down to Cardiff to collect Bill, now at the end of a very long tour as drummer to REM. Bill's visit here last Thursday was postponed & yesterday's REM show in Hyde Park cancelled, both following The Event. REM is re-scheduled for next Saturday.
