The gardens at Knole House were open for the day so the ole ball and chain and I decided to go rond the house, the gardens and (a bit of) the deer park.
Knole House in west Kent has an interesting history. It was built by the Archbishop of Canterbury between 1456 and 1486 as a palace in the archbishophric. In 1538, Henry VIII took it off Thomas Cranmer.
In 1566, Elizabeth gave it to the Sackville family, the Earls and Dukes of Dorset, and they have lived there to this day. Vita Sackville-West was born there and her friend, and lover, Virginia Woolf, wrote 'Orlando' about the house and family.
The pictures and fittings inside are marvelous and include portraits of many of the central players in the Tudor period as well as paintings by Van Dyck and Gainsborough.
A great day out.
John
I sure wish I lived in a place that had some history. Nothing like this in Arizona.
ReplyDeleteAfter moving from the UK to Australia, I do miss all the old castles & history (etc.). Thanks for sharing the pictures :)
ReplyDeleteDear Samurai
ReplyDeleteI am afraid we drown in history in England. You can't stick a spade in the ground without finding something from our five thousand years of civilisation.
This is particularly true of southeast England. I live on the Saxon Shore just off Watling Street, a road that was old when the Romans first marched up it.
John
Dear Jabber,
ReplyDeleteMost Australian cities get more rain than Kent as well.
John