Places
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Mini-Post | Château de la Reine Blanche
I have just come back from a lovely week in France where we travelled for a friend’s wedding. We were lucky enough to visit Chantilly, and there was a tiny landmark in the nearby forest that I could not resist visiting, as it played a pivotal role in one of my most favourite films… In read more
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Mini-Post | Nemours Estate
Welcome to Nemours Estate, a French neoclassical mansion with very beautiful almost-Versailles landscape gardens in Delaware! Nemours was built between 1909 and 1910 by Alfred du Pont for his second wife, Alicia. Alicia had a love of all things French, which inspired much of the home. Alfred’s third wife, Jessie Ball du Pont, loved all read more
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Mini-Post | The Royal Chapel at Versailles
Six years ago today I was with two of my best friends in Paris – one was living there at the time, and we had gone to visit her. It was one of the best trips and perhaps my favourite day was the one in which we went to the Palace at Versailles. It was read more
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Getting up close with the waterlilies: Some thoughts on Monet, the Immersive Experience
Title Image: Water Lilies, 1917/19, Honolulu Museum of Art. You may have realised, if you’ve followed this blog for a while, or my Instagram account, that there are a couple of things that I really love and, not to put too fine a point on it, won’t shut up about. One is Jane Austen, another read more
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Mini-Post | Waddesdon Manor
Forever one of the country houses I’m most interested in, welcome to Waddesdon Manor, a French château in Buckinghamshire. Waddesdon was built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild and completed in 1883 – he wanted somewhere to escape from London to. (Very nice if you can!) As you may guess from the style, the architect was read more
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Mini-Post | Salem, Massachusetts
Salem is a coastal city that, before European colonisation, was lived in for thousands of years by American Indians and was part of a peninsula known as Naumkeag. Due to war, contact with settlers and a smallpox epidemic, many Naumkeag people passed away in the early seventeenth century. English settlers arrived and founded Salem in read more
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A Castle in California
No, I promise that is not the name of a Hallmark movie (though it could well be) – if you saw this photo, where in the world would you think we are? You might be surprised to find out this castle isn’t found in Italy – in actual fact, it’s found in California’s wine country, read more
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Mini-Post | Wightwick Manor
“The conditions of art should be simple. A great deal more depends upon the heart than upon the head. Appreciation of art is not secured by any elaborate scheme of learning. Art requires a good healthy atmosphere.” Oscar Wilde, “The House Beautiful” Lecture, 1882 Theodore and Flora Mander subscribed to Wilde’s ideas in this lecture, read more
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Mini-Post | The Wallace Collection
The Wallace Collection began as the art collected by the first four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace – he was probably the 4th Marquess’ illegitimate child. His widow, Julie Amelie, Lady Wallace, bequeathed it to the nation. You can find the collection at Hertford House, which was the family’s London home. The 2nd read more
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Mini-Post | The Hill Garden and Pergola
Welcome to a little corner of Hampstead, where you will find the most perfect “The Secret Garden” vibes… The Pergola at Hill Garden was originally built in the early twentieth century for Lord Leverhulme by Thomas Mawson. Funnily enough, at the same time the Pergola was being built, the Northern underground line was being extended read more
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