On our whirlwind, 36-hour visit to Edinburgh, we realised at one point that we needed to somehow slowdown and take a moment to collect ourselves. We took a walk in East Princes Street Gardens, past the Scott Monument, and spotted the National (formerly known as the Scottish National Gallery).
It was the event that almost didn’t happen, one of those post-lockdown days that seemed doomed to be rescheduled and postponed indefinitely. Finally, after a bout of Covid and a memorial service, Sarah and I went to London for the day for a breakfast at Duck & Waffle and an afternoon at Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience.
“I dream of painting and then I paint my dream”
The exhibition is a vibrant splash of colour and light from the minute you walk through the doors. I loved the massive sunflowers!
We learned that Van Gogh had painted the same item over and over again, from different angles and different perspectives until he moved on to his next obsession.
In this section, we sat in a dark area while painting after painting appeared, all of flowers in a vase. Given my adoration of poppies, it was obvious that this was going to be my favourite one.
This was a very cool 3-D rendition of a painting. You had to stand on a box and position yourself just so to get the full 3-D effect.
A recreation of Van Gogh’s room which, again, he painted over and over again. You learn so much about Van Gogh at the exhibition including his relationship with Theo and his weakening mental state.
In the middle of the exhibition, there is an option to pay £5 extra to don a virtual reality headset. I would absolutely recommend taking this virtual tour! I loved the journey through the town Van Gogh lived in and the fields and woodlands that inspired him so.
All too soon we arrived in a large, dark room where we laid in deck chairs and watched Van Gogh’s beautiful paintings projected on the walls to soothing, tranquil music.
We were fresh from an ordeal of walking down 40 flights of stairs from the Duck & Waffle due to a power cut so we reclined in those chairs for longer than is strictly socially acceptable. Nevertheless, it was a moving, beautiful experience.
I was most amused to see two of my most recent Kindle covers during the exhibition – I recently replaced Van Gogh’s Almond Blossom with his Starry Night.
One thing I've learned about the new world is that we spend an awful lot of time planning and looking forward to things through delays, false starts and eventual happenings. This was especially true of London's The Art of Banksy exhibition. I recall waiting a very long time for the exhibition to finally open in May 2021 but by the time it did, I had much more important things on my mind as I lost my father in July. Not going to lie, last year was a tough year but it's strengthened my desire to live every minute to the full and to celebrate life in honour of those who have left us.
It was around November that my lovely friend Sarah reminded me that we promised to go to The Art of Banksy together and fresh from my fabulous day out at The Beautiful People exhibition, I went ahead and bought us tickets.
It will surprise exactly no-one to learn that I loved the exhibition. Street Art features so regularly on this blog that it has its own label and Banksy was one of my first loves. You learn very little about the elusive street artist himself but you do learn about the famous and often notorious works he has completed and the exhibitions he's put on. This exhibition was very much unauthorised but Banksy's touch was unmissable.
These were my favourite pieces.
This last one was interesting. When Banksy released his Oscar-nominated film Exit Through the Gift Shop, there was already a band with that name. They agreed to change their band name to Brace Yourself and sign over the trademark to Banksy and he painted them this backdrop as a thank you.
I don't agree with everything Banksy has done. He infamously staged the Barely Legal exhibition in Los Angeles in 2006 which featured a live, painted Indian elephant. Not cool. For the most part, I think he's one of the most important activist artists of our time and I'm dying to know who he is.
The The Art of Banksy exhibition has been extended to May 2022. Tickets cost £25 Monday to Friday and £29.50 on weekends with concessions and family tickets.
50 Earlham Street
London
WC2H 9LJ
It's Monday morning and I'm sitting in bed with a cup of coffee, celebrating one of my last days off before I start a new job in November. I'm reminiscing about the perfect weekend just gone, where I met up with old friend Mo for a day of exploring and walking around London.
Our first stop was the Beautiful People: The Boutique in 1960s Counterculture exhibition at London's Fashion and Textile Museum.
This exquisitely curated exhibition includes authentic clothing from the late 60s and early 70s, as well as photos, fliers, posters, magazines and album covers from the era, displaying how music, fashion and celebrity became intrinsically linked in the counterculture movement.
I've always adored sixties and seventies fashion and long felt that I'd been born in the wrong era. If I could go back in time, I would absolutely go to Woodstock in 1969. My obsession was influenced in part by my parents' love of music from that time as well as my mum encouraging my hippie phase.
Suffice to say, I absolutely adored this exhibition and highly recommend a visit. Read on for my highlights from our visit.
The party to end the 1960s and the beginning of the Glastonbury festival.
Clothing from the Apple boutique. I love their long, sleek lines.
I'd never heard of Granny Takes a Trip before but I think I would have loved their clothing, especially their mini-skirts and mini-dresses.
A young Mick Jagger wearing a then-vintage military jacket in 1966 (c. late 19th, early 20th century). He sparked an anti-establishmentarian trend of wearing of military clothing which really reminded me of young South Africans in the late 80s and 90s wearing their army fatigues to clubs, complete with band t-shirts and long hair.
One of my enduring memories from the early 70s is my godmother Helen and her sister Marcelle visiting us in England. I clearly recall them wearing outfits like this with knee-high boots. They must have loved the boutiques in London!
This was my favourite of all the boutiques shown, especially that exquisite mini-dress.
The rise of velvet. I confess to owning a pair of velvet knickerbockers in the early 80s. It was my favourite possession, second only to my Adam and the Ants Prince Charming LP.
While rock music and celebrity were the most prominent themes of London's counterculture, there was also an Art Deco and 1920s / 30s revival.
With The Beatles pilgrimage to India and the rise of the sitar in rock music, the Western interest in Indian clothing began. I myself was a slave to this trend, buying many silk shirts, skirts and dresses from the Oriental Plaza in Johannesburg in the 90s.
This last piece caught my eye. Althea Porter dresses retailed for an eye-watering £100 to £1000 in the late 60s / early 70s but were absolutely worth every penny. Look at the incredible quality in this piece that is evident 50 years later!
The Beautiful People exhibition runs to 13 March 2022. Our tickets cost £13 each including booking fee and museum donation.
Fashion and Textile Museum
83 Bermondsey Street
London
SE1 3XF
The Open House weekend in London is one weekend every September where buildings across the city are open to the public. It is a celebration of architecture and design and an opportunity to visit places purely based on which school of architecture they represent. When I read in my brochure that Charlton House is one of the finest and only remaining examples of Jacobean architecture in England, I knew straight away that I had to visit.
Built between 1607 and 1612, this splendid red brick building stands in the grounds of Charlton Park. It was initially built to house Sir Adam Newton, tutor to Prince Henry, son of James I but Henry died before the house was completed. The house saw a series of private owners between the 17th century and early 20th century and was sold to the council in 1925 before becoming part of the Greenwich Heritage Trust in 2014.
The house is located just a mile away from Charlton Station and two miles from Woolwich Town Centre.
Charlton House in all her glory. I loved the clock tower.
The house and gardens are really well kept and the walled gardens are definitely worth a visit. On this particular day, our focus was on the guided tours of the interior.
As soon as we entered the house, we wasted no time in climbing the original Jacobean wooden staircase and exploring the upper level. We paused on the landing to admire the perfect lawns to the rear of the house.
The Long Gallery was my second favourite room in the house. True to its name, it occupies the full 76ft length of the north wing of Charlton House and has windows to the northern, western and eastern aspects.
Looking to the north. The north wing of Charlton House was destroyed during World War II so what we see today is the result of restoration work.
The light in the Long Gallery is quite enchanting and I saw many people captivated by it, just as I was. But remember to look up if ever you find yourself in the Long Gallery.
How exquisite is the strapwork ceiling?
We managed to drag ourselves out of the Long Gallery, although we could have quite easily spent the rest of the afternoon there. We stopped only to admire the fireplace in the saloon before wandering through the upper rooms to the Dutch Room and making our way back onto the landing.
We had come full circle – that is the Long Gallery you can see up ahead. To the left in the photo below is the original oak staircase.
Just look at the detail in that wallpaper! There were in fact lovely details all around the house. As we made our way to the library in the southern wing, we spotted these Dutch tiles.
While I loved the rest of Charlton House, especially the Long Gallery, I was simply enamoured by the Old Library. When we walked in, my eyes were immediately drawn to the beautiful ceiling which just happens to be my very favourite shade of teal green.
I somehow managed to enact my old trick of taking photos and making a place appear to be empty. It really wasn’t empty at all on the day of our visit and I was simply very lucky. There was something quite magical about the Old Library and the acoustics were quite interesting too. It is no wonder that lunchtime classical concerts are held here on Fridays and it is a popular venue for weddings and events too.
After a while, not even the allure of new favourite place and endless photographic opportunities could disguise the fact that we were very hungry indeed and that the café just happened to be serving tea and cake. The good news is that Charlton House now often afternoon tea from just £11.90 per person and I’m certain I needed an excuse to take my mum out for the day.
Charlton House
Charlton Road
London
SE7 8RE
Website: Charlton House
House open: 9am to 5pm daily
Charlton House is taking part in London’s Open House on Sunday 18 September from 10am to 4pm. Guided tours will be taking place at 10am, 1pm and 2pm and admission is free.
There will also be performances featuring Nell, a munitions worker from the nearby Royal Arsenal during WWI. Performances are at 11.30am, 12.30pm and 2.30pm.
"Weird", says Stephen and he's not entirely wrong. It is a little odd to be walking in the beautiful grounds of Norfolk's Felbrigg Hall, wearing headphones and carrying an iPad for navigation. We're certainly getting a few peculiar looks from people walking their dogs.
We're taking part in Walk With Me, a 'walkscape' designed by sound artists Jeroen Strijbos and Rob van Rijswijk. The experience is primarily audial in the form of narrations, snippets of conversations, ghostly voices and musical accompaniments.
At first, the experience is quite surreal, you'll hear the beginnings of a conversation before it fades away, a strange utterance without context. Stephen might be quite right in his estimation of the experience.
At the point of the V for Victory
And then the penny drops. In the narration, a young girl is observing a couple sitting together on a bench and suddenly in front of me I see the bench. I turn around and see the V for victory and it's akin to a reverse virtual reality experience. Rather than disappearing into my head and into technology, I'm standing in this vast outdoor space and experiencing it with all my senses.
I begin to piece together the clues, as generations of voices tell their stories. They are all interconnected in some way and all are connected to Felbrigg Hall, to its history, to actual events that took place there.
The 500-year-old sessile oak tree
When we began our experience, the man from National Trust told us that there were up to 6 hours of narration available which meant that you could spend a whole day exploring the grounds. I can believe him. We never did find the ice house, having turned down the second part of the Victory V instead of heading west. But we did find the incredible 500-year-old hollow oak tree and many other treasures besides.
Inside the hollow oak tree
Incidentally, he also told us not to worry if we got lost or disappeared. The local Norfolk police would be able to track down the iPads and retrieve them, even if switched off. He mentioned nothing of our own rescue, of course. (And so we were introduced to the fantastic Norfolk sense of humour).
Back to the walk and we begin to see Felbrigg Hall to our left and know that we haven't strayed too far off the beaten track. Each time life's stresses begin to seep back into my conscious, I'm drawn back in to the narration, seeking more clues and spotting more landmarks. The church is up ahead, spotted with graves located just inside the church walls.
All too soon, we begin to spy signs of life and we find ourselves back at Felbrigg Hall. What a wonderful, exhilarating experience!
Walk With Me is a fantastic immersive experience and one that I would love to repeat, if only to find the clues that we missed and piece together more of this ghostly story.
The name ‘Felbrigg’ dates back to the Danish invasions at the end of the first millennium. In 1450, the estate passed out of the hands of the de Felbrigg family and into the hands of the Windham family where it remained until Admiral William Lukin inherited it in 1824.In 1863, a Norwich Corn Merchant by the name of John Ketton bought the estate for £77,238, the equivalent of £7.7m today. Born in 1906, Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer was the last squire of Felbrigg Hall. It is he who planted the Victory V in 1946 to commemorate VE day and the death of his brother Richard who was killed in Crete in 1940. Robert never married and bequeathed Felbrigg Hall to the National Trust on his death.
Felbrigg Hall
Felbrigg
Norwich
Norfolk
NR11 8PR
Directions: 2 miles from Cromer; off B1436, signposted from A148 and A140
[Important: do not trust your SatNav!]
The Walk With Me experience runs at Felbrigg Hall Gardens and Estate until Sunday 30 October 2016. The experience costs £8 and includes the use of iPad and headphones.
We visited Felbrigg Hall as part of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, one of the UK’s longest-running and largest international arts festivals featuring film, dance, contemporary music and a host of other events.
I’d like to thank Visit Norwich, Look Sideways–East and National Trust for inviting me to experience Walk With Me at Felbrigg Hall. Our visit was complimentary and as always, all views and enthusiam are my own.
