Tiddley-Bits tea

Tiddley-Bits tea

Sunday 20 September 2015

{Bateman's Visit (Kipling's House)}

{cream tea at Kipling's home (note the author of the book!)}
I'm playing a bit of catchup in blog land. It's been a very hectic couple of weeks and apologies for missing quotable thursdays this week!
A few weekends ago my cousins took me back to Bateman's--Kipling's house in East Sussex now run by the National Trust. It's a beautiful home, a Jacobean house that has been made to feel like a warm, inviting home. So much about Kiping's life reverberates with my own ancestral links--from my great-grandfather who embarked on a journey to India in his teens to join the army (which resulted in three generations of my family in India) to Kipling's father's artistic legacy to Kipling's move to Vermont (where I myself lived for two years...)
The house is full of things from India that I myself have in my own home, from carpets to brassware to images of tea pickers. When we travelled to Lahore ten years ago to visit the sites where my father spent his very early childhood, we passed the Zam-zammah, the famous gun that begins Kipling's Kim, and how wonderful it was to peruse the treasures of the Lahore museum, known in the novel as the 'Wonder House.' Visiting Bateman's brought back so many interesting memories...
Here a few pictures of Bateman's and the beautiful surroundings:


{the oast house attached to Bateman's}







{views from the Rose Garden}


{the stunning library}
Of course the rest of the weekend was also full of fun, with amazing dinners cooked by my cousin Liz, a visit to Ingatestone Hall & countryside walks. What could be better?
{hilarious evening meal!}
{beginning the walk}
{choo & loo}


 
until next time!
xo
L

No comments:

Post a Comment