{Ickworth}

Last weekend my aunt from Canada was visiting and we went to Ickworth. Have you been? Fantastic place with beautiful gardens.
Some pictures to show you just how lovely it is!

{bells, just like Downton!}

{lovely neo-classical interior}

{they have two stumperies no less!}

{this storm luckily missed us!}

A walk down to the walled garden, is certainly worth it...

{the wild flowers were stunning}

xo,
L

{off to Napoli!}

Hi blogland!
It has been a crazy, busy summer, and I haven't taken any vacation...I was hoping to be done with two major deadlines--one finished, but the other isn't all finished as I'd like. But in any case, I'm off to Bella Napoli to conduct archival research and I'm looking forward to a change of pace and scene, even if it isn't a vacation.
I lived in Naples for a few months when I was conducting archival research for my PhD and then I returned again in 2011 for about a week...and now I'm headed back for three weeks to look what I can find in the archives regarding a new project that I'm undertaking, funded by a British Academy small grant.
So excited!
I've booked a lovely little flat in the centro storico near the Piazzo Plebescito--very close to the national library (Biblioteca Nazionale) and not too far from the archives. The flat is fairly simple, but it's in a famous eighteenth-century palazzo, the Palazzo Serra di Cassano, well-known for its fantastic staircase:

The palazzo was built for a wealthy Genoese merchant-banking family, which is neat, considering my research interests in the role of merchant-bankers in the kingdom of Naples, from an earlier era, that of the Aragonese (15th c).

{Piazza Plebescito}

I'm certainly excited to see what I find in the archives, but I'm also looking forward to spending my spare time (evenings and weekends) wandering the lovely streets of the city, enjoying the amazing food, and of course, taking day trips to lovely places like the Amalfi Coast and the islands.
Some pics from my previous trips to the mezzogiorno, will certainly give you an idea of what's in store!

{the streets of Naples}

oh, & the joys of the islands:

{Capri}

{Capri}

{glam!}

 & the stunning Amalfi coast (I took these with an old fashioned camera from the 60s--I love the film grain on them--no filter!!!):

{Positano}

{Positano}

 & I simply love the simplicity of Procida:

{picturesque Procida}

can't wait!
stay tuned!! & do follow me on instagram!
xo
L

{quotable thursdays}

This time next week I'll be in bella Napoli.  I'll be away for three weeks conducting archival research, funded by a British Academy grant I was awarded. More on that later, but for now, I'll leave you with a quote from Goethe, written in March 1787:

Of the situation of the city, and of its glories, which have been so often described and commended, not a word from me. "Vedi Napoli e poi muori," is the cry here. "See Naples, and die."

That no Neapolitian will allow the merits of his city to be questioned, that their poets should sing in extravagant hyperbole of the blessings of its site, are not matters to quarrel about... Here one almost casts aside all remembrances, even of Rome. As compared with this free, open situation, the capital of the world, in the basin of the Tiber, looks like a cloister built on a bad site.

-Naples, March 2, 1787.


Stay tuned for the adventures!
x
L

{quotable thursdays}

Hello Thursday! How did you get here so fast?!
Hope you all are having a good week. I've been working so hard this summer that I feel like it's come and gone with no vacation. boohoo...
But, this week I'm putting the final revisions on my book before it goes out again for review...
I have to agree with the quote below:

{until it's done}

Having printed out the entire manuscript, I was able to spend some of my time outside this week in my garden, which also reminded me that: 

{flowers}

With my shed looking all lovely, of course there are flowers to see: 

 

I'm off to my cousins for a  minibreak this weekend.

Hope you have something fab planned too.

xo

L

{sisterly visit}

{reunion at Chota House}

In July, my middle sister came for a visit with my niece & nephew.
We had loads of fun & had a great amount of time to catch up.
We went for afternoon tea at Oliver Hare & Co:

 We wandered the mews of Leighton Buzzard:

 We went to my cousins for a fab weekend in the country:

{started with evening croquet in the garden}

 We then went to Hever Castle (where Anne Boleyn grew up) and met Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII, & the ladies in waiting:

 The gardens are stunning! (not to mention the fantastic mazes: a water maze, an impossible hedge maze, and a tower maze)

{I think I might have caught a couple kissing by accident (!)}

{nice legs!}

We went punting in Cambridge (where my sister did her MPhil):

 Followed by the necessary cream tea at Grantchester (where Rupert Brooke and the Bloomsbury set used to hang out):

{gurham chai sisters (minus three!)}

{cheers!! 2 out of 5 Clark girls!}

xo,
L