I see that now I am even more behind than usual - mostly because my days have been so full I hardly ever get time to write anything. We don't seem to have been in our own house for more than a few hours for ages - though we have managed to fit in a few days out.
The weather hasn't been good - and some sunny days have been spent slaving away in somebody else's house or garden, of which possibly more later. However, we did manage one day out for the Spring Bank Holiday, and it was a lovely sunny day, though there was a cold wind.
We didn't make a very early start, so we decided to go to Titsey Place, which is close by and only open in the afternoon. The house is normally only open two days a week, though the garden is open three days a week, but we were able to see both house and garden as they are also open on Bank Holidays.
I'd have liked to include some photographs of the inside of the house, but no photographs are allowed and entry to the house is by tour only, so there are only exterior photographs.
It is a very interesting area, having been inhabited since earliest times - there are Iron Age remains and items from the two Roman sites in the tiny museum inside the house. Titsey was mentioned in Doomsday Book (1086) and the estate was owned in the Middle Ages by the Uvedale family and was bought in 1534 (during the reign of Henry VIII) by John Gresham. I imagine that's the family that were ultimately responsible for Gresham's Bank. John's nephew Richard is rather better known, as he became Chancellor to Elizabeth I.
The family fortunes waxed and waned - the Greshams supported the King in the Civil War, and the house was taken over by Parliamentarians in 1643, thought it was later returned. By 1750 the house was rather dilapidated, and was largely demolished and was re-built in the Georgian style in 1775 by Sir John Gresham. He died leaving only a daughter to inherit, and she married William Leveson Gower, so the family name changed.
Leveson Gower is one of those strange British names which is not pronounced the way it is spelled - it's pronounced Looson Gore! Anyway, he was a cousin of the Duke of Sutherland, and it has always remained a wealthy family. Having no children, the last surviving Leveson Gower brothers, Richard and Thomas, appointed David Innes as their heir. Thomas had been appointed guardian to David Innes under the will of his father who had been a close family friend of the brothers and their parents. Together they established a body called the Titsey Foundation to preserve the house and garden and open them to the public. The last surviving Leveson Gower brother, Thomas, died in 1992.
The house is extremely interesting inside, still having regency plastered cornices, panelling, and marble mantelpieces. What interested us greatly was the collection of old masters - there are family portraits by Joshua Reynolds and Peter Lely, as well as four stunning paintings by Canaletto in the dining room.
Below is a view of the house
The original simple flat-fronted Georgian house has been added to and re-modelled in 1826 and 1856.
The gardens are extensive and stunning.
This is the view from below the house, looking down towards the lake. The views are embellished by many fine mature trees.
This is a view of the lake itself, with a fountain playing in the centre.
A dam creates the lake from a river, which flows out of it.
This is the river below the lake, which has a pretty bridge over it. It seems to be quite a popular picnic spot!
My last view is taken from the lake, looking back up to the house.
The huge chestnut tree is in flower, and you can see the other even more enormous tree behind it, with the house in the background.
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