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Tag: Royal Oak Foundation

  • Thursday, May 18, 2:00 pm Eastern (Live) and Friday, May 19 – Monday, June 5 (Recorded) – At Home with Beatrix Potter at Hill Top, Online

    Author and artist Beatrix Potter’s universe of characters have delighted readers for 120 years, since the first publication of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. She combined first-hand scientific observation with an imaginative hand-painted world of animals and gardens to become one of the most celebrated children’s authors.

    In 1905 with the proceeds of her first ‘little books’, Potter bought Hill Top, a working farm in the English Lake District. She escaped from London as often as she could, to stay at her rural retreat, to draw, write, and immerse herself in country life. Beatrix drew inspiration from the house and nearly every room in the house is recognizable from her illustrations.

    Many pieces of furniture were copied for her books: the dresser in Hall with its rows of blue and white plates that appeared in The Tale of Samuel Whiskers; the clock on the landing, next to the 18th century window, where Tabitha Twitchit stood; the dressing mirror that featured in The Tale of Tom Kitten.

    In the garden, the green gate to the vegetable garden is unchanged from the days of Jemima Puddle-Duck. Today, Hill Top also tells the story of the author, her interests and activities through her collections of furniture, ceramics and artwork. In 1913, Potter married William Heelis and she turned to farming and raising sheep as she settled into married life. As Mrs. Heelis, Beatrix dedicated herself to the preservation of her beloved landscape and the traditional farming culture. Upon her death in 1943, she left a significant bequest of over 4,000 acres of land, 15 farms and cottages to the National Trust.

    Alice Sage, Property Curator of Hill Top & Beatrix Potter Gallery, will talk about the author’s life and her devotion to the Lake District, often featured in her artistic works. She will lead us on a visual tour of Potter’s house and garden. She will highlight interior vignettes featured in her books and explain the hidden stories behind Potter’s treasured possessions.

    The Zoom webinar is $15 for Royal Oak members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.royal-oak.org/events/spring-2023-lectures-and-tours/beatrix-potter/

  • Monday, May 29 – Saturday, June 3 – Gardens of the Cotswolds

    This spring join the Royal Oak Foundation for a special garden tour in the Cotswolds. Dream of the English countryside, with gently rolling hills and picture-perfect traditional villages and you may well have a vision of the Cotswolds. Close to London and Oxford, yet still unspoiled, this sought-after area with its gorgeous gardens and royal connections is our destination for spring 2023.

    Staying at a luxurious historic inn in the charming village of Broadway, we will be shown famous and influential gardens such as Hidcote, now in the care of the National Trust and neighboring Kiftsgate, with its monumental rambling rose. We will also have special access to a number of secret private gardens where owners have created their own horticultural paradise.

    We can compare the design and planting of Tudor knot gardens, cottage gardens, organic gardens and walled gardens and admire features from romantic temples and grottoes to imaginative topiary and striking contemporary sculpture. A crowning highlight, subject to confirmation, will be a visit to Highgrove, the garden of His Majesty The King, a pioneer of organic gardening.

    Your tour will be accompanied by art historian and garden lover Rosalind Malandrinos who lives in the Cotswolds and is a guide at Sudeley Castle. For brochure and more information, visit HERE. The sign up deadline is January 27!

    Kiftsgate

  • Tuesday, May 24, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – ‘A Heaven on Earth: William Morris’ Kelmscott Manor, Online

    Kelmscott Manor, Oxfordshire, is a rambling, limestone-built farmhouse that was the country home of writer and designer William Morris from 1871 until his death in 1896. It was also home to his wife Jane (‘Janey’), their children Jenny and May, and his friend, poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who shared it with them from 1871 until 1874. William Morris’s life and work as poet and designer, conservationist and socialist campaigner have made Kelmscott Manor internationally famous.

    Morris thought of it as ‘a Heaven on Earth’, and loved every aspect of its ancient stone architecture, its barns, and meadows, and the village houses and landscape around it. The house remained the home of Morris’s wife Jane until her death in 1913 Their daughter May bequeathed the house after her death in 1938 to the University of Oxford. In the 1960s it passed to the Society of Antiquaries of London. Kelmscott has undergone a major programme of research and refurbishment, including returning some lost colour schemes, and recreating lost hangings and hand blocked wallpaper. The house will re-open to the public in April 2022.

    Historian Jeremy Musson, FSA, author of the new guidebook on Kelmscott Manor will tell the story of the house and its remarkable owners, William and Jane Morris. He will illustrate the interiors and talk about the artistic and creative connections of this architectural treasure. This Royal Oak lecture will be live on May 24 at 2 pm Eastern, or you may rent a recording of the talk to watch between May 25 and June 6, at your convenience. $15 Royal Oak Foundation members, $20 nonmembers. Register at https://www.royal-oak.org/events/spring-2022/heaven/

    Jeremy Musson is a leading commentator and authority on the English Country House. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and sits on a number of boards and trusts including the Country House Foundation. He was awarded an M Phil in Renaissance History at the Warburg Institute, University of London, in 1989 and was Architectural Editor of Country Life from 1995-2007. Before joining Country Life in 1995, Mr. Musson was an assistant regional curator for the National Trust in East Anglia, curating historic houses such as Ickworth House, and at the same time setting up the research and interpretation of new sites such as, the ex-bomb testing range and nature reserve at Orford Ness in Suffolk. He has written and edited hundreds of articles on historic country houses, from Garsington Manor to Knebworth House. Mr. Musson also presented 14 programs on BBC 2, making up two series called The Curious House Guest, in 2005-07, and he also lectures and supervises for academic programmes with Cambridge University, London University and Buckingham University, and the Attingham Summer School. His books include Up and Down Stairs: The History of the English Country House Servant (2009), English Country House Interiors (2011), Robert Adam: Country House Design, Decoration & the Art of Elegance (2017), The Country House: Past, Present, Future: Great Houses of the British Isles (2018), and Romantics and Classics: Style in the English Country House (Rizzoli, 2021).

  • Sunday, September 11 – Sunday, September 18 – The Regal Estates & Jacobean Manors of Norfolk and Suffolk

    A defining period of British history and culture; for the first time Scotland, Wales and England were united under one monarch, the Jacobean era left its indelible mark on many of England’s historic houses. The Jacobean style can be characterized by flamboyant design and extravagant detailing both inside and out. From the unique architectural style of Ickworth to the sumptuous interiors of Blickling Hall, we discover the homes of Britain’s aristocracy while also exploring the historic cities of Cambridge and Norwich, which flourished during this period. This Royal Oak Foundation Tour, in association with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Albion Tours, will take a splendid one week trip to England this September.

    Special extras included in your itinerary
    • Guided walking tour of Cambridge
    • High tea at Sandringham
    • Guided gardens tour at Blickling Hall
    • Guided tour of Ickworth House
    • Guided walking tour of Flatford
    • Introductory talk at the Guildhall of Corpus Christi, Lavenham
    • Exclusive out-of-hours Champagne guided tour of Hatfield House including champagne greeting, a two-hour guide and complimentary guidebook
    • Themed evening talk by a guest speaker

    There will be gardens, fabulous gardens. Sandringham’s mostly informal gardens include woodland walks, rockeries, magnificent sweeping lawns, lakes and streams and the more formal North Garden. Ickworth’s impressive Italianate garden mirrors the house architecture, with box hedges and Mediterranean planting plus a Victorian stumpery planted with shade-loving ferns. You will roam the Suffolk countryside with a guided walk to discover the locations immortalized by John Constable’s most famous paintings; created around the hamlet of Flatford in the heart of beautiful Dedham Vale. You will continue on to The Vyne, a splendid Tudor red-brick mansion set in 13 acres of attractive gardens. For complete itinerary and hotel information, visit www.albionjourneys.com

    Ickworth House Gardens

  • Sunday, June 5 – Tuesday, June 14 – Glorious Gardens & Grandeur of North Wales

    North Wales, a land blessed with rugged mountains, beautiful beaches and picturesque villages is also home to some of the most striking gardens in the UK, many of which surround magnificent houses with centuries of history to uncover. From world-renowned gardens to hidden gems, we encounter a remarkable array of sweeping landscapes, woodlands, valleys and displays of abundant flowers and shrubs which thrive in the unique climate of this region. The Royal Oak Society, in conjunction with Albion Tours, has created a special trip June 5 – 14. A complete itinerary may be found at https://www.albionjourneys.com/item/100/Literature/Glorious-Gardens–Grandeur-of-North-Wales.html

    Special extras included in your itinerary
    • Guided walking tour of Stratford-upon-Avon
    • Guided tour and lunch at Plas Cadnant Hidden Gardens
    • Guided tour and refreshments at Plas Tan y Bwlch
    • Guided tour of Erddig Hall House and Gardens
    • Boat cruise with fish and chips supper
    • Guided tour of Portmeirion
    • Heritage train journey on the Welsh Highland Railway
    • Guided tour and lunch at Tatton Park
    • Guided tour and lunch at Waterperry Gardens
    • Themed evening talk by a guest speaker

    Plas Cadnant Hidden Gardens

  • Tuesday, April 20, 2:00 pm – The Naturally Beautiful Garden: Designs That Engage with Wildlife and Nature, Online

    Drawing from her new book The Naturally Beautiful Garden: Designs That Engage with Wildlife and Nature (Rizzoli, April 2021), Kathryn Bradley-Hole will consider ‘what makes a naturally beautiful garden?’ Interest in growing plants and creating attractive spaces that support pollinators, birds, and other wildlife is a recurrent theme in garden-making today. This online illustrated lecture will be held on April 20 at 2 pm and sponsored by The Royal Oak Foundation. $15 Royal Oak members, $20 general public. Register at https://www.royal-oak.org/events/spring-2021-online/naturally-beautiful-garden/

    Often it goes hand in hand with organic principles that shun the use of short-term, quick-fix chemical solutions. Kathryn will illustrate inspiring contemporary gardens that exemplify these principles from the UK and across the globe.

    These gorgeous gardens are located in a broad variety of climates and feature correspondingly varied flora, which support their local fauna in engaging ways! From 21st century public green spaces to modern cottage gardens, and from large country gardens to intimate city courtyards these gardens benefit people of all ages who use them, bringing the beauties of Nature close to hand.

    Kathryn Bradley-Hole’s distinguished career as a horticultural writer includes 18 years as Gardens Editor of the iconic English weekly magazine, Country Life, between 2000 and 2018. She has authored six books on a variety of garden subjects, including the bestselling BBC “Gardeners’ World” Garden Lovers’ Guide to Britain and Lost Gardens of England from the Archives of Country Life; and English Gardens from the Archives of Country Life Magazine (October 2020).

    A Fellow of the Linnean Society, her personal gardening interests focus in achieving visual harmony with the broader landscape and creating environments that assist wildlife. Her personal gardening interests focus on achieving visual harmony with the broader landscape and creating environments that assist wildlife

  • Thursday, April 15, 2:00 pm – The Long Weekend: Life in the English Country House, 1918 – 1939, Online

    It is said that there is nothing quite as beautiful as an English country house in summer. And there has never been a summer quite like the summers between the two world wars, a period in which the sun set slowly on the British Empire and the shadows lengthened on the lawns of a thousand stately homes.

    Life in the English country house during this period was often punctuated by glamorous parties and decadent gatherings, with all of the occupants above and below stairs conspiring to protect the idea and image of the country house.

    Join historian and author Adrian Tinniswood and the Royal Oak Foundation on April 15 at 2 pm as he discusses and illustrates these houses—some designed by the leading architects of the period such as Edwin Lutyens and Philip Tilden while others were bought up by the newly rich and “historicized” with salvaged bits from elsewhere. He will show some of the modernized new Art Deco decoration, such as the onyx-walled bathroom at Middleton Park, as well as the old faded grandeur of the inherited country house.

    But above all, he will explore these homes through the lends of the house parties, or Saturday-to-Mondays, full of exhausting dress codes, extravagant parties, a full schedule of activities (including corridor creeping!), and a generation of characters. From society decorator Sibyl Colefax, burning rosemary on saucers so that her Chelsea villa might smell enticing to guests she hoped to bag as clients; to the future Edward VIII doing his needlepoint on a low modern sofa at the newly remodeled Fort Belvedere in Windsor Great Park.

    Drawing on hundreds of memoirs and unpublished letters and diaries, on the eye-witness testimonies of belted earls and unhappy heiresses, Tinniswood’s lecture is filled with entertaining stories and gossip more fantastical than Downton Abbey.

    Adrian Tinniswood is a Senior Research Fellow in History at the University of Buckingham. He is the author of 15 books on architectural and social history including the New York Times bestseller The Long Weekend: Life in the English Country House Between the Wars and Behind the Throne: A Domestic History of the Royal Household.

    His most recent book is The House Party: A Short History of Leisure, Pleasure and the Country House Weekend. Tinniswood was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to heritage.

  • Tuesday, April 6, 2:00 pm – Romantic Irish Country Houses, Online

    What is it that gives the Irish house such a distinctive character? Why should their personality—and that of their owners—be so often idiosyncratic and eccentric? And how is it that there remains plenty of houses where shabby chic has been the norm for generations?

    In an amusing and informative Royal Oak Foundation online talk on April 6 at 2 pm, mixing history with anecdote, author Robert O’Byrne offers a tour of some of Ireland’s unusual houses.

    These include the family home whose present occupant has rescued everything connected with his ancestors—including their tombstones. And a house where so much plaster had already fallen off the walls that its owner simply took a hammer to clear away the rest. Then there is the stately home where the maid reputedly fell through the ceiling—landing safely on the dining room table. Robert’s introduction to these houses’ history and unique characteristics will entertain and enlighten.

    Robert O’Byrne is a writer and lecturer specialising in the fine and decorative arts. He is the author of more than a dozen books, among them Luggala Days: The Story of a Guinness House (Cico Books); Romantic Irish Homes, Romantic English Homes: A Tribute to Desmond FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin (Lilliput Press), and The Irish Aesthete: Ruins of Ireland (2019).

    A former Vice-President of the Irish Georgian Society and trustee of the Alfred Beit Foundation, he is currently a trustee of the Apollo Foundation. Among other work he writes a monthly column for Apollo magazine, and also contributes to each issue of the quarterly Irish Arts Review.

    $20. Register HERE

  • Wednesday, February 3, 2:00 pm – Eltham Palace and Gardens: Medieval Palace and Millionaire’s Mansion, Online

    Wednesday, February 3, 2:00 pm – Eltham Palace and Gardens: Medieval Palace and Millionaire’s Mansion, Online

    Eltham Palace in Southeast London has an 800-year history of luxury and glamour. In her richly illustrated Royal Oak Foundation February 3 online lecture, Dr. Dominique Bouchard will explore the story of Eltham from its first mention in the Domesday survey of 1086, to its role as the 1490s boyhood home of King Henry VIII, to its transformation into a chic Art Deco residence.

    In its early history Eltham was renovated and added onto by England’s most famous kings and queens so much so that by the late 16th century it was larger and more ornate than Hampton Court Palace! By the early 17th century, however, Eltham fell into decline. During the English Civil War, Parliamentary troops ransacked the palace, after which it remained a ruin for more than 250 years. In 1936 it was saved and transformed by eccentric millionaires Stephen and Virginia Courtauld. They combined the medieval hall with a new, ultra-modern 1930s Art Deco residence. After WWII the Ministry of Works became responsible for management of the palace. English Heritage took over in 1995 and is restoring the interiors of the 20th-century house and the gardens to their 1930s Courtauld-era appearance.

    Dr. Dominique Bouchard is Head of Learning and Interpretation at English Heritage where she leads teams delivering award-winning interpretation and exhibitions, publishing, learning, youth engagement, digital curatorial and contemporary arts commissioning across more than 420 historic buildings, monuments and sites, from Stonehenge to Hadrian’s Wall and from Osborne House to a Cold War bunker in York. She has led exhibitions, public programmes and learning in museums in Hong Kong, Ireland and the UK. Dominique holds a BS in Applied Physics and BA in Mathematics from Columbia University in New York and received her DPhil at the University of Oxford in classical archaeology. Her doctoral research explored the relationship between public art, identity and power in Medieval and early Renaissance south Italy. Dominique is a trustee of the William Morris Society and has worked as expert consultant for the European Commission, Council of Europe and UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the area of museums, heritage and divided societies.

    $20 general admission. Registration required. Visit https://www.royal-oak.org/events/winter-2021-online-lectures-tours-eltham-palace-and-garden/

  • Video Tour of the Gardens at Anglesey Abbey

    Though the Abbey has medieval roots, the gardens date mainly from the 20th Century and were designed by owner, Lord Fairhaven and his friend Major Vernon Daniel. Take a five minute online garden tour with the Royal Oak Foundation by visiting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a83FFAMPfZc&feature=youtu.be

    Lord Fairhaven designed his Cambridgeshire garden around personal taste and his regular routine of entertaining guests, with something to show them each and every season. Today, the gardens still follow the same seasonal pattern. In this video, Garden and Outdoors Manager Tom Fradd takes us on an exclusive tour, including the working areas not normally seen by the public, to show you how he and his team keep it looking so good.