Halcyon Days

What with my return to the rat race and the preparations for next week's flea market, I'm the first to admit that my travelogue is proceeding at a snail's pace. My mind boggles at the fact that it is now well over two weeks since we've waved the cowshed goodbye! No fear of our holiday receding into the mists of time any time soon though. Courtesy of the just under a thousand photographs I've taken and the effort I made to scribble a couple of lines into my dairy in the evenings, I'm able to relive it all, one perfect day at a time.

But time marches on relentlessly, and it's almost beyond belief that in just a couple of days it will be one whole month ago since we drove through the gates of Stonecroft, Vix and Jon's wonderfully eclectic home in Walsall, on Wednesday the 12th of June.  And before I go any further, let me tell you that their home is every bit as gorgeous as it looks on her blog, and more!

Here Vix and I are posing in their garden, with the famous Kinky shed in the background, at the end of an absolutely fabulous day.  Even the weather gods were on their best behaviour, with lots of sunny spells and - gasp! - highs of 17°C.

I'd been keen to visit the upcoming Victorian Radicals exhibition in Birmingham ever since I read about it at the end of last year, and Vix's posts about her visits (here and here) had whetted my appetite even further.  However, as we weren't all too keen to drive into Birmingham, there were some logistics to sort out first. In the end, we proposed to drive over to Walsall - about an hour and a half from the cowshed - and take the X51 bus into Birmingham as mentioned by Vix on her blog.

So, that was exactly what we did and, after a catch-up over coffee and making the acquaintance of the handsome William, we walked over to the bus stop and hopped onto the fairly crowded bus for the 25 minutes or so drive into Brum.

Here, our guides swiftly walked us through the hubbub of Birmingham's city centre to Victoria Square, where they introduced us to Antony Gormley's Iron:Man and the Floozie in the Jacuzzi, whose official name is The River, by Dhruva Mistry, apparently one of the largest fountains in Europe.

Walking around the corner to the Gas Hall's entrance, we obliged Vix by posing for the obligatory photo in front of the Victorian Radicals billboard.

I'm shamelessly quoting the museum's introduction to the exhibition on their website, to give you an idea of what the exhibition is about.

Three generations of British artists, designers and makers revolutionised the visual arts in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Pre-Raphaelites, William Morris and his circle and the men and women of the Arts and Crafts movement transformed art and design.

Selected from the city of Birmingham's outstanding collection, Victorian Radicals presents vibrant paintings and exquisite drawings alongside jewellery, glass, textiles and metalwork to explore their radical vision for art and society.

Suffice to say that it was far too much to take in during one single visit. In fact, I was so overwhelmed that I didn't take nearly enough photos. Here are just a handful of the things that caught my eye.

Above, clockwise from top left: portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti - doesn't he have the most mesmerizing eyes? - by William Holman Hunt (c.1882), a selection of tiles designed ca.1863 by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, La Donna della Finestra by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1881), and Sigismonda Drinking the Poison by Joseph Edward Southall (1897).

I wouldn't have minded taking these embroidered purses and stunning jewellery home with me, although I think I might have had to share the latter with Vix.

Continuing with the favourites, below, from left: Beate Beatrix by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (completed by Ford Maddox Brown, 1877), Morgan le Fay by Frederick Sandys (1864) and A Young Woman Holding a Rose by Emma Sandys (1870-72).

Flanking Vix with her fabulous Pre-Raphaelite style hair are two stunning paintings by Kate Elizabeth Bunce ( (1858–1927), an English painter and poet, whose work falls somewhere between the Pre-Raphaelites and the Arts & Crafts movement. She was also a lecturer at Birmingham College of Art. 

On the left: Musica (1895), which you might recognize from the exhibition poster, and on the right: The Keepsake (1901). Apparently, the latter is based on a poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, called The Staff and Scrip:

'Then stepped a damsel to her side,

And spoke and needs must weep:

'For his sake, lady, if he died,

He prayed of thee to keep

This staff and scrip.'

Below, on the right is a Morris & Co. stained glass panel depicting St Mark the Evangelist, designed by Edward Burne-Jones for Merton Abbey, London (1883). On the left is a rare survival of a full-sized cartoon - using an oil painting rather than the more usual charcoal and wash drawing on paper - by Burne-Jones (1859) for a window depicting the Annunciation.

Below, clockwise from top left: lead glass flask (ca. 1870) by Thomas and Elijah Barnes, Choosing the Red and White Roses in the Temple Gardens by Henry Albert Payne (1908-10), Fiammetta (Georgie Gaskin) by Arthur Joseph Gaskin (1898), Hope comforting Love in Bondage (1901) by Sydney Harold Meteyard, Victorian gown made from William Morris fabric, originally intended for upholstery and, finally, Vix and yours truly admiring the stunning Beate Beatrix! 

Although the first edition had long been sold out, we were thrilled to see that the exhibition catalogue was available once more, so that we wasted no time in purchasing one of these hefty volumes, which Jos carried around in an appropriate Victorian Radicals canvas bag.

Meanwhile, a mirror selfie revealed that I'm shorter than Vix! And that's Jon photobombing Vix and Jos in the snapshot on the left!

It was well past midday and our stomachs were definitely rumbling by now. Guided by Vix, we made our way to the New Street branch of Medicine, a bakery, café and art gallery established on the first floor of the building which was previously home to the Royal Society of Birmingham Artists. 

Hunger pangs sated, we walked around the corner to the cathedral to admire the William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones stained glass windows. 

They were installed in 1885-87 and 1898 and depict the Ascension, the Nativity, the Crucifixion and the Last Judgement. 

Then it was back to the bus stop, where we had a bit of a wait until the X51 to Walsall rolled along. We finished the day with welcome cups of coffee, a tour of Stonecroft and, best of all, a peek inside the Kinky Melon tent. And exchanging gifts, obviously.

We were treated to handmade fabric tote bags full of goodies. 

Jos received a couple of naughty 1950s magazines, a Tala curry measure, a vintage Tala icing set, a fancy tea towel and two shirts, both of which he already wore during our holiday. 

My tote bag was filled with a gorgeous dress suit, two pairs of Snag tights - very welcome for these under par temperatures - two pots of Body Shop British Rose body butters and a handful of Ethiopian Honey face masks. When we met up a couple of days later, Vix also gave me a pot of Body Shop lip balm and Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan, which is currently awaiting its turn in my TBR pile.

All too soon, it was time to say goodbye - although not for long! - and return to the cowshed. I wish I could say our return journey was uneventful but unfortunately road works and an unexpected road closure threw some spanners in the works. Needless to say that we were exhausted when we finally made it home.

We'd already made the decision to stay closer to home on Thursday, but it was the weather forecast for rain, wind and decidedly unsummery temperatures of 10°C which cinched the deal and saw us driving down to Attingham Park. Involving a drive of just over half an hour, this National Trust owned property has a Georgian mansion at its heart which is well worth a (re)visit.

As we'd slept in a bit longer and had taken our time over breakfast and getting ready, the morning was already quite advanced when we finally trundled up its long drive. I won't mention the fact that by then we'd taken a wrong turn twice and that our silly Satnav tried to take us to the exit rather than the entrance.

Upon arrival, we took refuge inside the extensive second-hand bookshop, where I serendipitously stumbled upon the Edward Burn-Jones tone. Four Hundred Years of Fashion, based on the V&A's world famous collection, also came home with me. Then it was up to the café for lunch, where I had a ham and smoked cheddar turnover, while Jos enjoyed his first jacket potato of the holiday.

Emerging from the café, we were dismayed to find that it had got even colder and, as the first drops of the forecasted rain were starting to fall, we ditched our plans to walk down to the walled garden.

Making our way towards the mansion, we were once again shivering in spite of wearing plenty of layers, in my case including a jumper and a cardigan. The volunteers inside the Entrance Hall (above, top right) had even closed the door to keep out the chill. 

There's a degree of trickery going on here, as the Entrance Hall is decorated with fake marble pillars and mock alcoves designed to look like three dimensional ones housing classical sculptures. The fireplace is topped with a bust of William Pitt the Younger, who was Prime Minister from 1783-1806, and who created the title Lord Berwick.

From here, we wandered from room to room, trying to keep one step ahead of a group who'd entered the mansion with us, some of whose members insisted on ruining the photos I was trying to make. Needless to say, much grumbling ensued, and there was nothing for it but to keep to details when my patience finally ran out.

Nevertheless, we spent an inordinate amount of time in the Picture Gallery until it was empty of the people who were milling about here. As apparently they were waiting for the guided tour of the private two-storey apartment in the East Wing, we could somewhat relate. The scene of last year's blogger meet-up, we'd done our fair bit of waiting around for our tardy tour guide back then.

When Thomas Hill, the second Lord Berwick, inherited Attingham Park in 1789, he also inherited a substantial fortune. As was the custom at the time, Thomas took part in the Grand Tour - a tour of Europe and Italy in particular - during which he purchased a great number of paintings and sculptures. As he needed a place to house his collection, he commissioned the architect John Nash to add the picture gallery in 1805. Nash's pièce de resistance was the sumptuous Grand Staircase (above, bottom right).

After touring the ground floor, it was time to descend to the servants' quarters "below stairs", where the kitchen, butler’s pantry, and servants’ hall can be visited.

Cook had just finished a batch of mince pies and surreptitiously dashed from the kitchen to get her mobile phone to take a photograph. Not surprisingly, she strictly forbade us to take a photo of her doing so ...

As there still wasn't any improvement in the weather when we left the mansion, we decided to have a cup of cappuccino and some shortbread and then call it a day.

By the time we'd stopped for a food shop at a supermarket in Church Stretton, it had begun to rain in earnest, and we'd barely made it inside the cowshed before all hell broke loose and we were treated to a veritable storm.

I'm happy to say that, although temperatures continued to be up and down, we didn't have a repeat of Thursday's atrocious weather. 

I'll be back with more later this week. Hope to see you again then!