{"id":6055,"date":"2023-06-09T23:17:27","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T23:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/walsallntassn.co.uk\/?page_id=6055"},"modified":"2025-06-19T09:41:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T09:41:21","slug":"holiday-23","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/walsallntassn.co.uk\/index.php\/holiday-23\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Historic Houses of Sussex<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Scotney Castle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Our first stop en route to the Hydro Hotel in Eastbourne was at Penshurst Place near Tonbridge in Kent. This was the home of the Sidney family for over 450 years.  Rarely do we see buildings dating back to the 14th century and the Barons Hall is considered one of the finest examples of its kind.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is 60 feet tall and the roof timbers are still in their original condition. The long gallery was used as a location in the filming of \u201cWolf Hall\u201d.  A fine, sunny day meant we could explore and enjoy the extensive gardens.
On Tuesday we were joined by our Blue Badge guide to visit Scotney Castle and Bateman\u2019s. Our guide, Wilf, accompanied us for three days sharing his vast knowledge of the area and entertaining us with his dry humour, but that is another story!  The hillside gardens at Scotney, overlooking the Medway valley, were spectacular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bateman\u2019s was the home of Rudyard Kipling and was full of memorabilia.  Most of the rooms, including his study, were as Kipling left them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday\u2019s visit to Standen House, the \u201cArts and Crafts\u201d inspired family home of the Beale family, was many people\u2019s highlight of the week. The house has a comfortable, homely feel about it and is furnished with many William Morris wallpapers and fabrics. A temporary exhibition of the sketches of the very talented Maggie Beale, many enlarged and printed on silk, made the visit even more remarkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day was complete with a sunny afternoon in Eastbourne with a leisurely stroll along the promenade, a trip on the open-topped bus or some retail therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday was another beautiful sunny day and our visit to Michelham Priory included a guided tour.  The Priory has a very mixed history.  Although founded by Augustinian canons in 1229, the site suffered destruction caused by the dissolution of the monasteries in the Tudor period and became a private house.  The gardens are vast and have a very peaceful feel to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Michelham, we explored the town of Lewes and then visited Anne of Cleves house.  Anne received the house along with eight other properties as part of her divorce settlement from Henry VIII.  She didn\u2019t live in the house, preferring Hever Castle.  The house is a great example of a late medieval building. On the way home we stopped at Chartwell, the impressive home , studio and gardens of Sir Winston Churchill.  The house contains an extensive exhibition of personal belongings, photographs and gifts.  The studio displays the largest single collection of Churchill\u2019s paintings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The week went very quickly and was filled with a range of experiences.  The weather was lovely all week. Many thanks to Louise and Tom and our driver, Richard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Historic Houses of Sussex Our first stop en route to the Hydro Hotel in Eastbourne was at Penshurst Place near Tonbridge in Kent. This was the home of the Sidney family for over 450 years.  Rarely do we see buildings dating back…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6055","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/walsallntassn.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/walsallntassn.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/walsallntassn.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walsallntassn.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walsallntassn.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6055"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/walsallntassn.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7770,"href":"https:\/\/walsallntassn.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6055\/revisions\/7770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/walsallntassn.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}