Category: Kristine Hughes

LOOSE IN LONDON: BELOW STAIRS AT OSTERLEY PARK

Kristine here, picking up at Osterley Park where Victoria left off. We took the train out to Osterley and walked to the estate from the station. It was a glorious walk and seeing the grounds from different viewpoints was indeed special.
MAP OF ESTATE, CROPPED
As we began our walk towards the house, we noticed horses loose in the paddock and, of course, we were compelled to speak to them, to pet them and to take about 718 photos of them.

As you can see by the photos, the horses were quite friendly. I was a tad surprised
 to see a Palomino in England, but then, why shouldn’t there be?

Further up the drive, we spotted a pair playing table tennis. 
At last, we reached the house, as you are well aware after Victoria’s fabulous photos that ran in last Friday’s post. The house was just stunning and I spent much of our time there taking pictures of the architectural details and of the views from various windows, all of which I’ll be sharing here soon.
Osterley’s downstairs is as fabulous as its upstairs as the domestic areas in the basement remain relatively in their original state – and there are so many of them, more than can be seen in other stately homes.

I apologize for the shaky photos, but they may still go a ways towards showing you how well turned out some of the “servants” rooms were. Above is the game keepers room, the house keepers salon below. 

You can tell that the servants were valued at Osterley Park – 
they actually had windows to provide light, fresh air and a view. 

Here is the wine room – barrels of wine and beer would have been fitted into each compartment. 

More wine! And champagne! Sadly, there was no tasting on this tour. 

Even the Osterley horses were well regarded, as evidenced by the grand stable block above, now fitted out with a gift shop and tea room.  
As you can see by the photos below, Victoria and I stopped by the Osterley farm stand on our way back to the station.  The fruit and veg were simply gorgeous and Victoria and I snapped away with our cameras until I had a laughing fit. 
“What’s so funny,” Victoria asked as I doubled over with laughter.
“We’re taking a hundred pictures of cabbage,” I said, tears running down my face.
“So?” Victoria replied, snap snapping away with her camera.
“Oh, God,” I said, “Veg! We’re photographing veg. Would you take pictures of cabbage and potatoes if we were in the produce section at Publix?”
Victoria finally saw the humour and began laughing herself. “But it’s British veg.”
“I know! That’s what’s so funny. If anyone saw us, they’d think we were from some third world country where onions are a luxury. Thank God no one else is here – they’d think we were mad.”
“Now you’re worried about that? It’s too late. People who know us already think we’re mad.”

More Loose in London Coming Soon!


WATERLOO WEDNESDAY: SEAN BEAN TO STAR IN WATERLOO DOCUMENTARY

Actor Sean Bean has been spotted filming at Chatham’s Fort Amherst. The star joined dozens of re-enactors at the Napoleonic fort to make a Battle of Waterloo documentary.

Fort Amherst was used extensively during the filming of acclaimed television series Sharpe in the 1990s, which starred Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier in the Napoleonic Wars.

Actor and director Sean Bean
Actor and director Sean Bean

He was back at the Fort in Dock Road to front the two-hour show to be aired on History UK.
Through the analysis of present-day military experts and the use of historical eyewitness accounts, the programme is planning to provide a ground-level perspective on the events of June 18, 1815.
It will air on the 200th anniversary of the battle in June this year.

Sean spent the day working with a team of soldiers and experts, testing the weapons and tactics that shaped the outcome of the battle. Guns and cannons were fired throughout the day. He said: “I am excited to be following the footsteps of Sharpe and those who fought in the Battle of Waterloo to tell the story of this iconic battle on History.”

Guns and cannons were fired throughout the day and could be heard all around Chatham during the filming on Sunday. Chairman of Fort Amherst Trust Les Snowdon said: “It was freezing cold but everyone stayed in great spirits all day, including Sean who arrived at 9.15am and didn’t leave until about 6pm.”

The Fort was filled with reenactors
     

The Fort was filled with re-enactors. Picture: Colin Davis

The filming at Fort Amherst
     
The filming at Fort Amherst. Picture: Colin Davis

Edmund Gulvin, a trustee and a Napoleonic re-enactor, enjoyed the day from start to finish.
He said: “It was amazing to see the artillery being used surrounded by so many uniformed soldiers.
“It really brought history alive – and as that’s one of our main objectives here at Fort Amherst we’re very grateful to the documentary makers for choosing our site for filming.”

Executive producer Patrick McGrady said: “We are excited to be embarking on a partnership with History to tell the story of Waterloo. “His interest in this period makes Sean Bean the perfect choice to present this special program.”



From the website The Mighty Bean:

Actor Sean Bean is to present a two-hour documentary marking the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo for pay-TV broadcaster History.

The A+E Networks UK channel has commissioned Wavelength Films, which produced BBC4’s Stephen Fry And The Gutenberg Press and Suggs’ Italian Job for Sky Arts, to make The Battle Of Waterloo Presented By Sean Bean (w/t).

It will air in June 2015 around the anniversary of the epic battle, in which Napoleon’s French Army was defeated in Belgium. Game Of Thrones star Bean will be familiar with the story, having played Richard Sharpe in ITV’s Napoleonic War drama Sharpe, based on Bernard Cornwell’s novels about a fictional soldier.

History and H2 director of programming Rachel Job said Bean was top of the list of talent to front the documentary. “We didn’t go after him in a massive way because we thought he’s really busy and really famous, and then Wavelength came to us with him and the idea about Waterloo,” she said. “It’s about picking the subject matter that the talent wants to do, and he’s always been interested in Waterloo and the Napoleonic War.”

The Battle Of Waterloo Presented By Sean Bean will use evidence from eyewitness accounts alongside present-day military experts to tell the story of the battle. Bean will work with these experts to test the weapons and tactics that shaped the outcome of the conflict and compare them with modern strategies.

Job said the commission highlights History’s strategy of presenting traditional documentaries “through a different lens” and follows Bannockburn, a graphic novel-style film produced by Sky Vision and Arcadia Content.

The Battle Of Waterloo Presented By Sean Bean has also been prebought by History’s sister channels in Germany, Latin America, Italy, Iberia, Australia and New Zealand. Job said although it is a UK commission, these deals will help boost the show’s budget. “As soon as I mentioned it to the other channels, they jumped on it. Game Of Thrones is massive around the world,” she added. The doc begins filming in the UK and Belgium this month. It will be executive produced by Wavelength Films’ Patrick McGrady.



LOOSE IN LONDON: STROLLING LONDON

After leaving Sir John Soane’s House, Victoria, Marilyn and myself made our way over to Covent Garden – land of flower sellers, ladies of ill repute and some nefarious goings on. And that’s just today. Seriously, though, it would have been nice to see some of the old street sellers who once haunted this market. As usual, I found that with a little imagination, there are glimpses of the old market to still be seen today.

Before we explored any further, we decided that a spot of lunch wouldn’t go amiss and we left the Market in search of food.

We soon found ourselves in front of the Marquess of Angelsey pub. Now, this would have been a spot that spoke to Waterloo hearts if Victoria and I hadn’t known what was waiting for us just a street away.

The Blue Plaque explains that the offices of Charles Dickens’ magazine, All The Year Round, were once located in this building.
And just down at the corner . . . . . our favourite Duke of Wellington pub, not to be confused with the Duke of Wellington pub near our hotel in Kensington where we’d already eaten twice.

It was a glorious day and we opted for an outside table, where we ordered small plates and shared a meal.
Afterwards, we went back to Covent Garden so that Marilyn could see more of it.
Buskers/mimes in front of St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden
We were lucky enough to be strolling by as an opera singer was belting out Ave Maria.
 The flower market now (above) and then (below).
We strolled by the ubiquitous Covent Garden pigeons. Alas, no Audrey Hepburn in sight.
The entrance to St. Paul’s Churchyard, now (above) and then (below).

Rear of St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden which opens on a small rose garden that happened to be gloriously in bloom when we visited.

Roses behind St. Paul’s Church
Leaving the churchyard, we found ourselves near Bedford Court, where we grabbed a cab and went to my favourite antique dealer in Cecil Court.
To my great delight, they had a Copeland bust of the Duke of Wellington after Comte D’Orsay, 1846.
The Duke and all his acquaintances thought that D’Orsay’s work was the best likeness of Wellington. I did, too, and so Reader, I bought it. I was smart enough to ask them to hold on to the bust until my return to London in a week’s time.  
Being that Victoria and Marilyn were still in a shopping mood, we hoofed it over to Liberty’s before meeting up with Diane for dinner at Burger Lobster in Curzon Street.  Diane had been meeting with her Mills and Boon editors in Richmond, so she had lots to tell us in between our accounts of a busy day.  Here’s her website and book info.

After a fabulous meal, Victoria and I took Diana and Marilyn on an impromptu walking tour of Mayfair, which included a stroll past Beau Brummell’s house in Chesterfield Street.
The Beau’s House, #4 Chesterfield Street, sports two blue plaques: one for the Beau (1778-1840), the other for former PM Anthony Eden, Lord Avon (1897-1977), in office 1955-57.
At the top of the street, we turned onto Charles Street, which is chock full of period architectural detail. Here is #22 Charles Street, once the home of
HRH Prince William, Duke of Clarence,
 later King William IV who reigned from 1830-37.
We walked the Regency streets for a while longer, but by this time, we were all fairly tired and so we headed back to the hotel and called it a day. And what a day it had been. Needless to say, the four of us laid our tired heads upon our pillows and looked forward to our next adventure.
More Loose in London coming soon!

WATERLOO WEDNESDAY – WELLINGTON AND THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO – FREE ONLINE COURSE

Wellington and the Battle of Waterloo

Mark the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo in 2015
and explore the Duke of Wellington’s archive
with this free online course.

About the course

The Battle of Waterloo was one of the key events of nineteenth-century history, but why was it fought, who was involved and what were consequences? This free online course will answer these questions, marking the 200th anniversary of Waterloo on 18 June 2015.

Forming a coalition to defeat Napoleon

We will explain why Europe had been at war almost continuously since 1793; how a peace settlement in 1814 had followed the abdication of Napoleon as Emperor of the French; and how further negotiations were under way at the Congress of Vienna when Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815.

The process of gathering military support and a legal basis for a further campaign against Napoleon will be explored, as well as the ways in which a coalition of Allied Powers assembled an army, led by the Duke of Wellington, to fight the French.

We will examine sources from the Battle of Waterloo itself — from official despatches to the voice of the individual soldier — and consider the ways in which different interpretations arise, before discussing the immediate consequences of the battle and the peace settlement that followed.
The course will conclude by examining the longer-term place of Waterloo and Wellington in commemoration and memory, the arts and popular culture, and the connections that were made to nineteenth-century ideas of heroism, nationality and identity.

Exploring the Duke of Wellington’s archive

We will use the University of Southampton’s Wellington Archive — a collection of over 100,000 items from the Duke’s military and political career — to contextualise the battle and the role of Wellington in commanding the allied forces against Napoleon.

You will learn with Professor Chris Woolgar, Professor of History and Archival Studies, who has an international academic reputation as a Wellington scholar and archivist, and Karen Robson, Head of Archives at the University of Southampton Library.

  • FREE online course
  • Duration: 3 weeks
  • 4 hours pw
  • Certificates available

                 

Requirements – This course is aimed at both A-level students and anyone with an interest in politics or European and military history.

Get a personalised, printed certificate – You can buy a Statement of Participation for this course — a personalised, printed certificate to show that you’ve taken part.  
Join the conversation on social media- Use the hashtag #FLwellington to join and contribute to social media conversations about this course.
 

LOOSE IN LONDON: THE TALE OF THE SHOES

So, the tale of Kristine’s shoes continues. If you thought, because my feet hadn’t been mentioned in the last few posts, that the problem had resolved itself, not so. I was still in pain, still bandaging my feet every morning and every eve. When last we left you, we had all been reunited with Victoria in the tea tent behind Buckingham Palace. Whilst I was glad to be reunited with Victoria, I was having a hard time keeping the grimace off my face. I had that morning decided to wear a shorter pair of black boots for our Royal Day Out, and they worked out fine – until the late afternoon, when they began to attack all the spots on my feet that hadn’t been torn to shreds previously. By the end of our day, I was in real pain.

I must say that the Royals have really got the tourist dollar thing down to a science. When you end the tour of Buckingham Palace, they see that you exit at the tea tent, which leads down a lane to a huge gift shop, which then exits you onto a path through the royal gardens behind the Palace. All of which would have been a delight if every single step wasn’t outright torture.

You’ve no idea how happy I was when we made a pit stop at the Bag O’ Nails in Buckingham Palace Road for a much needed drink.

Now, I’m skipping ahead a bit here in order to tie up the tale of the shoes and for all of us to be done with the state of my feet. If you recall, our Royal Day Out took place on the Sunday, so all shops were shut. No hope of buying an alternate, comfortable pair of shoes. Next day, Victoria, Marilyn and I visited the Soane Museum, Covent Garden, the Duke of Wellington Pub and Cecil Court, amongst other places. I promise that we’ll be covering all that in full in the near future. For now, know that at the end of that day, I made a pit stop at the Peter Jones department store in Sloane Square, just doors away from our hotel.

I was after a pair of flip flops. I’d go so far as to say that at that moment, I lusted after a pair of flip flops. Which was pretty funny actually, as I live in Florida and own numerous pairs of flip flops. In fact, as I’d been packing for this trip, a little voice in my head had encouraged me to throw a pair of flip flops into my suitcase. Don’t be daft, I’d told myself, what are you going to do with flip flops in England? Throw in another pair of boots instead. Oy vey.

But I digress (again). I took the escalator up to the shoe department only to find that the selection of summer shoes was slim, indeed. Finally, I found a too large pair of plain flip flops and grabbed at them as if they were pure gold. Eureka!

Now, these are not the exact pair I bought, but they’re close enough. Just a plain old pair of flip flops, the sort you can buy at any store in Florida for $7.99. These cost me twenty pounds – or roughly $35.00. A crime, really, but well worth the price for comfort alone.

I’d like to be able to tell you that the Tale of the Shoes ended there, but it didn’t. A few days on, when the Duke of Wellington Tour actually started, we visited Apsley House. I’d been wearing my flip flops every day since I’d bought them, but really, one can’t wear flip flops to Apsley House. It just wasn’t done, or so I thought. So I put my short, black boots on for our private tour of the house. Again, Victoria and I will be covering our visit to Apsley House and the Wellington Arch shortly, but for now you should know that I did pretty well with the boots on until we got to the striped drawing room just beyond the dining room. My feet began to yell in protest and I made a beeline to the settee you can see in the photo below.

You may recall that this is the same settee that Hubby and I had sat upon together during a previous trip when we paused to admire the Thomas Lawrence portrait of the Duke below.
Upon leaving Apsley House, we were scheduled for a private guided tour of the Wellington Arch.
We made our way through the pedestrian underpass to the Arch, when I finally took my boots off and walked the rest of the way barefoot. I hoped that the Duke wouldn’t perceive this as a mark of disrespect but, knowing how he felt about his soldiers being well shod, I took the chance that he’d appreciate my predicament.
 Across the lawn I walked, barefoot, heedless of what, exactly, I was stepping upon.
Once inside the Arch, we climbed, and climbed, and climbed to the top. Reader, I would never had made it had I still been wearing my boots.
At the top, we had a true bird’s eye view of the Guards as they made their way back to the barracks from the Palace. All went well until we reached the ground again and I discovered that the Guards, or rather their horses, had left me a few things to be avoided, especially whilst barefooted.
 Back across the grass I walked until we’d reached our tour bus, where I put my flip flops back on and left them on for the remainder of the trip. And that, dear Readers, ends the tale of my feet. And shoes. Your sympathy has been much appreciated.
More Loose In London coming soon!