The summer holiday isn’t complete without a trip to Wisley.
Category Archives: Culture
Summer 2017 Books To Read
Jane Austen’s House Museum
Two hundred years ago Jane Austen left her house in Chawton for Winchester for medical treatment, where she died in July 1817.
This is the house where Jane Austen lived from 1809 to 1817. Here, she revised her earlier novels Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice and saw them published. She wrote Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion and began her last and uncompleted novel, Sanditon. Continue reading Jane Austen’s House Museum
Evelyn Dunbar at The Watts Gallery
Evelyn Dunbar was the only salaried female World War II artist, yet the importance of her work is continually being reassessed and belatedly recognised. Continue reading Evelyn Dunbar at The Watts Gallery
Guildford Castle Gardens
I had a spare 10 minutes in Guildford the other day.
So I headed straight for Guildford Castle.
RHS Hampton Court Flower Show Press Day 2017
The RHS Hampton Court Flower show is always wonderful. My camera and I always really look forward to visiting.
The show gardens and the floral marquees are something truly special to behold.
Continue reading RHS Hampton Court Flower Show Press Day 2017
Two Stories: Virginia Woolf and Mark Haddon
‘In a way it’s easier to do a short thing, all in one flight that a novel. Novels are frightfully clumsy and overpowering of course; still if one could only get hold of them it would be superb. I daresay one ought to invent a completely new form.’ Virginia Woolf. Continue reading Two Stories: Virginia Woolf and Mark Haddon
Wimbledon Village
Somehow I am always drawn to visiting Wimbledon.
It must be the time of year… With tennis firmly in my mind. Continue reading Wimbledon Village
The Purple Swamp Hen And Other Stories by Penelope Lively
‘Books are essentially a social medium’ we are told in the short story Mrs Bennet by Penelope Lively. If that is true (and I believe it is), then short stories are surely the most gregarious form of literature. Continue reading The Purple Swamp Hen And Other Stories by Penelope Lively
Chelsea Flower Show Article
I wrote a piece on Literature and Gardens for Spectator Life Online. Click here to read it.