On September 10th, 13 of us WI ladies spent a very pleasant afternoon at Parham House and Gardens. Highlights of the visit for me were …
Lunch in the old kitchen surrounded by copper kitchen pots and pans. The food was simple but excellent.
a brick Wendy house, which was a cut above the plastic ones we are used to – my granddaughters would LOVE this.
an intriguing white statue lying on the grass. I couldn’t find it when researching the internet later. There was a reference to a white statue in the summer house (which I missed), which was by a Croatian sculptor called Ivan Meštrović. According to Wikipedia, he is renowned as one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century – I recommend a look at his sculptures which are pretty amazing. However, I couldn’t find this sculpture so I’m just assuming it’s a Meštrović as I want it to be one! If anyone knows otherwise please let me know.
The walled garden containing square beds of flowers or vegetables, surrounded by low privet hedges – very interesting.
The house itself is an impressive Tudor building with large windows and double aspect, which made it very light inside. The room I liked the best was the Long Gallery which is 160 feet long, the third longest Long Gallery in England.
One funny memory from the day that only I am allowed to tell … at one point I and my 2 companions at the time came across a glass fronted cabinet containing a set of lots of matching china. I was interested to know what type of china it was, so looked for some information – all there was was a sign ‘Walnut China Cabinet’ – to which I remarked to my companions – ‘Odd I’ve never heard of Walnut China before’ … at which point they dissolved into helpless laughter … I can’t think why!
Many thanks to Flo for organizing our trip and to Sue for contributing photos.
For more photos please click here.
Kate Claisse
Bognor Regis Women's Institute 