Thursday 20 March 2014

Red House (and more)

Back to last Summer again
We left Danson House (last post) to walk the 15 minutes to Red House (it is in a residential area with no parking facilities) and turned right instead of left! It was all down hill. After walking a while with no sign of the house we began to wonder if we had come the right way! On enquiring we hat not! Now you will see from the last 2 posts that this was our third visit of the day and it was hot. I have to say I felt I could hardly make it back up the hill let alone find our way to the house. Then we stopped a lady and asked directions and she said 'I am going passed there, I will take you' so with a slightly shorter route we continued on our way. 


Red House is a building of extraordinary architectural and social significance as the only house commissioned and lived in by William Morris. The house was completed in 1816. Be inspired by the paintings and stained glass.
William Norris was the founder of the arts and crafts movement.




A very interesting door






Note he unusual fireplace



Here we see Pre-Raphaelite wall paintings of the Garden of Eden and showing Eve's face. They were discovered in 2013 and are being restored by experts


Ceiling above the stairwell - all tiled


The garden which we did not walk around is said to be a wonderful oasis of calm in the midst of suburbia.


We are now back at Danson House (where our car is parked) and take a tea break before making our way home.


As it is hot, everyone is sitting outside but we have walked so much today we prefer the cooler interior
Back to the present - we are in the middle of decorating 3 downstairs rooms in  the house, we have had a short mini-heatwave for the time of year so gardening has been on the agenda too whilst taking care of our son's house and cats while he is touring the National Parks in India (he has been thrilled to see Tigers in the wild).
Tomorrow we are off for a weekend away with all of our community house churches.
We are staying in a lovely country house with history going back to 900 AD so there are sure to be pictures soon.



9 comments:

Patsy said...

Great tour of the house. Have a happy weekend.

Terri said...

Interesting tour, thanks for sharing your photos.
Hugs

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

The house is quite interesting. Such a lot to see there.

Enjoy your weekend retreat!

Canadian Chickadee said...

What fabulous posts -- and how I envy you for having been able to visit the Red House. It's definitely something on my bucket list. And I like your idea of parking at Danson House and walking -- I have been to Danson House and didn't realize the Red House was so close. But I did see that the parking situation is awful to horrendous! Thanks for sharing the photos of your outing! xox

Diane at My Cottage Garden said...

Nice tour! Have a great weekend and we will look forward to seeing the photos of the house you'll see.

Lorrie said...

I'm glad you doubled back and visited Red House. That tiled ceiling is really something.
Love the blue dishware you used at tea time. Have a great weekend.

Annie Jeffries said...

Morris' house is spectacular. The restoration project is a real pleasure to see.

And next up is a 1100 year old house (well, just part of it, I suppose). I can hardly wait to see that.

Vee said...

Now it was a hot day and you still prefer hot tea? Have you featured this home before because I vaguely remember some mention of William Morris...must dig about in the archives. You are a busy gal! Enjoy that mini heatwave.

La Petite Gallery said...

Dear Barbara, as usual I am never disappointed to visit your posts.
Sounds like you have a lot on your plate. This house is fabulous.
yvonne