On thursday 9th of may, we drove south from Little London to Charleston's farmhouse, on the main road toward the sea. Approaching Lewes the landscape becomes more and more fascinating : the downs spread their gentle curves, and the villages nestle neatly in the middle of meadows and pastures, where cows, sheeps and horses are peacefully grazing. It's a quiet and relaxing view, with the ancient oast houses, where the hops were dried, and their strange roofs, and the many beautiful estates.
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| Firle Beacon |
Describing Firle Beacon, Kipling writes of"our blunt, bow-headed, whale-backed downs". Firle Beacon, 718 feet in height, formed part of the great chain of high point on which fires were lit to warn of national emergency, notably the approach of the Spanish Armada. It also gave the weather forecast for the folk in the neighbouring village of Alciston.
"When Firle and Long Man wear a cap,
We at A'ston getz a drap".
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| Charleston's farmhouse and the pond |
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| the beautiful levitating figure made by Quentin Bell in 1973 |
When she discovered Charleston, in october 1916, on the recommendation of her sister Virginia
Woolf, the painter Vanessa Bell wrote to Roger Fry :
" It really so lovely that I must show it to you soon.. I suppose its seventieth or early eighteenth century.
(but my word doesn't go for much)
Anyhow it'ts most lovely,very solid and simple, with flat walls in that lovely mixture of brick and flint that they use about here, and perfectly flat windows in the walls and wonderful tiles roof. The pond is most beautiful with a willow at one side and a stone or flint wall edging it all round the garden part, and a little lawn sloping down to it. Then there is a small orchard and the walled garden like the Asheham one, and another lawn or bit of field railed in beyond. There's a wall of trees, one single line of elms all round two sides which shelters us from west wind. We are just below Firle Beacon, which is the highest point of the downs near, and except toward the downs the ground slopes down from the house on all sides...."
It is not allowed to take photos inside Charleston's house, every room was painted and decorated by Vanessa, and Duncan Grant : the walls, the doors, even the bathroom, the curtains, the armchairs ulphostery, everything was created by the two artists, and the Omega workshops. Charleston's was really the highlight of this third holidays in Sussex.
I regret not having bought one of the wonderful fabric that Laura Ashley reproduced of Vanessa's and Duncan original. One of them remembers Dufy.
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| my favorite fabric designed by Duncan Grant, reproduced now by Laura Ashley , and only avalaible in Charleston's. |
The walled garden was splendid, the plants and trees, sheltered from the wind and the cold by the walls
offer us an enchanting picture and the scent of all the flowers was part of the beauty.
After Charleston, it was a real challenge to reach the little church of Berwick : Saint Michael and all Angels. We took a little road which led us through Alciston, where a man assured us that we were right : Berwick's church was just one mile away. But that one mile strechted to two miles through a deserted
field landscape. The road was bad, with large and deep potholes full of water from the last rains which forced Sheila to slalom between them and the church was never to be seen. After twenty minutes we where both exhausted and desperated to find it. Eventually we saw one church tower emerging from a spinney. There it was! But what a disappointment when the car was blocked by a gate closed with a padlock. Nobody was to be seen in the surround of barns and little houses. We were totally upset at the thought to have to drive back on the awful little road. Then a man came along with two dogs, and he simply took a key out of a box near the gate, and opened us . What a relief! and how we did enjoy the visit of this lovely church of Berwick, which walls have been totally decorated with frescoes by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant in 1942.
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| St Michael and All Angels |
By the time Vanessa was undertaking this work her sister, Virginia Woolf, had taken her own life and her son Julian had been killed fighting in Spain. Vanessa painted the Nativity and the Annunciation,
Vanessa's daughter, Angelica, modelled for the figure of Mary and the children and other figures were all people who lived or worked at Charleston on the farm or in the house.
Above the chancel arch "Christ in Majesty" was painted by Duncan Grant, on the left are servicemen from the army, navy and air force.
We loved the atmosphere from the church and the frescoes, it was such an emotion to be there, surrounded by all these souls of the past, the fantoms of Virginia, Duncan, Vanessa and her children's.
I will never forget this day.
