Charleston, Bloomsbury in Sussex. Part 2

I do apologise for the long wait for part 2, no excuses really, just too busy some of the time, too lazy the rest! Here are some photos of the inside of the farmhouse, they are taken from postcards I purchased, as photography was forbidden inside, so I am afraid they are bog-standard pictures, you can probably find more via Google.

The outside of the farmhouse and knowledge of roughly what it would look like inside from books and the internet didn't prepare me for what it was really like, and how stimulating it all was on many different levels, emotional, intellectual, creative to name but 3. It is hard to explain in words, but the whole house was imbued with an incredible atmosphere of calm and harmony, brimming with quietly unassuming creativity. Decoration and creative enterprises filled the house, but didn't over-whelm it, more it seemed that it all bonded and blended perfectly with the bricks and mortar, the garden and grounds, a house filled with infinite possibilities, yet incredibly easy on the eye. A decorative scheme that evolved over many years with many different contributors. What struck me most forcefully was that this was a completely 'lived in' house. It wasn't decorated as a show piece, or status symbol, it simply evolved as the people who lived and stayed there left their creative marks in some humble domestic way, be it a textile or ceramic here, or a painted fruit crate or piece of furniture there.

It could have felt like a museum, we could have felt a sense of enormous awe as we strolled through these amazing rooms, and of course, I was very awed, but the over-riding sense that came across was that I, or any of us could make our living spaces as harmonious, stimulating and relaxing if we chose to go against the cultural norm, and expressed our tastes, ideas and philosophies through simplicity and humble creativity rather than shopping, technological advances and fashions etc. It wasn't just the marvellous collection of artworks and painted decoration that created the overall ambience, but also the hotch-potch of weird and wonderful items of furniture, and fixtures, from an early 18th century chaise longue to a 1950s dining table. The group of people who lived and stayed at Charleston have left their mark on the Farmhouse, as well as on our wider culture as a whole... Thank goodness! I wonder where we would all be now if it wasn't for the radical simplicity of these early 20th century 'hippies'.

The last picture is a lectern painted by Duncan Grant as part of his over-all scheme for the interior of a Church about 5 miles away from Charleston. My next post will be about this amazing place.