This is Stoneywell Cottage in the Charnwood Forest, north west of Leicester. If you like arts 'n' crafts buildings and furniture (and I'm bonkers about them) then this seemingly organic house, rising out of the igneous rock and surrounded by woods, must be put very high on your 'must do' list. Designed by Ernest Gimson for his brother Sydney, it was built in Ulverscroft by that mercurial A&C craftsman Detmar Blow. Completed at the very end of the nineteenth century, for the most part it was used as a summer residence, with the family returning for Christmas. Deceptively economic in design, there are beautifully homely touches everywhere. A piece of granite jutting out near a fireplace was left for Sydney's tobacco jar and pipe, the stairs are like church tower steps with helpful ropes leading up to rooms where the floors are all on differing levels. The very nature of the site means that the main fat chimney grows up out the rock, an upstairs bedroom window gives access immediately into the garden.
The furniture is of course so at home. Gimson-designed ladder-backed chairs sit round a solid table in the dining room, almost Shaker-style coat hooks hang against a white painted wall. Contemporary or beautifully reproduced cots, beds and bookshelves; and everywhere a very comforting feel of homeliness. I could have dozed off in an armchair with an Arthur Ransome book on my lap, daffodils on a deeply-inset window sill, a log fire spitting in the grate with its Gimson fire irons in attendance.
As you can probably imagine I got very excited upstairs, with not only wonderful pictures on the walls, childrens' games on cupboards and chairs but also a heart-stopping Hornby O Gauge train on the floor of the Well Room, working its way past tinplate buildings in order to tunnel underneath a bed. And all so genuine. This is no art-directed interior, Stoneywell was left to the National Trust by Donald Gimson, grandson of Sydney, who advised the Trust on so much here. You have to book, which is good because it means you won't be trudging round with a hundred others before and after. But do try and make it soon as spring comes to Stoneywell.
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13 comments:
Oh gosh. A portal to the world of Arts and Crafts. I need to go and lie down.
I was put off by the idea that you have to book (and I understand the access is 'interesting' too - like not being able to park anywhere near because it upsets the neighbours.) But it would seem that the trip would be worth it. Thanks for sharing.
Do not worry THA. They only take a few at a time around the cottage, and you'll be glad that this is so. Your booking is for a time slot on the car park half-a-mile away, and again you'll be glad, as one is at, say, Chastleton House. There is simply no room for a car park at the property unless they'd taken half the garden away. A friendly mini bus driver (who already knows your name) will take to down the lane to Stoneywell, where you'll be given a time slot for the cottage itself. The 'tour' takes 45 minutes approx.; our guide was excellent as I'm sure they all are.
Believe me it all works like clockwork.
I want the box of wooden building blocks, they will go nicely with my small collection of the same.
Peter is right; if you like Arts and Crafts buildings and furniture you must not miss Stoneywell. We went last spring and there were just four of us on our booked tour. If you are planning to go in the afternoon, book a slot early enough to leave time to spend walking in the gardens before they close for the day. In the 1930s and 40s, my maternal grandfather was a foreman painter & decorator with a Loughborough firm and much of their business was at large houses in Charnwood Forest owned by local businessmen. I wonder if he ever worked at Stoneywell.
More lovely photographs, courtesy of the Telegraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/11377666/National-Trust-acquires-Arts-and-Crafts-gem-Stoneywell-in-pictures.html?frame=3181381
Thank you for that link Gawain. These pics give an excellent impression of what it's like. I missed the Kodak Brownie 127 on the shelf!
Alan: Thanks for that. I'm intrigued by the big houses (and small) that were built around major cities for industrialists like the Gimsons (who manufactured the magnificent steam engines in Leicester's Abbey Pumping Station) and big wheel business men. It's why I like roaming about places like the North Downs in Surrey finding other A&C houses. All that tile-hanging and William de Morgan tiling.
Peter. Speaking of industrialist houses, a study could be made of the various houses lived in by members of the Symington family of Corsets and Soup fame in and around Market Harborough. The houses are in a variety of architectural styles. Or alternately The houses built by Mr Stokes the celebrated horse dealer in Great Bowden. Some of which were used as Hunting Boxes, in one case by a member of Austrian Royalty before WW1.
Thank you Stephen. You're right, I must make a note of these. Great Bowden is indeed rich in hunting boxes, as is of course Horninghold.
Yes Horninghold an interesting village atypical of the district. The village built in two phases with the Large houses used for hunting boxes and homes for wealthy businessmen who could travel to Leicester from Hallaton station. Many of the houses the work of the Goddard family for the Mr Hardcastle whose family fortunes came from the textile industry in Lancashire. The Estate planted many of the specimen trees that can be found around the village. The Estate maintained the grass verges etc around the village up to the 1960's to a very high standard.
As well as the hunting boxes in Bowden, Mr Stokes built stables and livestock yards around the village many of which have been converted to houses and one near to the railway station in Market Harborough. Researching the houses of the Symingtons and Stokes is something I have thought of doing at some time.
Not clockwork -- 3 rail electric.
Thank you Anonymous. Of course it's three-rail electric. Which of course ruins my title, Never mind, I shall think of another.
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