National Trust visitors are a hardy lot. It takes more than a bit of rain to stop a garden tour! The lady on the right seems to be wearing one of those plastic bonnets, the kind that concertina up into a small rectangle, to be kept in the handbag 'just in case'.
I remember, back in the early '70s, our local hairdressers, Yvonne's, had a box of them on the reception desk, so that the ladies could protect their 'shampoo and set'. I can vividly remember my mum wearing hers. She would have only been in her thirties! Can't imagine anyone that age wearing one now and I for one would rather have wet hair!
Anyway, The Homewood! This gorgeous house looks so modern yet astonishingly it was designed and built (by 24 year old Patrick Gwynne) in 1938, when the local milkman still did his rounds by horse and cart!
The Gwynne family loved to entertain so it was built as a party house with a sprung wooden floor for dancing. Photography is not allowed indoors but can be viewed here.
From inside there are some delightful glimpses of the garden, little snapshots which reminded me of Japanese design, yet when viewed as a whole it seems endless as it merges seamlessly into the surrounding common land.
If it weren't for the fact that it is perishing cold in winter despite the heating system (at least 3 overcoats needed apparently!) then I'd move in tomorrow, wouldn't you?
