Horcastle Regency Festival 2012 - Part 2

On the Friday evening we attended a Gothic Soiree at Oxcombe Hall. The actual performance part of the evening was held in the small family chapel in the grounds of the house. It was a lovely little chapel.

The musicians for the evening were a wonderful guitar trio who were so jolly and were lovely to listen to. They were great musicians but I think the concert went on for a bit too long especially as we were all sitting on rather hard church pews. Quite a few of audience were lagging by the end.

Interspersed between the music were a few poem readings, and one newspaper article.

The newspaper article was one from the Regency era and mentioned Horncastle. It was quite funny. :)

The chapel - not a great photo but everyone was trying to get out of the chapel as I took it.

Oxcombe Hall

Gorgeous countryside - view from the house

After the concert we went to the main house and had a delicious feast. 

Emily, Claire and Jackie eating the feast

After eating I went for a little wonder around the ground floor of the house - I am terribly nosy!!!  :)

The staircase - this photo makes it look rather narrow but it is actually quite wide.

Another view of the Dining Room

A slightly blurry photo of the Hall. I loved the wallpaper

The green baize door leading into a former servants corridor.

After supper the gentlemen and ladies were separated into two rooms (we stayed in the dining room with the food :) ), and we then went head to head in a quiz on all things Regency. Sadly the men won, and oh did they gloat about it!!! :(  Despite the results of the quiz, we all had a wonderful evening. 

The following day began with a Promenade around the town. We were rather late in leaving the hotel to get to the place where the promenade was starting, so we were only a small group and didn't really know where we were going, but we finally found it and only ended up missing about 5 mins of it. However, it was a rather nerve-wracking experience walking through the streets of Horncastle, in Regency clothing, to meet up with fellow festival goers. Unlike Bath where the locals are used to seeing Regency-clad persons wondering through the streets, the residents of Horncastle didn't know what to think. Quite a few of them seemed to be stunned into silence, uncontrollable laughter or just complete bewilderment!! 

The first stop on the promenade was a lovely private garden. The garden did have some historical significance but sadly I have completely forgotten what it was. Anyway it was pretty and rather secret-gardenish with all is different levels and small paths.

Admiring the garden. I actually took this photo to get the back of the gorgeous green open robe. It is based on Marianne's yellow one in S&S 95.

We then moved onto the local church

I love Claire's spencer!!!

The adorable children from the picnic trying on the "Prince Regent's" hat. 

The youngest member of the family who was dressed in full regency baby clothes - so adorable.

After the church we wondered round the town, stopping at one house to have a glass of water (sadly the lemonade promised didn't appear but it was still lovely to have a refreshing beverage as it was rather a hot day), then finally ending up in a cafe where we were given sandwiches and slices of delicious chocolate cake.  :)

Next: Antiquing (well more like rummaging), the Regency Ball, and Lady Catherine de Burgh's country pile. :)