A Regency House Party - Part One

At the end of June I attended the 10th Anniversary of the Hampshire Regency Dancers. To celebrate they decided to hold a regency house party in a manor house in Somerset. It was a wonderful weekend, and I just wish it had been longer.

For photos I am going to start with a few of the house and then move onto events. So here they are:

Of course I couldn't publish a post that didn't have any photos of pretty ceilings in it!!:) This was the the drawing room/bar ceiling.

The dining room

The very impressive fireplace in the main hall

Part of the garden

Jackie and Emily in the dining room at supper on the Friday evening.

Everyone having supper 

After supper we had an informal dance. 

There was a maypole on the front lawn of the manor. I have always wanted to try maypole dancing, so a few of us decided to escape the heat of the ballroom and attempt a dance. :) It was such fun. We weren't very good at it and the ribbons became rather twisted, but we were in fits of laughter. :) I would love to try it again. Sadly I didn't get any photos as I was too busy dancing.

After the dancing, Regency and maypole, two ladies acted out a regency comedy performance. It was hilarious. :)

The following day we had a dance practice in the morning and then had the afternoon free. 

A few of us decided to take the opportunity to visit a local National Trust House - Dunster Castle. And of course we went in Regency clothing. :) Here everyone is walking up the steep drive to the castle entrance.

Claire - I love the back of her spencer.

The front of the castle. It was too big for me to fit the entire castle in one photo. I couldn't get farther enough away for it to fit.

Next: a few photos of the castle's interior

The inner hall.

The grand staircase

The dining room. 

Beautiful dining room ceiling.

I love the gown. :)

Another view of the grand staircase. It reminds me of the one at Sudbury Hall (the interior of Pemberley in P&P 95) I think it was carved by the same person.

Another painting of a lady wearing a gorgeous gown

All of us girls in one of the bedrooms. I have no idea what Emily is looking at. :)

The detail on the bed cover was gorgeous, sadly you can't really see it in this photo.

A rather blurry photo of the one bath in the house. It was enormous and so deep!

Another bedroom

Looking at Belgian tapestries

Helen and her beautiful bonnet. :)

Admiring another bedroom

The billiard room - part of the late 19th century renovation of the castle. We were actually allowed to have a go at playing! I say have a go, as we were pretty terrible at playing. The room steward looked rather nervous as we were attempting to play. He was worried that we were going to rip the green baize. Luckily we didn't harm the table in any way, and we had a lot of fun.

I love how there were seats in the giant fireplace. It must have been so cosy on cold winter nights in Victorian Somerset. The fireplace is so big as it was originally the kitchen before the victorian renovations were done.

A stack of old suitcases in the gunroom.

Gorgeous Adam fireplace 

A gorgeous desk (I think it is regency) that was in the owners office (owner during the late 19th century).

A rather blurry photo of the library - and the back of Emily.

The drawing room. Unfortunately we couldn't really walk into the room, we were only allowed to view it from either doorway.

Walking through the gardens. I love this photo. If you ignore the modern manhole cover and drainpipe, it looks like a glimpse into the Regency era. :)

And last but not least the stables, which were obviously very grand at one time. :)

Next: The anniversary ball and Regency kite flying.