The Castle Keep and the Regency Ball

A few weekends ago the Early Dance Circle (a historic dance society based in Norwich) were holding their biannual conference at Farnham Castle. At every conference a ball is held and this year it was a Regency ball, so of course I had to go. :) Quite a few members of my 19th century dance group are also members of EDC, so a few of us decided to go. 

Farnham Castle, built in 1138, was originally the home of the Bishops of Winchester, but is now a hotel and conference centre. Sadly my room wasn't in the main building so I have no idea what the bedrooms in the castle are like, but my one was decidedly modern-bland. Anyway, I didn't go to the castle just to look at the guest rooms! The actual room where the ball took place was really lovely.

My friend and I got the train down from London in the early afternoon so that we would have time to do some wondering. First we went to the castle keep, which is quite an impressive ruin with some beautiful views of the surrounding countryside which can be seen from the top.

The Entrance to the keep - where the drawbridge used to be

View of the main part of the castle from the keep

Inside the keep

The ruins of a later addition to the keep

View of castle gardens from keep

Inside the keep. The wall-less barn-like structure covers some really deep wells

The building that my room was in. A beautiful Georgian building on the outside with a hideous modern interior.

A close-up of the later additions. I think it is amazing how the fireplaces have stayed so intact. 

A view of the wells from a viewing stage 

More photos of the main building. The 3 large windows are the room were the ball was held.

The main entrance gate. Definitely a later edition. I think it might have been built around the same time as the stables.

After looking round the Keep, we strolled down into the town of Farnham and did some shopping. Small towns always seem to have shops I love, whereas I can never find anything in London!!

A fabulous car that was parked just off the High Street

After shopping we came back to the castle, met up with a few people from our dance group and then had supper. Sadly it was not a Regency Banquet, far from it in fact. The food was pretty rubbish and the service was so slow - we got our food nearly an hour later then we should have which meant we had no time to change and so were late for the ball!! Most people had been clever and changed beforehand, but we thought we were being clever in not changing until after supper in-case there was a giant food spillage!!

When we finally got to the ball I did have a good time. :)

People chatting in-between dances. Not everyone there had done Regency dancing before (I think the EDC focus on Medieval and Tudor dancing), so we were a mix of levels. The clothing was also a mix - Regency, modern formal, modern casual, Georgian, early Victorian - but there were some gorgeous Regency gowns. One lady was wearing a beautiful green and white gown, but sadly I never managed to get a photo of it. :( 

More people talking

My friend Suzy wearing her lovely new gown.

A rather blurry photo - this was about the 5th attempt at a photo so we were looking a bit stressed!

Finally the photo worked! Me with a few friends - Sandra, Suzy and (my mind has gone completely blank! Well she is a lovely lady who is a member of the dance group)

Infront of the giant fireplace with friends Sandra and Jackie 

(Sandra's photo)

With friends Sandra, David and Jackie 

(Sandra's photo)

Overall, despite the bad meal, it was a lovely evening. :) The only thing I don't understand is why balls are always held in rooms where the windows don't open??!!! It was sooo hot!!!

Soho's Secret Tearoom

As most of you know, I love tea - the drink and the meal. I can't get enough of it. :) 

I am slowly but surely making my way round London's tearooms, and the latest one that I can check off my list is Soho's Secret Tearoom. Someone mentioned it on their tea blog last year, and it sounded so good that of course I had to check it out! :)

So a couple of weeks ago I went with a few friends who wanted to experience a proper English afternoon tea. Now, I always though that the fact that the tearoom had 'Secret' in its title was just to make it sound more exciting, but apparently not. The actual tearoom is above a pub, so we duly arrived at the Coach and Horses at the appointed time and saw the sign outside claiming that there was a tearoom within. However, when we entered the pub there was no sign that a tearoom existed. We walked back and forth through the pub (getting rather a few stares) looking for a door that said 'tearoom' on it, or 'cake this way', but sadly had no such luck. Finally we gave up and asked the lady behind the bar. She asked us if we had a reservation and then went and rang someone on the phone. She then cam back and invited us to go behind the bar, through a door and up some rather dirty looking stairs. At this point I was thinking that the whole thing was going to be a disaster - the food would be rubbish, the room would be dirty, as would the crockery (yes I have a thing about cleanliness! :) )  - a multitude of negative thoughts were going through my head! When we finally reached the tearoom I was so relieved. Far from being a dirty little hovel, it was a charming 40's inspired room, and the food was delicious.

The tablecloths were all embroidered with cross-stitch. 

We all had our own matching cup, saucer and plate, but each set had a different pattern on it. They were all vintage.

The food :)

One of my friends is allergic to gluten so the tearoom provided her with her own cake-stand of  gluten-free goodies.

More food

An extremely odd shaped scone, but so delicious and light. All the food was handmade (except for some gluten-free Bakewell tarts)

The tearoom. It is only open on Saturdays and Sundays as during the week the pub uses the room as a dining room. I think the sideboard in the corner is 40's but am not 100% sure.

A lovely painting outside the loo. 

The only thing I could complain about is that they didn't serve strawberry jam with the scones (only blueberry) and the tablecloth had a few stains on it, otherwise it was a fabulous tea and I would definitely go again. :)

Regency Style Watches and an Embroidered Handkerchief

I just thought I would show you all some photos of a few 19th century style objects that I have bought/collected and am planning on using at events. At Napoleonic re-enactment events we are not allowed to wear watches. I am not the kind of person who can happily spend a day without a watch or the ability to see some kind of timepiece, so I usually end up hiding my mobile phone in my reticule and occasionally taking quick peeks at it. It is not ideal and certainly not historically accurate!, so I have been looking for a small watch that looks like one that might have been worn by a Regency lady. About a year ago I saw a friend of mine wearing a small fob watch on a necklace. Though modern and from Claire's Accesories, it was just the thing I was looking for, and it reminded me of the one worn by Romla Garai in the 2009 version of Emma. 

I only ended up buying one about 2 months ago. It's not perfect but I like it. :)

The watch face

A couple of weeks ago I had a friend staying who remembered that I wanted a fob watch so had really sweetly had bought me one. She has an amazing memory as I don't even remember telling her I that I wanted one (my memory is awful!)

Anyway here it is:

So now I have 2 :). I think I might try and put this one on a broach so I can pin it onto whatever gown that I am wearing.

The watch face

A slightly blurry photo of the back.

Father Christmas also gave me a lovely little present. A reproduction 19th century handkerchief: 

I love the embroidery on it. :)

Stepping Back in Time at the V&A

The weekend before last I had two friends staying from Germany. One of them had never been to London before so we went to see the usual sights. Of course the V&A was on the list! :) I love the museum, especially the costume gallery (which has sadly been closed, for about a year, for refurbishment). A close second is the British Galleries. They are galleries in the V&A which showcase British decorative arts since about the 15th Century. My favourite part is of course the rooms dedicated to the 18th and 19th centuries. In these rooms, not only to they have china, furniture, clothing but also two complete rooms that were rescued from Georgian mansions in London before they were bulldozed in the 1960s (So many beautiful buildings were lost in that decade :( ).

Here is the Parlour from a house that used to grace Henrietta Street, no. 11 to be precise.

The beautiful ceiling

The Music Room from Norfolk House in St. James Square. A bit too much gilding for modern taste, but still beautiful. :)

A slightly blurry photo of the amazing ceiling

I thought I would also throw in a few photos of the costumes that are in the British Galleries.

An amazing Georgian Court Gown

The material in detail!!

My friend Nathalie trying on some Georgian underclothing!! I think they are meant to be for school groups, but I always have so much fun trying on the costumes with friends ( you can also try on a victorian crinoline and a soldiers costume from the 16th Century).

Learning to sit like a Georgian lady! :)

Another gorgeous Georgian gown. Sadly you can't see the front.

A man's georgian waistcoat - amazing embroidery work.