Sudbury Hall and Childhood Museum

Ceilings and Splashing around in Sudbury

11th October 2019

 It was a quiet start to the day.  Jo and I arrived, and with  no sign of anyone, waited patiently, only to eventually discover that Helen M, Pam, Julia, Maggie and Alison were playing hide and seek in the café.   Mindful of the needs of others, and courtesy of an autistic coffee morning special event, the Babes had been waiting in silence for some time.  But Jo and I soon put that right although it would have been even better with Charlotte and Lynn!.

Talk flowed easily, as did Pam's teapot, so when we eventually ran out of steam and the rain had eased, we puddled across to the Hall for our first glimpse of the Vernon's household.

Helen M takes on the role of tour guide and proves to be very good at reading

...very good at  playing hide and seek

but always in the right place for vital information

We move out of the Hall and under the staircase (so dazzling, it didn't get photographed) because at this point we are all reading and chatting at the same time.  We learn that George Vernon, who at 25 years old, inherited Sudbury Hall in 1660. Being quite visionary and depending on which wife he was married to, he rebuilt quite a lot of Sudbury.  The 5th and 6th Lords added bits and took bits away.   By the time we get to the 1900s, a bit of colour was need: brown to white and cream to yellow.  If only the 9th Lord hadn't handed it over to the National Trust, they could have made a TV Series... Sudbury: Houses Under the Vernons, with repeats on Dave or was it with Sue Perkins?

We spent a lot of the day looking up

I spy a dragon... do you?

A pair of lizards will do nicely...

Unfortunately parts of the House were not open, and there were claims of a shortage of volunteers. 

But we daren't ask why!

We have a change of guide and Jo, missing having a bird list to do, reminds us of which parts of THAT film were created here. In anticipation of the day, some of the Babes have already dusted off their DVDs and are re-living THAT moment

but THAT moment is far away from here, so we have to cope with

HIM in the bedroom... dream on..

To be named the Long Hall can only mean one thing, it must be Long:  

51m just about does it.

Portraits adorn the walls and we play spot the difference with the poster girls, one of whom never did visit so we assume was a bit of fanciful dreaming.

A bit of a wardrobe malfunction on Nell Gwyn

I hope this looks as good on me as it does on you

We meet a lovely volunteer who furnished us with lots of information and with one click,  we are added to the portrait gallery.  Obviously, we are all appropriately dressed, as befits women of a higher standing.

Just think, we are all pausing in Mr D'Arcy's footsteps..

We turn into the library where another very knowledgeable volunteer talks us through the process of cleaning the books involving an Ikea bag and a piece of old rope! Sadly, the books  are not allowed to be read anymore (not even if one dusts the pages very, very slowly) .  And some were never meant to be read at all but have wonderful titles such as The New River by Old Salt and Rapid Streams by Slow Coach. 

'Tis such a 'sham' they are covering up the water pipes.

Moving on, we come across the Stump Box, a beautifully embroidered box

And on closer inspection...

Well, perhaps a bit too much information this time!

Feeling a little bit peckish, we head back to the café pausing just enough for a windswept photo

Hold onto your hats, girls!

We admire the tree scape

the water features

and through the long lens,  Canada geese in the distance.

  Over lunch and several discussions later:  should one continue with Sanditon or The Capture (both it turns out), camping out at home whilst water is extracted from gas pipes, young ones adulting with mortgages and most importantly how long does a 'season' last and are puppies on the horizon? Sadly, Jo now had to leave us to see how well Bob had managed in the car all morning.

With the weather persisting wetwards, we puddle across the path again, to the Childhood Museum.  Oh what fun!

a trip down memory lane

... along the chimney and out again

oh no she didn't!

'Cherish' ed by at least two babes

At the chalkface ... again

And with things not always what they seem or where they should be, we end up with a mini power cut and a bit more topsey turvey:

..snoopy and a space-hopper on the ceiling?

We spent so long in the museum that by the time we came out, the sun was shining!

Yey!!

Hats off, smiles on!

This was obviously our cue to gather round Pam's car, marvel at her dexterity in getting a tall plant into a packed boot and exchange past and future birthday presents.  Timing of our first Secret Santa will be fun and may not end up being quite so secret after all!

The bird count was easy today... one, but rather a lot of them.  Canada Geese. Tally still at 102!  A pity we can't add a hoopoe to the list!