A New Blog

Welcome to our new blog ! 

I do hope you will follow our new blog with as much enthusiasm as you did the previous one. 

Sadly the old blog will shortly be closing, but as you can see I have rescued some of the stories for posterity 

Ian 

Tea Time Treats

The Historic Kitchens were once again brought to life this weekend by the What’s Cooking? team. This week the team was led by volunteer Leslie Ward, who conjured up tea time treats such as scones, brandy snaps and rock cakes ! 

Creativity In Every Corner

What an incredible Easter weekend, thousands of visitors, brilliant sunshine and creativity in every corner!
The Pleasure Grounds could not have looked more beautiful as families followed the Easter trail.
A huge thank you goes to the volunteers who gave up time and energy to help the children with trails and crafts.
Note the wonderful dragon that Christine Clothier got painted, when she visited the Cadburys face painters – they were superb !
Here are some more pictures of the wonderful things the children made over the weekend.

Bunnies, Bunnies, Bunnies !

Perhaps the beach was not the place to be today, instead families flocked to make bunnies, chicks, baskets and follow our Eco trail !

Portrait of a Family

Norman Parkinson

Lord and Lady Egremont

Lady Egremont

This weekend saw the opening of an exciting exhibiton in the Little Dining Room.
Portraits of the Egremonts Past and Present, was inspired by two stunning photographs by Norman Parkinson.
The focus of the exhibiton is a provocative portrait of Lady Egremont carrying a shovel.
The photographs by Brian Griffin are displayed alongside the permanent collection.

Grimy Exhibition

What a good question !

This week has seen the opening of a fantastic exhibition staged by the Petworth House Conservation Team.
The Exhibition Room has been converted into a scene that is familiar to those of us who visit the house during the winter months.
Scaffolding, safety boots, latex gloves and polishing cloths sit alongside fascinating display boards explaining the teams winter activities.

An Unusual Visitor !

Baby Buck

Visitors to the park last wednesday, may have been somewhat suprised to see members of staff carrying around this wonderful patchwork deer !

Baby Buck, as he is known, was created by Bryony Jennings of Pretty Scruffy a fantastic little gallery and shop in Chichester. Bryony kindly lent him to us to photograph for the front cover of our next seasonal leaflet. You can see more of Bryonys work at www.prettyscruffy.com

Spring Clean Exhibition

Andrew Graham-Dixon

The Conservation Assistants have been busy putting together a brand new exhibition this week to support our upcoming television series ‘The Big Spring Clean’ airing 8:30 Wednesday 13th April on BBC4. The exhibition will open this Saturday (9th April) and will give the visitors a glimpse behind the scenes of what goes on at Petworth House during the winter months. The stars of the show will be giving housekeeping demonstrations and running hands on activities every Sunday and Tuesday for the duration of the exhibition 9th April – 22nd May.

Petworth House is on BBC 4 !

Opening Ceremony of the South Downs National Park

The National Trust was invited to attend the opening ceremony of the South Downs National Park today in Petersfield’s historic market square. Caroline from Petworth House went along with Anna from Uppark House and Woolbeding Gardens, Fiona from Woolbeding estate and Crispin our regional nature and conservation adviser. Lots of people were there and enjoyed the entertainment, which included a childrens’ choir and even some bellringing! We were interviewed for the local radio stations and had a great time talking about all the good work that the Trust is doing. Have a look at the photos to see us at work…

Ice Cream, You Scream !

The first “Whats Cooking” event of the season turned out to be a huge success when we ventured into the realms of Ice Cream making.

Using original equipment from the historic kitchens we made some very fine ice cream and a delicious pineapple sorbet !

With visitors from far and wide the kitchen was definitely the place to be.

Sorbet

Hilary with her Houlette !

Ice Cream in Progress

Fan Mail

Hello

I have been a member of the NT for a number of years and regularly visit your properties, but i was compelled after my visit to Petworth to drop you a mail just to say how fantastic a property it is, and in particular how it felt particularly well managed with regards to the visitor experience. I visited on saturday the 13th and the experience was one to remember. Even on the first day of the season the staff were managing the inevitable teething issues with ease.

The ability to walk around the house almost unhindered made the experience so immersive – It was a joy to be able to use your new guide and simple walk about at my leisure. Often at properties I find the “roped off” areas somehow impact on my connection with the house. But at Petworth that was not the case at all. Such a stunning property and one that is so well managed.

The new ipod based guide, whilst there were some technical glitches (i provided feedback to your team at the time), was brilliant. Specifically the commentary was the correct length so as to allow me to gain enough information without it being too much. the voice acting was engaging and the quality of the production excellent. the ability to navigate via the house map was particularly useful. and the ability to pick the areas i want to hear more about in each room meant that I could easily select areas of interest without having to wade through information i did not want. I am sure that once the glitches have been ironed out this will be a superb tool.

Please pass my thanks to anyone who is interested. The property is a jewel in the NT (and UK) crown.

Thank you

Coffee Shop

Hurrah! our new coffee shop is open for business and serving the most delicious cakes and lunches.

Below is Visitor Services Manager, Karen Manton-Cook enjoying the fruits of her labour !

Pointillist Outreach !

On Monday 7th March, Hilary Cunningham, Ian Pearce and Christine Clothier visited St Andrews C of E Primary in Steyning as part of our outreach programme.

The children are studying pointillism. We worked with them to create portraits using pointillist methods.