Open Air Opera

On Friday and Saturday evening we were treated to two fantastic Open Air Opera performances by Opera Brava. Despite a whole week spent practising my very best spaniel howl, I wasn’t deemed good enough to join them, so I took the role of chief photographer instead!

Here’s Saturday’s performance of Madame Butterfly taking place in the Pleasure Grounds

It was such a nice evening that during the interval I trotted off to take some pictures of the sunset in the park… 

…and by the house. Finally some blue sky!

 

It was certainly an experience!

Hello everyone, Samuel the Spaniel here! This week I’ve been following Ellie Foster on her adventures while she’s been doing her work experience with us at Petworth House. Ellie is from Bishop Luffa School in Chichester.

Our week started with the Olympic Torch Relay passing across the West Front of Petworth House - a very exciting and unique first day of work! Since then we have had experience of several different areas both in front of house and behind the scenes, I took her on a tour of the house and park as well as going up to the attics to see where the servants would have stayed all those years ago. She then went up onto the roof to see the beautiful view, something I’ve never been brave enough to do before! 

 The view from the roof

On Wednesday morning we helped out in the shop, cleaning shelves and collecting new stock; and then on Thursday I watched on as Ellie got absorbed in cleaning and conservation in the House and Historic Kitchens, hoovering, buffering and polishing as well as moving some very heavy silverware. I would have got involved myself, but I’m far better at making muddy paw prints than I am at cleaning! 

 Judy our Conservation Assitant doing some hoovering

In the afternoon we helped the staff set up for the volunteer’s summer party, which I heard was pretty wild! I helped Ellie to turn the restaurant into an indoor street party and had a good sniff of all the different puddings that the volunteers had brought in, all in the name of research you understand! I did try to stay awake for the party but I was such a tired spaniel that I must have fallen asleep and missed it, at one point though I could have sworn that I heard loud Rock 'n' Roll music coming from the Square Dining Room but I’m sure it must have just been a dream! 

 Maria a member of the Volunteer Steering Group putting up the bunting for the indoor street party!

It’s been a very exciting, tiring and busy week for us and I’m sure Ellie will join me in thanking everyone who helped to make it so great.

The Olympic Torch comes to Petworth House

Hi all, Samuel here. I’m a very tired spaniel today, because yesterday we had a very exciting morning as the Olympic Torch Relay passed across the West Front of Petworth House! We even made the local news; have a look at some of the fantastic pictures...

    Torchbearer Sara Tremlett pauses for a photo on her way to the West Front

Lord and Lady Egremont watch the torch approach, as the crowds cheer

      The exchange and photo opportunity in front of the house

Despite the slightly damp conditions, over 1,500 school children from 14 local schools came to celebrate the historic day with us. Lots of fun and excitement was had by all who attended, especially during our world record attempt for the ‘largest gathering of people blowing grass trumpets’! The noise was tremendous – well done to all those who practiced in advance.

You can make a grass trumpet simply by placing a blade of grass between your thumbs and blowing through the middle. I can’t demonstrate as unfortunately it’s not possible to do with paws!

 The children (and adults) showcasing their grass trumpet skills

We should hear in 4-6 weeks if we have set a new world record so watch this space. After the attempt several schools braved the rain and stayed to hold races in the park.

Do send me your pictures if you saw the torch, I'd love to see them.

Petworth 17th century biscuits

In honour of our 'What’s cooking?' event this weekend, I thought I’d share our recipe for 17th century Petworth biscuits. The traditional recipe is written first, see if you can follow it - it gets a bit tricky so I’ve included the modern translation too! We’d love to see a picture if you have a go.

Ingredients

500g flour

115g butter

115g sugar

1 egg

Milk

2tsp caraway seeds

To Make Bifkits (Biscuits)

To a quart of flour take a quarter of a pound of butter, and a quarter of a pound of sugar, one egg and what caraway –feeds you pleafe.

Wet it with milk as stiff as you can, then roll them out very thin, cut them with small glafs.

Bake them on tin plates.

Your oven muft be flack; prick them very well juft as you fet them in.

Keep them dry when bak’d.

Method

Heat oven to 180 degrees.

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.

Beat in egg to butter and sugar mixture. Add caraway seeds.

Beat in flour until stiff dough is formed. If it is too stiff, add milk until you get workable dough.

Roll out to 5mm thick and cut out circles either using a cutter or small glass as a guide.

Place on baking sheets leaving spaces between each biscuit, and prick each biscuit with a fork.

Bake in oven until golden brown, around 10-20 minuets, depending on your oven.

Keep in an air tight tin once baked.

Happy baking! Don’t forget to come along this weekend to see Mrs Brown making strawberry and gooseberry jam, shortbread and other traditional treats in the Historic Kitchens.

Spot the Spaniel

Hi all, I've been a very busy spaniel this week, but just wanted to share these pictures with you. They were taken at our 'Spot the Spaniel, event last Sunday; it was a fantasic day and lots of tail wagging fun was had by both dogs and people!

My favourite part was the fun dog show and the spaniel ear making for children. There was also spaniel face painting which was very good, it was difficult to tell the children and spaniels apart.

'Best looking spaniel' being judged by Robert Jackson our General Manager

Bella the Sussex Spaniel who won 'best looking spaniel' and 'best in show' with her prize, which is a cuddly toy of me!

The Just Springers Rescue stall

Having a go at the scurry

Thanks to everyone who came, it was a bit rainy but us dogs don't mind the rain!

A mural for Her Majesty

Hi Samuel here, I’ve got two bits of very exciting news for you. Firstly, have a look at the amazing mural of Petworth House created by the families who attended our Diamond Jubilee picnic on Monday! We’re going to send one of the photographs below to Buckingham Palace for the Queen to see.

I think the finishing touch would be a mini Samuel the spaniel somewhere, don’t you? Although I might need some help creating one, as it’s quite difficult to do crafty stuff with these paws.

I’m also excited because this weekend there will be lots of dogs around for our ‘Spot the Spaniel’ event in the park! We’ve invited all varieties of spaniel (non-spaniels welcome too) to join us for a day of tail wagging fun. There will be games, a ‘search and sniff’ trail (I’ll be testing this out later today), a ‘paws in the park’ dog show and demonstrations from some very well trained dogs. It’s on Sunday 10^th June from 11am – 4pm.  

Red, white and… green!

Not only are the visitor receptions and courtyard looking lovely with their jubilee bunting, the park is also sporting some decoration in the form of a giant ‘60’ mowed into the side of Lawn Hill, overlooking the house and the lake.

Our talented garden team created the shapes using two pegs, some string and a method that’s often known as the gardeners’ ellipse to get the shapes right…

Place two pegs vertically in the centre of where you want the ‘0’ then attach a loose circle of string stretching around both pegs.  Then use chalk to pull the sting taught so it forms a triangle.

Finally keeping the string taught move your chalk around both pegs and you should have an ellipse (oval).

For the ‘6’ Gary our head gardener used a similar method for the ellipse at the bottom then employed the good old technique of standing back a shouting instructions to the rest of the team positioning the pegs for the top half. We’ve all been out to have a look at their handiwork before the reign arrives (sorry) and can confirm it looks fit for a Queen!

Samuel says: ‘I’ve already seen lots of people and dogs having their photo taken by it during my daily walkies in the park, so make sure you come and see it over the weekend.’