A Winter Landscape

Beautiful, aren't they? 

By artist, Martin Beek...

The winter landscapes began in late October. They are often based around Ipsden or Oxfordshire locations, most were drawn in or near to my car on the way to work. They are often bleak open places, influenced by Graham Sutherland's etchings or Rembrandt's small landscapes, they are bisected by the page divide...

Via here

Companions

Via here (English Country House Interiors by Jeremy Musson (Author) and Paul Barker (Photographer)

Kedleston Hall

A huge thank you to readers who solved the mystery for me just as I was about to don my Nancy Drew Google hat. The magnificent house in my previous post is Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire. Incidentally, many scenes of The Duchess (starring Keira Knightley) were filmed at Kedleston...

 See more here and here

Ham House

John Evelyn, diarist, 27 August 1678:

After dinner I walked to Ham, which is inferior to few of the best villas in Italy itselfe.

The house is furnishd like a great Prince's.

Just one in a series of grand houses and palaces alongside the River Thames - the utterly magnificent Ham House is a seventeenth century treasure trove. Here is just a minute sampling...

The Green Closet miniatures and cabinet pictures

Queen Elizabeth I (Nicholas Hilliard)

Looking into 'The Green Closet'

Read more here and here

Perfection

The marvelous Alex Macarthur strikes again...

Now this is a fabulous cabinet. What every kitchen needs...

Via here

Fantasizing...

Would this not be the ULTIMATE dressing-room? (Actually, it is the steward’s office at Petworth House, West Sussex)...

School Room Convert

The entire top floor (elephantine proportions) of a classic Victorian school - formerly the gym and assembly hall. One of many unique locations in England filled with one-of-a-kind props, available for film and still shoots...

Via Rydeng and JJLocations

Passage to Africa V (London)

Eleven and a half hours in London is torturously inadequate. In spite of this, we did manage to walk the length and breadth of Chelsea, pop into a few shops (an old haunt of mine - Antiquarious - has been replaced by Anthropologie - sign of the times). And while my husband took my daughter on the London Eye, I hopped on the tube to the Notting Hill Gate Station, explored Portobello Road (which was less chaotic since it was a Friday) and found Westbourne Grove Road - which is a treasure trove of captivating shops and restaurants. Here are a few snap shots of what we saw. As you can see, I am rather obsessed with fonts and typography...

Fabulous cabinet in Anthropologie

Anthropologie, King's Road

Detail on a house, Chelsea

Brass knocker, Chelsea

Sloane Street window

South Kensington Station - beautiful terra-cotta tile

Close-up

Window display - Pembridge Road

Window at AllSaints Spitalfields - Portobello Road

Vintage sewing machines - window display (AllSaints Spitalfields)

Salvation Army Building - Portobello Road

Westbourne Grove Road

Poster on Pembridge Villas Road - London

Streetscape

19 Onslow Square (for Mia)

Onslow Square - AKA dream address

King's Road restaurant with great font

Detail

Richard Wilson - 20:50 (site specific oil installation), Saatchi Gallery (Duke of York HQ)

Passage to Africa IV - Stowe (Part II)

More from the wondrous Stowe...

Pebble Alcove

Gothic Temple in the early morning mist

Detail on Queen's Temple

Urn - Queen's Temple

Ceiling in the Entrance Hall

Ceiling outside my nephew's 'quarters'

Detail of the molding in the 'old' Chapel

Boycott Pavilion in the Parkland

One of the bridges on the expansive driveway

Urn detail and one of the lakes in the garden