On Friday we headed to the little pub around the corner "The Westminster"..not a spot that would even win the prettiest pub contest, but a great spot for fish and chips.And we ended our London visit with a lovely evening with Geoff Hughes and Zuzanna at the Chelsea Arts Club. Great fun to catch up with two such lovely young people.
Off to the countryside on Saturday. The weather has changed and the rain begins. It takes a long time to get out of London, but we make our way to the wonderful Crown Inn on the green in Chillingford., on the border of Surrey and West Sussex. From across the street the bells of St. Mary's are peeling signalling the start of a summer wedding.To Jodi Kidd's for drinks and dinner with Rachel Carpenter and Wendy Kidd at a most wonderful pub, The Checkers Inn... Truly historic food..
We had the most typical of English Sundays... to St. Mary's for church, lovely service and very friendly congregation, (services have been performed here for 900 years) to The Swan in Petworth for Sunday lunch, and to Cowdray for the Gold Cup of Polo. Needless to say this was all done between pouring rain so we got quite soaked but 15000 people still turned up for the polo.
And that night we ended the day with a visit to the Petworth Festival and a performance by the cellist Julian Lloyd Weber --truly a historic evening in the Petworth St Mary's church .
Monday to Petworth House, one of the true gems of the National Trust, with a truly great art collection. The various Lord Egmonts have been great custodians of this property and continue to this day. The third Lord Egmont was a great supporter of JW Turner. He spent much time at Petworth and many of his well known paintings were done here. Apparently in Turners day there were very few public art galleries, and Turner was able to spend much time looking at the wonderful collection.The grounds and parks have always been open to the public,--rare among this class.
Lunch with Stewart Collins, the artistic director of Petworth and (also of Holder's Season)Stewart is one of four community directors involved in community arts for the Olympics.
Off to the countryside on Saturday. The weather has changed and the rain begins. It takes a long time to get out of London, but we make our way to the wonderful Crown Inn on the green in Chillingford., on the border of Surrey and West Sussex. From across the street the bells of St. Mary's are peeling signalling the start of a summer wedding.To Jodi Kidd's for drinks and dinner with Rachel Carpenter and Wendy Kidd at a most wonderful pub, The Checkers Inn... Truly historic food..
We had the most typical of English Sundays... to St. Mary's for church, lovely service and very friendly congregation, (services have been performed here for 900 years) to The Swan in Petworth for Sunday lunch, and to Cowdray for the Gold Cup of Polo. Needless to say this was all done between pouring rain so we got quite soaked but 15000 people still turned up for the polo.
And that night we ended the day with a visit to the Petworth Festival and a performance by the cellist Julian Lloyd Weber --truly a historic evening in the Petworth St Mary's church .
Monday to Petworth House, one of the true gems of the National Trust, with a truly great art collection. The various Lord Egmonts have been great custodians of this property and continue to this day. The third Lord Egmont was a great supporter of JW Turner. He spent much time at Petworth and many of his well known paintings were done here. Apparently in Turners day there were very few public art galleries, and Turner was able to spend much time looking at the wonderful collection.The grounds and parks have always been open to the public,--rare among this class.
Lunch with Stewart Collins, the artistic director of Petworth and (also of Holder's Season)Stewart is one of four community directors involved in community arts for the Olympics.
