Little Gems

[Lat-Literal]

A thread about the unexpected:

Extraordinary beauty and peace in a little known spot within spitting distance of the M25:

Titsey Place -

http://www.titsey.org/

[french frank]

A thread about the unexpected:

Extraordinary beauty and peace in a little known spot within spitting distance of the M25:

Titsey Place -

http://www.titsey.org/

Quite a large gem, in fact. And a walled garden for vegetables - that's class :-)

[Lat-Literal]

Quite a large gem, in fact. And a walled garden for vegetables - that's class :-)

Well it is, french frank - you drive under the bridge of the M25 and there it is, with the broadest of vistas, and the clever bit is that there is never a gardener in sight. Stroll past the extraordinary vegetable and flower gardens down to the lake and return via the hothouse containing bananas and photos of how the gardens were designed. The cream tea is taken in an elegant modern building and it is good value. I don't think I have seen more than 50 people in the entire grounds at any one time and often there are fewer than 20.

[Serial_Apologist]

Also a mile off the M25:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary_the_Virgin,_Great_Warley

Peter Warlock, aka Philip Heseltine, played the organ there whenever on visits to his wealthy brewing family, the Heseltines, (yes you're right), who lived next door and owned the Ind Coope business, whose brewery was in Romford, once visible from the train when approaching the main station.

There are various links well worth clicking on this site.

[Lat-Literal]

Also a mile off the M25:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary_the_Virgin,_Great_Warley

Peter Warlock, aka Philip Heseltine, played the organ there whenever on visits to his wealthy brewing family, the Heseltines, (yes you're right), who lived next door and owned the Ind Coope business, whose brewery was in Romford, once visible from the train when approaching the main station.

There are various links well worth clicking on this site.

Excellent, new to me, and it is a surprise as I would associate Warlock with Kent.

Thanks for setting the ball rolling. Here's another. All Saints, Tudeley for Chagall -

http://www.tudeley.org/allsaintstudeley.htm

[Dave2002]

A thread about the unexpected:

Extraordinary beauty and peace in a little known spot within spitting distance of the M25:

Titsey Place -

http://www.titsey.org/

I didn't realise there was anything special there. I had noticed it on the map or sat nav, and determined never to live there.

[AmpH]

A little gem of a chapel not far from Rowlands Castle in Hampshire, which I used to pass on the train every day on my way to work in Portsmouth.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/13121

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-142941-st-huberts-chapel-rowlands-castle-hampsh/bingmap

Quite literally in the middle of a field. Spartan, yet strangely atmospheric inside.

[gurnemanz]

Couple of Cotswold gems:

Duntisbourne Rouse. Never tire of visiting this tiny gem of building (and setting)

Recent discovery: Burne-Jones Windows at All Saints Selsey

[Nick Armstrong]

I think the place I referred to in the very first post in the Tourist Office is worth repeating on this thread, as it qualifies as a Little Gem, beyond doubt (and also the link I posted then appears to be dead).

It's the Watts Chapel in Compton, Surrey - a slightly unprepossessing brick building in a field which like some architectural geode, has a breathtaking colourful interior





Nearby is the Watts Gallery


... an interesting titbit about which is that it used to be curated by art expert and spy Anthony Blunt's brother, Wilfrid. "Not a lot of people know that"...


.

[Sir Velo]

Prefer Romaines myself.

[Lat-Literal]

AmpH, gurnemanz and Caliban - all wonderful and all new to me.

I am on the North Downs Way but didn't know about Watts Chapel.

The William Morris properties sprang to mind but are more obvious.

Have posted this before but it is worth putting on this thread:

Chaldon Church Mural - http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org...._church_mural/

[Lat-Literal]

St Peter's Church, Limpsfield.

A place very near to Titsey which I have travelled past often and yet never visited because of the car drivers' lack of interest in its history.

http://www.lttm.org.uk/stpeters/our-church/churchyard/

DELIUS'S SECOND BURIAL

by Peter Vernon

Most Delians will know that Delius is buried in Limpsfield churchyard, Surrey. He is thought never to have visited the village, nor to have had any association with it. His re- re-internment there is said to have been at the instigation of the Harrison sisters (Beatrice and Mary) who were aware that in his last years he had expressed the wish to be buried in the English countryside. A hurried, and necessarily incomplete, inquiry has brought to light interesting information. Still living in the district is Mr. Frank Bunn who in his teens played the organ at St. Peter's Church, Limpsfield. He and Mrs. Ferguson (aged 88 and still living in Limpsfield) were instrumental in persuading the Harrison sisters to hold a concert in the church (at which no music by Delius was played). There was one rehearsal which lasted until l l pm. The rector, wondering why his church lights were still on, looked in to investigate. He was there and then buttonholed by the Harrison sisters, and coerced into agreeing to the reburial of Delius in Limpsfield. Delius's body was brought up from Dover (from the cross-channel steamer) in the back of a van on Saturday, 25th May 1935, by Brasiers, the local undertakers. The re-interment took place that same night in secrecy, with an attendant party consisting only of Eric Fenby, two Harrison sisters (May and Margaret, not Beatrice), the rector, the parish clerk, and Frank Bunn. However, Fleet Street got wind of it, and a number of journalists were concealed behind bushes in the churchyard. At regular intervals the light from their flash-bulbs added stark contrast to that of the flickering hurricane lamps at either end of the grave. The following afternoon, a concert of Delius's music was held in the church, at which Beecham, Vaughan Williams, Fenby and many other leading musicians were present. Beecham delivered an oration of some twenty minutes; this alone was recorded by a BBC van parked outside the church.

http://www.delius.org.uk/journals/uploads/journal57.pdf

[Lat-Literal]

The Square and Compass - Worth Matravers

http://www.squareandcompasspub.co.uk/

(Ramblers, live music, dogs, ciders, panoramic views over fields to the sea and a fossil museum)

Bradley's Spanish Bar, off Oxford Street

http://www.greatlittleplace.com/place/bradleys-spanish-bar

http://www.timeout.com/london/bars-pubs/bradleys-spanish-bar

(Distinctly odd atmosphere, Thai bar staff, Spanish guitarists, tiny, down a side street, no shoppers)

The Lewes Arms, Lewes, East Sussex

http://www.lewesarms.co.uk/

(Small, home of Harveys Beer, poetry, a bit alternative, feels like it belongs in Glastonbury town)

The Blue Bell, York (that is, if he will let you in the place)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2297549/The-Blue-Bell-York-axed-national-beer-guide-discriminates-non-regulars.html

(Again small, sloping floors, like a historic jewel combined with library, football/cricket memorabilia)

[Lat-Literal]

The Rainforest Cafe - 20 Shaftesbury Avenue:

http://www.therainforestcafe.co.uk/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5D9aSQscx8

[Lat-Literal]

Ravenscar - the town that never was -

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/york...ge/item954241/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravens...orth_Yorkshire

.....and Tyneham - the deserted village -

http://www.visit-dorset.com/things-t...illage-p136333

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyneham

If anyone would like to recommend unusual villages, churches, houses, museums, gardens, places of historical interest, exhibitions, pubs, cafes, "spots", etc, I'd welcome it.

National or international!