Confessional

[JoceAndChris]

Totally shocking! The worst I've done is toss out the previous owner's lovingly collected "Roman " fossils, which were as ugly and dull as they were prolific.

Some might think it wrong to apply silk curtains, Chinoiserie cabinets, crystal chandeliers, parterres and fountains and statues and Aubusson, to an estate cottage, but I'm convinced whoever built this little folly would approve wholeheartedly.

 

[Penners]

Some might think it wrong to apply silk curtains, Chinoiserie cabinets, crystal chandeliers, parterres and fountains and statues and Aubusson, to an estate cottage, but I'm convinced whoever built this little folly would approve wholeheartedly.

Always assuming that they'd ever heard of such things. :wink:

 

[Feltwell]

Always assuming that they'd ever heard of such things. :wink:

They'd heard of them? A few there I'd never heard of!

Perhaps not fitting to the original cottage residents Joce, but it is after all only furniture and "dressings" and so is transitory and is for the resident at the time. You could fill the place with Ikea furniture (your vision of hell I realise!) and still have a clear conscience that you've made no permanent damage to your very nice house! :lol:

Your place isn't really a folly though, is it?? I always thought a folly was a building that either was purely decorative with no useful function at all, or where it had a function but it was strictly secondary to it's primary purpose of being a decorative feature. But I am no architectural historian and may well be wrong.

 

[Penners]

No, no - folly was what Goldiloppers did when she falolloped into the forry and got lostilode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RRv35Ig2mg

 

[JoceAndChris]

Your place isn't really a folly though, is it?? I always thought a folly was a building that either was purely decorative with no useful function at all, or where it had a function but it was strictly secondary to it's primary purpose of being a decorative feature. But I am no architectural historian and may well be wrong.

You're thinking of that type of folly that might be an obelisk, or column, or ruin, or gate, or rustic arch, or possibly a grotto or a hermitage. But there are other lovely lovely follies, very worthy of study, that might be a summer house, or temple, or lodge, where the ornamental does not outweigh the practical. There will be accommodation for either servants, his Lordship, or both, and opportunities for all manner of frolics, or prayer, as suits the estate-owner's taste. There are bath-houses, fishing lodges, libraries, that fall within the genre of "folly".

One of my favourites is the dignified little casino at Marino in Ireland. Designed as a mini Roman temple, it cunningly spreads itself over three storeys with vaulted basement rooms housing servants' accommodation, and working rooms, whilst the ground floor contained a lavish saloon and the first floor a grand state bedroom with a large day-bed on a raised dais.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmsuwbA0tNU

The Temple of the Winds also has a plan not dissimilar to BC and was clearly conceived as a banqueting house. I'm not really saying my house compares to those astonishing relics of an age obsessed with reinterpreting classicism, but it doesn't easily fit the category estate worker's cottage either. This letter has been sent out by English Heritage to various bodies who may have the key to its original inhabitants or purpose, unfortunately their best efforts have drawn a blank so far.

"I am doing some research on Beacon Cottage on the - and wondered if you had any information that may help me? The cottage was built in the early C19 - first appearing on a map in 1824 - and in 1841 was occupied by John Burrows, grain merchant, according to the Census. The cottage is positioned on the hill to command an impressive view and it has a ha-ha on two sides of the garden; it also has a wine cellar and elegant interiors, all of which makes me think it may have been built for someone of a higher status than a tenant farmer, or used by the family as a summerhouse. It is also some distance from any farm buildings. I wondered if there were any records in your archives that might shed more light on the circumstances of its construction? I would be very grateful for any help you could give me in this matter."

So you see, enshrouded in such mystery as it is, built during a time that gave us Strawberry Hill, Exton Fishing Lodge and Horton Menagerie, I feel quite justified in stocking the grounds with zebras and stuccoing the walls in cats' eye chrysoberyls. 8)

 

[Penners]

You're thinking of that type of folly that might be an obelisk, or column, or ruin, or gate, or rustic arch, or possibly a grotto or a hermitage. But there are other lovely lovely follies, very worthy of study, that might be a summer house, or temple, or lodge, where the ornamental does not outweigh the practical. There will be accommodation for either servants, his Lordship, or both, and opportunities for all manner of frolics, or prayer, as suits the estate-owner's taste. There are bath-houses, fishing lodges, libraries, that fall within the genre of "folly".

I think you've omitted one of the principal uses of a folly - a location where His Lordship could enjoy lascivious encounters with one of his bevy of household staff (usually, but not always, female), his mistress(es), or maybe even his wife ( :shock: )!

Possibly the richest, most diverse collection of follies of all kinds in the country is to be found here: http://www.stowe.co.uk/house/

 

[JoceAndChris]

Very true, and I bet whilst the master was away with the groom in the folly the mistress was having her pearls warmed by the maid in the great house. :wink:

I did enjoy visiting Stowe so much last summer. Though it's no wonder you have a bad back Mr P, if they made you tramp round that vast estate with all your sacks of books as a pupil there.

 

[Penners]

You're right. One wasn't even permitted to have servants to carry one's books.

Until then, I had no idea that such a grindingly harsh life existed.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh heavens. But presumably there were some nice puds, Eton Mess and Spotted Dick and the like, to compensate?

 

[Feltwell]

it doesn't easily fit the category estate worker's cottage either.

Definitely not - far too grand for that, unless His Lordship wanted it as a focal point for his garden view and to give it a practical purpose it doubled up as a worker's cottage. Seems unlikely though. As you say, maybe a summerhouse for the views, or a hunting lodge maybe? As well as the retreat for Lady Chatterley style antics of course :wink:

I hope you manage to find something about it. I presume you are sure that it was once part of a local estate?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh yes, quite a bit in our papers about how the estate was all broken up and sold off after the 1st WW. At that point the family who'd been tenant farmers for 70 years bought it. ( the grand daughter)

It isn't within view of the Hall, that's a good long mile away. The nearest house would have been a mile away. Nobody would have heard, or seen, what went on here, and the situation is exactly the same today.

 

[Penners]

Oh heavens. But presumably there were some nice puds, Eton Mess and Spotted Dick and the like, to compensate?

Good grief, no! The food was terrible. Eton Mess would not, course, have been tolerated, and one only ever encountered the latter in the showers.

Which of course made it very soggy.

 

[Keithj]

O fie! A confessional thread, and I wasn't here to give absolution

I must confess to taking a pair of 16th century farm workers' cottages, suffering many years of neglect and a crassly incompetent "restoration" job done mostly with concrete, and repairing the damage. That's the good bit.

The bad bit is that in the process we uncovered old doorways and windows, since blocked off, but where the timber was rotten beyond re-use. The replacement process did not preserve these old openings. Green oak, laths, and lime render were used, but the structure isn't the same underneath.

After all was done, the octogenarian granddaughter of the folks who owned the house in the early 20th century found a photograph...

... the outside wasn't timber-and-render (as we have restored) but flat (probably mud, looking at it).

This is the finished product as of now. We didn't go back to thatch, but we did get rid of the concrete tiles.

 

[JohnB]

I've discovered that my window openings have been moved, and an outside doorway blocked up. The bits that have been blocked up have really been bodged, with brick and/or stone and cement mortar, some of it unbelievably rough. No wonder they needed a very thick layer of cement on the inside walls to make them flat! The new lime plaster shows all the lumps and bumps, so people can see where the old openings were. This may not be to everyone's taste, but it does show some of its history.

 

[Penners]

... the outside wasn't timber-and-render (as we have restored) but flat (probably mud, looking at it).

Many timber-frame buildings that now have your style of externally exposed beams were never originally constructed in this way. I understand that it was the Victorians who first started this "chocolate-box" practice.

 

[Zebra]

I've sometimes wondered, a phrase which I've often heard but never quite understood - what exactly does the phrase "chocolate box" refer to, with reference to houses?

 

[Keithj]

"Chocolate box" refers to those idyllic scenes so beloved of sweetie manufacturers for adorning their containers. Somehow, the sight of a rural cottage with roses round the door, a stream running by, etc - is meant to encourage you to have another choccy. Doesn't work with me.

There are quite a few houses round here of the Tudor era, most of which show every sign of having had exposed timbers for a very long time. The rear timbers of our house (which weren't smothered in black paint by the "restorer" because he concreted over them) have the silver patina of wood that has been exposed to the air for a very long time, so the rear of the house had exposed timbers if the front didn't.

Anyway, we've repaired the place and it's sound (for now).

 

[Penners]

Here's a chocolate box cottage:

 

[vicky whitworth]

Chocolate box cottage set in a delightful cul de sac of 1980s bungalows. It's a crime.

 

[Penners]

You're right, Vicky. They should have built the cottage somewhere else.