Another Day Of Only One Post,

for the same reason as yesterday,

I took way too many photographs, again! first thing we were off,

to the car wash, 

and was soon heading out of town

through forest,

and twisty roads,

until we arrived here, ChiddingstoneCastle,

car parked we walked to the castle,

a little about where it is, the Castle is situated in the village of Chiddingstone, near Edenbridge, Kent, England, 35 miles south-southeast of London and in the upper valley of the River Medway,

we could not have chosen a better day,

glorious sunshine all the way down in the car,

and it stayed with us,

well Diana just had to have a pose,

or two!

a change of position,

and well,

the chairs and table were just meant to be used!

inside,

well just one more, 

after buying our tickets for the Castle & Collections, Adult £11, Senior £10, Children 5+ £5.50, we decided on a bite to eat, so inside and ring the bell,

seating was available inside,

some next to the kitchen,

but we decided to sit outside in a charming courtyard,

tables were available in the sun,

or in the shade with a umbrella,

the castle making a lovely backdrop,

there was a antique shop in the courtyard,

we made ourselves comfortable,

but then I decided to look in the shop,

it was filled with so many things,

I particularly liked this double candle holder and ashtray,

back outside our coffee and Diana's cake had arrived,

Diana did the honours with the plunger,

down and down,

nearly there,

and the coffee was ready to pour, as our sandwiches arrived too,

and there was even a side of crisps,

'Cheers!', with a coffee,

the menu, after our breakfast,

we both went into the shop where Diana spied a book that I have, The Specialist, by Charles Sale,

a little about the book, in 1929 inspired by a carpenter named 'Lem Putt' from his hometown of Urbana, Charles Sale wrote The Specialist, a play about an outhouse builder, it is not so much a book, as a leaflet put in a hard cover, why? Apparently because at the time copyright infringement was widespread in Vaudeville, and by publishing the piece as a book this was a way to avoid it, a 15 minute read, but full of homespun philosophy, why would you put a wood pile on the way to the outhouse? Obvious really, but you will have to read the book to find out! as it happens I was given this book as a 16th birthday present way back in 1966, I enjoyed reading it again as much as I did the first time round, and I subsequently bought it again in 2020,

we then made our way to the gift shop,

to pay for our meal,

a few poses,

by the surrounding wall, 

and one by the tower,

we started to walk back around the building,

as it happens the turrets were not original, the owner decided he would like some so they were added!

another couple of poses,

well these things just have to be done!

the side entrance looked very impressive,

guarded by a couple of dogs,

one more for the album,

as we made our way along the side of the building,

looking back to where we had come from,

we continued along the side,

we were going inside, on the right there is this contraption,

 a sedan chair, 

the first room we entered was the Japanese room, firstly I should mention a little of the history of the castle, Chiddingstone Castle has Tudor origins, Victorian rooms were added and was remodelled in the 19th century to resemble a medieval castle. It has been owned and lived in by an eclectic mix of people: the Streatfeild family, Lord Astor, for a time used by military forces during WWII, after which it became Long Dene School and finally owned by the collector Denys Eyre Bower, and it is the Bower collection that we are visiting,

 

as we looked at the first rooms exhibits Diana commented, "defiantly Onibaba", Onibaba (鬼婆, lit. Demon Hag), is a 1964 Japanese historical drama horror film, written and directed by Kaneto Shindo, the film is set during a civil war in the fourteenth century, Nobuko Otowa and Jitsuko Yoshimura play two women who kill soldiers to steal their possessions, we have watched the film a couple of times,

and this was similar to the prize in the film,

a little about the collection,

it is amazing to think that a collection like this can be found in essentially an English castle, well sort of,

in any event in was a impressive collection,

as well as Samurai armour and swords, 

there were many lacquer items on show,

and prints,

a panorama of the room,

Diana was fascinated with these,

articulated creatures,

from locus to dragons,

a few words about them,

we carried on looking in the display cabinets,

and then Diana had a new friend,

in the room a box had Japanese articles that you could touch,

and try on, 

Ta-Dah!

this one with Mount Fuji,

and the Great Wave,

we left the Japanese collection,

and went into The White Rose Room,

kept as it would have been in the time of Denys Eyre Bower,

a look at the view,

whilst I admired the grand fireplace,

next The Print Room,

which had a number of artefacts that were light sensitive,

so you had to lift a lightproof cover to view them,

and a first for myself, a square piano, and it works!

on each side of the fire place, 

a pair of still working barrel organs,

both slightly different,

a little about them,

we soon found ourselves in The Great Hall,

and what a hall it was, 

on two floors,

with a balcony on two of the upstairs walls,

we will be up there later,

Diana by the great table,

as Diana made her way upstairs,

I stayed downstairs,

looking at the stained glass windows,

and guess who?

there she was,

I made my way upstairs as well,

passing more stained glass windows, 

a turn to the left,

and I was nearly there,

Diana next to a mummy, 

a look down to The Great Hall,

and a pose from Diana,

and one more,

we went into the library,

to say it was floor to ceiling books,

would be an understatement,

books everywhere,

both sides of the fireplace,

looking at the view, 

the pathway leads to the bridge we were on yesterday,

there was a mummy on the landing, and above is a bit about him,

on reading about him,

it was not until recently his name was known, we then had a look in The Streatfeild Room,

which has models, 

 of the building as it was,

and a history of it,

the view looking from the upstairs at the front of the building,

we made our way to the top of the stairs, and then to other bedrooms,

before a look down at The Great Hall, if you would like to see the rest of our visit, please press the 'Older Posts' button at the bottom righthand side of the page.