Future Plans

Hello lovely Positively Packwood readers and welcome to another instalment of your favourite Packwood blog. Finding new things to tell you all about, without spoiling the opportunity for you to discover Packwood for yourselves is the balancing act of this blog. I want to convey the love and passion I have for this building and the Trust and inspire you to hop in your motor and come see us without ‘giving it all away’.

I have some future blogs in the pipeline including our new ‘Packwood Follies’, what of the ’50 things’ you can tick off at Packwood, a more in depth look at the current conservation projects and what’s happening in our gardens. I'm also going to do a post about my boss; Mr Baron Ash. If there are other suggestions for blogs you would like to see here please do leave your ideas in the comments below.

Sunday was another bank holiday weekend and we were again blessed with sunshine! It was almost too glorious a day to be looking at the flowering wisteria from behind leaded windows. However never one to turn down the opportunity to be inside my favourite house, that is exactly where I was.

As usual I covered 3 rooms during my shift. This week; Queen Margaret’s bedroom – where I ended up giving 3 impromptu talks to visitors about 16^th century stained glass painting techniques. Guess that’s what happens when it’s become your specialist (and I use the term VERY loosely) subject! You start off talking to two visitors and suddenly realise the room is full of people all listening to your every word, looking at you and your favoured heraldic piece of glass – eeeek!

I then went into the long gallery and parlour which is where many of our famous tapestries are on display. Having spoken to the ladies from the weaver’s guild in the Featherston room I have a whole new appreciation for the work and skill involved in creating these beautiful pieces. It also means that I can talk about the process as well as the origins of these intricate items.

My final room was the Drawing room. It’s recently been re-jigged and I have to say I love the new lay out. It’s much more visitor friendly with people being able to get further into the room and see the pieces better. Queen Mary’s teacup and the chair she sat in are here and it’s always fun to delight visitors with the ‘behind the scenes’ secret stories of her visit. Again I mustn't give the game away but it never fails to make visitors laugh when they hear about what she was really like.

This room also contains our Spinet (which is constantly mistaken for a harpsichord!) It’s such a lovely little thing and one of the earliest surviving examples of the work of Thomas Hitchcock the Younger. Alan gave me a bit more background to our Spinet this week explaining why it couldn't be played – apparently it was refurbished quite poorly in the 30’s and due to this the strings have made the wood warp. It’s a beautiful object but a shame it can no longer be considered the instrument it once was.

This room also houses my favourite painting containing the words ‘While we have time, do good things’. I am always reminded of this and the Ash’s coat of arms motto ‘Not for us but for everyone’ when working in this room. Both seem to encapsulate so well the beginnings of this organisation and the reason I now dedicate my time to the Trust.

If you visited Packwood this weekend you made an excellent choice! Our gardens really are looking stunning. If you haven’t been yet the future is looking just as bright with our summer events programme about to begin.

Hope to see you here.