How do you spend yours?

What is well spent or hard earned? What will heal all things?  What can’t you get back once it’s gone? What is wasted, squandered or well managed? What is there never enough of? What is lost and can be made? What can you be in or out of? What cannot be held back? How do you spend yours?

We expect a lot from our time.

We pride ourselves on being ‘good time keepers’ and yet this is the ultimate misnomer. Time marches on regardless of our perceived control of it. It never truly stands still (although it can feel that way at times!).

It’s interesting that we humans use a lot of currency language when related to time. Perhaps it began when we started to place a monetary value on our time by the hour. What is one hour at work worth to you? Of course your time alone is not what you’re paid for, it is your skills, knowledge and expertise; it is what you DO in that hour that determines your value.

So what of your ‘own’ time, the time that is not paid for by your boss or your customers? Your ‘free’ time, I would argue it is the time with the most value. I would argue that it is anything but free. If we were to continue with our familiar linguistic metaphor of currency, this time is the invaluable time. This is the time where you create your ‘money can’t buy’ existence. In this time memories are made. It is what you DO with this time that determines the value of your life.

This is the time we can make choices about; choices that have the greatest impact on our emotional and physical well-being and of those around us. We can choose to ‘spend’ time doing things that enhance and enrich our lives. We can choose to ‘invest’ that time in our relationships and ourselves. We can allow ourselves and our values to determine where and with whom we cash in our ‘time cheques’.

Awareness of my time is something I take seriously.  I, like everyone else have to make enough money to pay my bills, eat, buy vintage cowboy boots and headscarves (you know that sort of thing) but I have found that when balancing my monthly ‘life statement’ if I have spent enough ‘paid time’ to earn enough money whilst being able to also ‘donate’ time to a cause or organisation I love and have ‘time of my own’ for things like reading books, walking in woods, calling friends, listening to music, cuddling dogs and having dinner with my husband then my ‘happiness/time bank balance’ looks pretty healthy.

Time unlike money cannot be banked. Regardless of our stupid terminology it cannot be ‘saved’ we can’t get back last Thursday because we didn’t use it. Time 'saving’ devices don’t in fact ‘buy us time’ they just mean that the time it used to take to do a job is now reduced. How we choose to spend that ‘extra time’ is still up to us. Time does not know it is ‘extra’, it is just time.

Packwood House is a place where I choose to spend time. It is a place where I have invested and donated time. I am not alone; many like me dedicate regular time to this special place. But of course it is not just our time we invest here. It is ourselves. We spend our time helping you get the most out of yours. Our garden teams work tirelessly for you to enjoy your ‘free time’ walking in our tranquil gardens. Our house teams share stories and knowledge to enhance your time spent in the property. Time is ‘managed’ by our leaders to make sure for us there is ‘always time for cake’ and for you always someone on hand to answer a question, help find a hidden dog or just to give you a smile. Our visitor reception teams help you to ‘plan’ your time so you can know you’ve got all the information to ‘get the most value for your time’ and our conservation teams manage the effects of time in preserving these special places for visitors now and in future generations.

Yes Packwood along with many National Trust places is a ‘step back in time’; a chance to indulge your inner historian and reflect on ‘times gone by’. Or to put your own time in the great timeline of humanity and gain perspective. Packwood’s ‘timeless quality’ allows you to ‘lose a few hours’ but again I would argue that rather than experiencing loss what you gain in those ‘lost hours’ is a sense of calm and peace that in todays often frantic world is time well spent. 

What Is

Well hello to you Positively Packwood readers and thanks once again for joining me! I am back after my wonderful holiday (what do you mean you didn’t notice!?) and it was brilliant fun to be back in Packwood House this weekend.

It’s a funny thing volunteering. You don’t have to do it (obviously) and you don’t get paid for it (again, obviously) but I really miss it when I’m not there. I’m sure it’s the same for everyone this property has such a special place in my heart. Pulling up in the car park or that first view of the house as I cross the road never ceases to make me smile. Taking the time to notice the subtle changes to the flowers as the year rolls around week by week.

This place has an energy all of its own. As I make my way through the courtyard and the warm sun heats up the roses giving off an intoxicating scent, entering the cool darkness of the flower room I smell that ‘old building’ smell of aged wood and years of memories. It’s like coming home. Seeing the faces I do every Sunday, all of us with at least one common interest.

I’ll be honest, as with so many altruistic acts there is a certain amount of self gratification involved. Of course I volunteer because of my love of heritage, equally for my love of people and the opportunity to share such a special space with other like minded folk. But I also come here because I love this place. I want to inspire other people to love this place, so long after I’m gone there will be others who will value it and take care of it.

I met another volunteer (from another property) this week as a visitor who asked me ‘Don’t you find it frustrating?’ I got the impression he was struggling, maybe he’d come to Packwood to gain some perspective, it’s that kind of place. I don’t know if my answer was the 'party line', but it was from the heart.  I explained as I see it when you care about a place as deeply as we do it’s hard not to become attached to every decision made. It’s important to remember what we are there to do and why we do it. There are volunteers at Packwood who have been there for 20 or 30 years, they have seen change after change no doubt of their beloved property. Decision makers come and go and (believe it or not) we are in the enviable position of having a simpler role to play.

We are there to engage, to share and to protect. We do not have to monitor budgets, meet targets or navigate new processes. I’m not saying that we should go through this experience without offering positive or useful feedback if we see a way that something could be changed (we are people not droids!) but there is something to be said for enjoying the job that we are there to do and not focussing too heavily on the things we can’t control.

Quite often we may not always have all the information, it’s kind of like government…everyone thinks the decisions they make are wrong/useless/Barry in the pub could do better (delete as appropriate!) but however much we like to think we have freedom in the press, and we all know it all, we don’t. If we let the ‘blue sky thinking’ of others in an office cloud the experience we have, today, in our beautiful properties we are the ones who miss out. If we let frustration tarnish our enjoyment of these spaces, if we are resistant to change then we cannot do the job we are there to do as well as we are capable of doing it.

This isn’t the blog I intended to write; that happens sometimes! I’d intended to tell you all about being in the Great Hall (first time I’d done this room). I was going to tell you about learning about an artist ‘lay’; the mannequin that would be dressed in the same dress of whoever was being painted so the painter could do the detailed dress bits without a sitter getting fidgety! Or I could have told you about how the balcony balustrade for the minstrels gallery was made from the hay rack previously used for feeding cattle in the barn the great hall used to be!? In fact I’m almost positive I would have told you how the oriel window chosen by Baron Ash was inspired by the one he’d seen at Hampton Court Palace.  

But one has to be welcoming of change, so here is what is; as opposed to what I thought would be.

And for those who would have preferred a detailed account of the Great Hall, get yourself to Packwood and see it for yourself, here’s a few pictures to inspire you…

Queen Mary

Hello Packwood Lovelies (as you shall henceforth forever be known!) and thank you once again for joining me over here on Positively Packwood.

Today's post is a little shorter than usual as I am bringing it to you from my phone!? Whilst the ability to do this is a godsend after the hard drive on my laptop packed up (no pun intended!) whilst trying to write a Packwood blog, it isn't exactly the smoothest of writing methods and does feel like I'm writing a rather long and involved text message!

However in the words of Freddie Mercury and Miranda Hart 'On with the show!' ***what a dream team that would have been!***

This week was a return to volunteering after last weeks illness and it was wonderful to be back. The weather gods honoured us with another day of glorious sunshine and I got to work some of my very favourite rooms again. Queen Margaret (with my favourite painted knight window), the Parlour (with my favourite fantasy tapestry) and the Drawing room with Queen Mary's teacup.

I had some wonderful conversations with visitors again this week and it's always so interesting to hear their stories about Packwood and the occupants. In the drawing room I often share with people the 'lesser known facts' about Queen Mary and her visit to Packwood (you're almost always guaranteed a laugh!) and it's the personal tales that people enjoy most.

For those that haven't been to Packwood (why not?!) Queen Mary visited Packwood  and Baron Ash in August 1927. She stayed for tea but had a room made ready for her for 'resting' should she require it, which is why we still have 'Queen Mary's Bedroom'. As a non titled man Baron Ash was understandably terribly honoured to receive a royal visit and had the cup and saucer she drank from, the pen she signed the guest book with and the chair she sat in authenticated and plaques applied almost the minute she left! 

We have them here to show you at Packwood House and continue to share with visitors all the stories from that day.

One visitor on Sunday offered to share with me his own Queen Mary story and I loved it so much I thought I must share it with you. I shall tell it to you as it was told to me...

"Apparently Queen Mary did not have much in the way of a sense of humour but there was one thing that she had found incredibly funny. She always carried a letter about her person. This letter had been sent to her by a little girl and was addressed 'To The Queen Mary (Not the Ship)' apparently the Queen found it hilarious that not only was this how she was addressed but that it had made it to her."

I must confess I loved that story and although it doesn't relate directly to Packwood I'm sure it has become a fixed part of my knowledge of Queen Mary.

Hopefully by next week I shall be back to the keyboard, equally hopeful I haven't lost several thousand words of novel since the last back up! Trying not to think about all those photos...life...that is contained in said poorly hard drive. Today's lesson, go forth and back up!

Until next time lovelies!

 

Queen Mary's teacup - from an out of production Rockingham set. The queen wanted to take this one that she'd used and Baron Ash refused offering her another from the same set.

The chair Queen Mary sat in