Took the opportunity of a hastily arranged trip to London for Mrs. No Name and friend to catch the Mary Quant exhibition as an excuse to extend the stay into a three nighter at the Bailey Hotel just off Gloucester Road.
I’d pre booked the Vaudeville Theatre for the Friday night to see Groan Ups. From the stable that produced ‘The Play That Went Wrong’ and ‘Bank Robbery’, this one had pretensions of addressing more challenging and grown up themes. Not sure how successful that premise was, but the underlying farce for which the troupe is famous was still largely as sharp as ever. Fair to say I enjoyed it more than Mrs. No Name.
On the Sunday, despite the weather, we explored a couple of lesser known and smaller historic houses of London. The first port of call was the Leighton House Museum. From modest beginnings it grew into a ‘private palace of art’ featuring the extraordinary Arab Hall with its golden dome, intricate mosaics and walls lined with beautiful Islamic tiles. (The Hall was a delightful surprise). Upstairs, Leighton’s vast painting studio was one of the sights of London, filled with paintings in different stages of completion, the walls hung with examples of his work and lit by a great north window. Many of the most prominent figures of the Victorian age were entertained in this room; including Queen Victoria herself who called on Leighton in 1859. But Leighton lived alone in his palace, occupying the house’s only bedroom on the first floor. Astonishing surprise and something of which we knew nothing.
From there we moved on to 18 Stafford House, the home of the Sambourne family. Home of Punch cartoonist Edward Linley Sambourne, his wife Marion, their two children and their live-in servants. The house gives an insight into the personal lives of the Sambourne family, and also provides a rare example of what was known as an ‘Aesthetic interior’ or ‘House Beautiful’ style (yes I looked that up). The Aesthetic Movement of the late nineteenth century advocated the use of foreign or ‘exotic’ influences in the decoration of the home. This can be seen by the various Japanese, Middle-Eastern and Chinese objects throughout the Sambournes’ home. Another gem – and we even managed to visit the Design Museum between houses for a spot of lunch and a much needed coffee!
On the next day we met up with our friends as mentioned. Mrs. No Name and friend went off the the Mary Quant exhibition in the V&A and Ian and I tried the Science Museum and the GCHQ Codebreaking exhibition. The latter was ok but a little underwhelming and small, but the broader museum was a revelation and I will definitely return. Finished off with an early meal in a genuinely local, Italian restaurant. Superb three nighter, if you don’t count the lack of a decent rail service back to Ipswich (again). Mrs. No Name will be busy with the compensation claims!!