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Contrasts

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Today has been a day of contrasts - I would however, like to focus on the good bits first.

Richard and I took a drive down to Chartwell House today, a place we had only fleetingly visited in the past. The house is owned by the National Trust and is of great significance to the British Nation as it is the former home of Sir Winston Churchill.

We made sure we arrived early as the last time we visited it was too late in the day and there were no tickets left for the house. Well today we arrive din time to acquire tickets to the house and we spent a good portion of the morning taking in all the wonderful historical artifacts and treasures.

I do recall that Churchill's wife Clemmy didn't actually like the house, but Churchill insisted he bought it for the views of Kent - The Garden of England. As you can see from the photo's I took today, you cannot dispute his opinion of this.

This really is a lovely part of England, a romantic England. An England I enjoy and an England I fear is starting to disappear.

For those of you not aware, Churchill amongst other things was an avid painter and his studio (and indeed his home), is full of vibrant landscapes and scenes from around the globe. I can only hope I will amass such a collection of my work by the time I am in my 90's!

Of course even Churchills paintings are eclipsed by the splendid Monet which hangs in the Drawing Room!

This neatly leads me to my contrast. After living in Hertfordshire for 7 years I have never been to Blue Water - posthumously titled "Europes Biggest Shopping Mall". Well as we were that far down the M25 we decided to take a look. I wish we hadn't!

I (like every other queen on the planet), like to shop - or browse. But I was just disgusted by the sheer size of the place. The people there were slouching around likes zombies, all decked out like rejects from ITV reality TV program. Full of flicked razor cut hair styles and collars worn erect (and that's just the women!).

I hated it and I think it's safe to say we'll never be back.

I did wonder how an arcade of shops which contain all the labels and boutiques actually be enticing? Surely if labels and brands are sold in such enormous quantity to so many people (of various ages and backgrounds), doesn't it mean they all end up looking the same and wearing the same clothes? Whatever happened to individuality? I know this much volume of goods feeds consumers needs for choice but I fear Blue Water just feeds their greed instead. Sorry if your a fan of such places but to be honest - you can keep them!

Interested in visiting Chartwell House? Then pop over to my Google Map to find out where it is (and where else we have been over the Easter holiday)

Labels: National Trust, Photography, Richard, UK


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