Nymans, Standen, and Wakehurst

Tuesday morning we packed our lunch and headed out to visit Nymans, a late-Victorian house remodeled in the 1920s into a medieval manor house that was extensively destroyed by fire in 1947. The gardens there are lovely, of course, and the remaining part of the house is quite cozy and personal. We next visited Standen, a house designed by Philip Webb and the interior was designed by William Morris's company. It is now one of my favorite houses in England. We ate our lunch at Wakehurst, a lovely botanical garden and seed bank/research center run by Kew Gardens. The house at Wakehurst is a very fine English-Renaissance manor, and the gardens are wonderful. For supper we cooked the beets we purchased fresh from the garden at Standen.

 Vast gardens at Nymans

 A vibrant spot of fall calor

 Pergola at Nymans

 The medieval appearance is from the 1920s

 Ruined by a fire in 1947

 The center portion is what remains 

 The cozy interior

 Beautiful flower borders

 Up close

 Kitchen-garden view of Standen

 The entry court at Standen

 Entry doors at Standen

 An alcove in the billiards room for watching games

 An attractive alcove with a fine porthole window

(enlarge to see Morris wallpaper)

 Standen is filled cozy and charming rooms

 Original Morris wallpaper

 Ditto

 Dining room with a deep-green painted wainscot

 The wallpaper is Morris and the painting is by Ford Madox Brown

 Garden side of Standen

 Wakehurst

 English-Renaissance staircase at Wakehurst

 Garden view of the manor house

 Beautifully designed and maintained landscape

 The house seen from the charming walled garden

 Seed bank and research center

 Heather in bloom at Wakehurst

Beets and greens for supper

This was a fun day. More is planned for tomorrow, but this is all for now.

OXO

D.