Batemans

[poliphilo]

I've always loved Kipling. Always. Starting with the Just So Stories- which were read to me before I could read them myself- right through to the very difficult late short stories. I don't share his politics, but I reckon I understand them- and see how they might be accounted virtuous. He was a great writer; also  a very  good man- loyal, stoic, loving.

My granny was at Batemans during the First World War- with the Land Army- posted there to look after the cows. She was the person- more than any other- who turned me on to him.

I've been to Batemans several times. It's always a bit like coming home. The house was gifted to the National Trust by Kipling's surviving daughter- Elsie- along with all the furnishings and knick-knacks. Everything is just as Rud and Carrie left it in the 1930s- only tidier. 

P.S. You know the alphabet necklace from How The Alphabet Was Made? Well, it actually exists- and can be viewed in a glass case at Batemans.  I suppose Kipling must have made it himself- perhaps with a little help from the numerous artsists and craftspeople in his family. It's a lovely, ingenious thing.

Comments

[mummm.livejournal.com]

What a beautiful, peaceful place! How wonderful that the National Trust is taking care of it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's lovely. It can be enjoyed as a near-perfect English country house and garden- even by people who care nothing about Kipling.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

Near perfect? It looks perfect to me. :^)

I like Kipling's work too.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Could anywhere be more English? :)

It looks absolutely lovely. Mind you, on a glorious sunny day almost anywhere will look lovely, but I suspect that the house and ground look idyllicly English whatever the season.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Bateman's is in a valley. I believe it gets very muddy and gloomy down there in winter.

[caorunn.livejournal.com]

That last picture is so tranquil, I feel as if I can hear the bugs and beasties hitting the water.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Talking about bugs and beasties, there were lots and lots of dragonflies.

[jourdannex.livejournal.com]

Oh how gorgeous...I have often felt that England feels like coming home for me..and I miss it so much.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Kipling- born in India, inveterate globe-trotter, resident for many years in the USA- had that feeling too. There's a lovely story (partly autobiographical) called An Habitation Enforced- about an American couple who fall in love with an English house a lot like Batemans- only to find that their ancestors came from the village.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh that is a lovely story! I will look for this book, thank you :) Thank you also for sharing your beautiful photographs. I used to live next door to Hampton Court and I often wished I had photographed it more.

note to self:

[jourdannex.livejournal.com]

learn to log in when you reply to a comment so you are not anonymous :)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It was first published in a collection called Actions and Reactions.

I'm on a mission right now to photograph as much of picturesque Britain as I can:)

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

The first Kipling I recall reading was Gunga Din, when I was eight. I was mesmerized by the rhythm and memorized it. And The Vampire, and Tomlinson, although I don't think I could recite those any more, except for the first verses of both:

I've loved Kiping ever since. I suspect my father read me the Just So Stories when I was much younger, but I didn't connect them to the author of Gunga Din until later.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I loved the Jungle Books. Intensely. Later I discovered the adult fiction and the poetry. I think he's still an under-rated writer. People dismiss him as a gung-ho imperialist- which is- at best- a caricature.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

That's a truly beautiful place. They say you can tell the wealth of a family /home by the number of chimney pots.I'd love to visit the inside.

I'd also love to potter about in those gardens. National Trust is doing a fine job.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

When Batemans was built chimneys were still pretty new-fangled. And, yes, they were a status symbol. They advertised the number of fires you could afford to burn.

[sovay]

You know the alphabet necklace from How The Alphabet Was Made? Well, it actually exists- and can be viewed in a glass case at Batemans.

That really makes me happy.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think he must have made the necklace before he drew the picture. The picture is a very accurate representation of the actual object.