| Status: | Active, not currently accepting new members |
| Coordinator: | |
| Group email: | Country Houses, Castles & Cathedrals group |
| When: | Monthly on Wednesday afternoons 2:00 pm-4:00 pm 4th Wednesday |
| Venue: | Members Own Home |
Using DVDs we can ‘visit’ these places whilst sitting in comfort at home. We meet on the 4th Wednesday of each month, 2-4 pm.
Hardwick Hall : July
Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire was the subject of our July session. This remarkable Tudor House was owned by Bess of Hardwick, Elizabethan England’s second most powerful woman. The Hall features many large windows, and the letters E S are carved in stone at the high points of the building. Bess of Hardwick married men of note, inheriting after their deaths, making her a very rich woman. Her coat-of-arms are featured in some of the rooms, many of which contain 16th century embroidery, tapestries and portraits .
Castles : September
The two DVDs we watched in September featured castles, the first one featuring wooden castles (as evidenced by post holes), these being the forerunners of the stone casxtles we are familiar with. The second DVD was about Dunratty Castle in Ireland, which has a history of warring factions fighting for possession of it, but is now open for anyone to visit.
Val Gosden
