Thursday, September 08, 2016

At Stoneywell Cottage

We'd wanted to visit Stoneywell Cottage for a while now but as you have to book a parking slot we had to be sure of going on a specific day.  This day turned out to be on my birthday which happened to fall on a Bank Holiday Sunday, the last in August and I thought, as I don't really like busy weekend and bank holiday crowds very much, this would be a perfect place to visit.  The car park is easy to find and all the staff were so cheerful and hospitable, we even had e-mails before and after our visit welcoming us and hoping that we had had a wonderful time.  Which we did.

There is a little shuttle bus service which takes you from the car park to the property and people on hand to tell you which way to go once you have booked in for a guided tour.  Our guide was called Eric and he was so interesting with his descriptions of the family who lived in the hall as well as the descriptions of how it was built and the way it was lived in.

Stoneywell Cottage is an Arts and Crafts house which was built c. 1898 as a summer residence for Leicester industrialist Sydney Gimson. It was designed by his brother Ernest who was an architect influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement.  Sydney wanted to position his cottage on the hill but Ernest insisted it would be better further down so that it appeared to rise organically from the earth, made of natural materials and stone gathered from the land nearby. 

The roof was originally thatched but after a fire in 1939 it was rebuilt with local Swithland slate. Inside the cottage is built on six levels rising from the entrance floor which you see above and moves in a zig zag way across the building until you reach the last room known as Olympus because it was the highest point in the house.

Most of the furniture in the house was made specifically for Sydney Gimson's  family by his brother Ernest Gimson or by both of Ernest's  Arts and Crafts workshop collaborators, the Barnsley brothers, also called Sidney and Ernest.

Above and below are photos taken in the dining room which had, when the cottage was first built, been the kitchen.  One of the later Gimson ladies had decided when she moved in that a more up to date kitchen was needed and this was made through the latched door you can see above to the left of the dresser in what had been the outhouse and earth closet.

The table in the photo above was made by Sidney Barnsley the top made from a single plank of wood.  It was used for dining by the family but is also marked out for table tennis for which it was also used.

We were a happy little group of ten being guided round by Eric but because I was struggling a little with my back and leg I was waiting to be last in the queue for the steps so I didn't hold anyone up.  This also meant that I could take some photos of the empty rooms before the next group entered them.

One end of the sitting room where there is a lovely window seat overlooking the garden.  The chair in the foreground was made by Lawrence Neal who uses some of Ernest Gimson's tools.

The group were fascinated by the train set which was in the well room, so called because you have to drop down a level to get into it.

The train set apparently used to be set out across the whole floor of the bedroom and belonged to Sydney Gimson's great grandson Roger.
 
It was Roger's father and mother Donald and Ann Gimson who, on inheriting Stoneywell Cottage, decided to live there permanently and not just in the Summer and at Christmas as the earlier Gimsons had done.

After our tour we had a stroll around the gardens and then it was time for coffee and scones in the little cafe in the barn.

The cheese scones were very tasty.

 Above a few more photos taken in the sitting room
 
I loved all the little chalk board messages around the gardens and I loved Stoneywell,  it had such a feeling of warmth with echoes of a well loved family home.  I would like to visit again one day.

33 comments:

  1. What a fascinating place. I love the crazy beam above the fireplace in the dining room and that amazing staircase. What a fabulous way to spend a birthday!

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    1. There was a story about the beam, its weight and etc but I can't remember now what the guide said and it isn't in the guide book as far as I can see. Again I think it was from a local quarry and there was a bigger one in the sitting room over the fireplace:)

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  2. It looks like a really cosy home that was much loved. Thank you for sharing your visit, it is a place that I would love to visit one of these days :) B

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    1. It is a lovely place to visit and because it is small and there isn't much room it isn't very busy:)

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  3. Something out of the ordinary run of NT properties. I'd like to visit sometime.

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    1. It is very different and such a wonderful place to visit:)

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  4. It's the sort of place you could live in comfortably. I like the idea of all the levels but not those steps. Cheese scones, definitely worth a visit! :-)

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    1. It was hard to chose between the cheese and fruit scones but cheese won as it was close to lunch time:)

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  5. It looks a lovely cottage and sounds a very pleasant place to visit. It's all quite charming, although I think the staircase could be a bit tricky at times! It would be great if it was in a village of similar looking cottages, a sort of ideal place to live.

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    1. Apparently one of the Gimsons used to get up those steps which go straight into the main bedroom every evening when he was quite elderly:)

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  6. What a fantastic and interesting building! I'd never heard of it until I saw this post but I'd definitely enjoy visiting, I much prefer a place like this, somewhere homely and characterful, to the big, grand houses! I love all those little signs in the grounds too!

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    1. It is a lovely, homely place and surrounded by lovely countryside. It is in the National Forest. I'm sure you would like it there:)

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  7. What a wonderful way to spend a birthday - the house is lovely and so quirky and such a fun place for children to grow up in :) Lovely photos Rosie. The cheese scone looks tasty. I really must return there - you have brought back so many memories and the limited book in advance tickets means its never over crowded there :) A really lovely post :)

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    1. I was so glad to be there on my birthday as a speical treat and for it to be so welcoming and quiet too was lovely, just what I needed. I too would love to go back again:)

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  8. What an interesting house to visit! Very organic, being made out of local material. It looks perfect set in the hillside as Ernest Gimson wanted. I like the shape of the rooms with those thick walls built at different angles and the beautiful furniture. The family members who lived there sound like interesting people.

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    1. It did feel like a place that had been there for centuries rather than just over one and it fitted so well into its surroundings:)

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  9. Always find Arts and Crafts style houses interesting. Never heard of having to book your parking before.

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    1. It was lovely and so understated. You have to book a parking slot as it is such a small car park and there is a bus to take you down the narrow lanes to the property, they can only take about ten people at a time on each run and ten around the house:)

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  10. A delightful blog post Rosie! I would love to have been part of that family and lived in such a house. Aren't Ernest and Sidney wonderfully old fashioned names? I bet you felt inspired after walking around the house and gardens. The multi functional dining table was great! x

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    1. Love the names and the way one was spelt with an 'i' and one with a 'y'. There was one window at the side of the house where the children could climb out at ground level even though it was an upstairs room. I loved the idea of that:)

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  11. I've thought about going to Stoneywell but I wasn't sure it was worth all the trouble of pre-booking. Perhaps I'll try to fit in a visit. It looks wonderful.

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    1. It is worth a visit and you can arrive anytime within the allotted hour and stay as long as you like:)

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  12. Stoneywell looks such an interesting place to visit. If we are ever in your neck of the woods I will try and book a visit. xx

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    1. It is fascinating and you can book the day before or a few days before but not on the day:)

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  13. What an interesting house. I do love the idea of a house nestled into the natural landscape, but the stairs and different levels might get tiresome. That's an amazing piece of wood/stone? above the fireplace. Very striking.

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    1. It is local stone and apparently took some installing:)

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  14. The house is beautiful and I loved your tour of it. Thanks so much. I love the artistry...thinking of all the hours of labor to find and stack the stone, and form the furniture!

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    1. It certainly was a lot of hard work wasn't it? The result is wonderful and it's great that we can all see it:)

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  15. What a lovely place, I've never even heard of it before but would really like to visit as I love Arts and Crafts houses and furniture.Belated Happy Birthday wishes too.

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    1. Thanks you, it is a lovely place, small and beautiful and well worth a visit:)

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  16. Thank you for the tour, looks like a lovely place.

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