Rodmell, Lewes, East Sussex – The fortunate residents of National Trust properties experience an aspect of history that I imagine to be rarified and wondrous. As an ardent fan of the Bloomsbury Group – writers, painters, creative forces, free spirits – I envy the tenants living in Monk’s House, the cottage once occupied by the writer Virginia Woolf and her husband Leonard. Last year when I toured the property, I encountered a lush landscape with verdant plantings and an altogether inviting layout that we garden lovers on this side of the pond long to experience. Charleston House is associated with Virginia’s sister, the artist Vanessa Bell, with the painter Duncan Grant, and Clive Bell, and with many well-known Bloomsbury figures who gathered here to nurture friendships, love affairs, and creative urges. When I toured the house, it did not disappoint, as the iconography of the Bloomsbury aesthetic appears in every aspect of the house’s decor, from fabric to ceramics to fabulous patterning on walls and furnishings. And the mesmerizing gardenscape: Look for statuary such as a levitating damsel to form perfect focal points.
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