At Charleston Manor, East Sussex
Down a quiet country lane in East Sussex lies a beautiful country farmhouse known as Charleston Manor. Back in the sixteenth century Charleston Manor was just an ordinary country farmhouse and was known to have been used as a boarding house.
In 1916 Virginia Woolf recommended Charleston Manor to her friend Vanessa Bell, and later that same year Vanessa and her sons, Julian, and Quentin along with their dog Henry moved to Charleston and set about updating the farmhouse into what we know it as now.
Vanessa Bell an Artist, wanted to turn the country farmhouse into a retreat for Artists and Writers. She was later joined by Duncan Grant, and his friend, and lover David Garnett. The artists set about changing the house and each of the rooms were brought to life with their love for art and antiques, colourfull paintings adorned the walls from every space possible.
They were known as the Bloomsbury group. It attracted artists, writers, and intellectuals, and became the meeting place for the celebrated Bloomsbury set. It was occupied and brought to life by the family and their friends for the next sixty-four years.
The Bloomsbury group – A wonderfully creative group of artists and writers, including Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, Virginia Woolf, and John Maynard Keynes. The colourful house interiors were painted by Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, and their families.
The stunning gardens at Charleston Manor are a fabulous inspiration for our designers, artists, and illustrators at the Surface Pattern Marketplace.
A visit is well worthwhile to Charleston Manor, not only to walk through the wonderful rooms in the country house that gives you an idea of how they liked to live. But the fantastic gardens, the colours the flowers in the country garden, it gives you a wonderful insight as to how the Bloomsbury group lived and shows what was an inspiration many of their paintings and murals around the manor.
Charleston Manor Website – The Bloomsbury Home For Art & Ideas.
