A day out in London…

Yesterday we took the opportunity to do a little site seeing in London. We first went to Sir John Soane's Museum in Lincoln Fields (Sue couldn’t make it when I visited before with some NZ friends earlier in the year). Soane’s was a well regarded architect of his time who will probably be best known for his work on the Bank of England. He was also an avid (almost kleptomaniac) collector of artefacts and it is necessary to walk sideways in some parts of the building to avoid touching the pieces on display. Unfortunately the Picture Room was closed to allow emergency building work to take place at the rear of the Museum, so the collection of Hogarth paintings was not on display.


Later we travelled over to Chelsea to visit Carlyle’s House . The Atmospheric home of the writer Thomas Carlyle and his wife Jane.

'In a quiet and beautiful residential area of London, this Queen Anne house was the home of Thomas Carlyle, the ‘Sage of Chelsea’, for 47 years until his death in 1881. The skilful Scottish home-making of his wife Jane is much in evidence: the Victorian period decor, the furniture, pictures, portraits and books are all still in place. As a historian, social writer, ethical thinker and powerful public speaker, Thomas is honoured in the house, while Jane’s strong belief in his genius and her own brilliant wit and gift for writing are recognised in the many existing letters. Their academic and domestic lives can be experienced today in the evocative atmosphere of the house.'

Neither of us were aware of Carlyle’s work but the house has so much personality and charm that we didn’t feel that we had missed out from this obvious ignorance.

The weather started to close in later so we high-tailed it home with a bottle of NZ fizz to sit in front of the fire.