Getting a little bit theatrical…
This year at Hatchlands we are trying something a little different. Maybe you spotted it in the Surrey Advertiser today? We’ve paired up with Artifice, a local theatre company who perform classical plays in period settings. We kicked off our team-up in April, when the lovely Artifice players spent the afternoon strutting around Hatchlands in period costume, performing extracts from a Georgian comedy, The Way to Keep Him, which (bear with me here), was written for David Garrick, who was in fact a friend of Fanny Boscawen, the original lady of the house here at Hatchlands.
I must say, and I’m not being biased, that it was great fun. Catching snippets of the plot unravelling around the house was hugely entertaining, although quite frustrating that I kept catching the same scene and wanted to see more, as I was flitting around the house in a completely illogical order. Hopefully our visitors would have not got the same thing too many times, but, like me, have been frustrated enough that they didn’t know what happened next! Why, you ask? Well because then in the evening, once the house was closed, Artifice performed the whole thing from start to finish in our lovely Music Room. Finally I found out what was going on! 
This Sunday, 20th May, we take a little leap forward from Georgian comedy and land in Jane Austen territory, as Artifice return to perform ‘Reading Histories and Drawing Pullets’, a Jane Austen ‘masterclass’ written by Kate Napier to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Sense and Sensibility. This time you won’t be able to catch any of the play itself during the afternoon but I hear rumours there might be a few people around in period costume. You’ll have to come along at 6pm to see the full thing. Tickets are available now from the Guildford Tourist Information Centre on 01483 444333 or there might be some available on the door, but booking is advised to avoid being disapointed!
I’m a bit disapointed myself that I won’t be around this weekend, as I really do think having these performances in the house really brings the place to life, which, as luck would have it, is one of the National Trust’s top priorities for the next few years. If you’ve read my blog before you know all about my thoughts on having a bit of fun with our history and trying to liven things up a bit. Our partnership with Artifice ticks a lot of these boxes as far as I’m concerned, I hope you will be able to come along and see for yourself.
But don’t worry – if you can’t make it this Sunday you haven’t lost your chance. Artifice will be back with Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband on 17th June, then returning with The Way To Keep Him again on 15th July. Hope to see you there!
Conserving Hatchlands…
I’ve talked on here about the “visitor experience”, telling the story, getting our history across, and all of that sort of thing. That is all excellent stuff, and incredibly important, but on the other side of things, surely many of you are thinking that the National Trust is first and foremost a conservation charity and that is where we should be putting our focus?
For the last few years, we have had an excellent Conservation Assistant in post here at Hatchlands, and in all honesty she was so good that I let my focus slip away from conservation and have spent more and more time on things that I’ve told you about before. Again, all very important, but I thought it was about time I shift my focus back again. Over the last several years the Trust has been carrying out something called the “Conservation for Access toolkit” across as many of our properties as possible, designed to identify how well we are currently meeting the conservation needs of our houses and collections, and how we can balance “sustainable access”, which is pretty much NT jargon for looking after the house while still allowing people to see it.
Hatchlands actually came out rather well in this exercise, and no major issues were identified… or at least nothing that we didn’t already know about. There were of course however several recommendations of what we could improve, so I’m now spending my time working my way through that, and putting various plans into place. The first thing I hope you might start noticing is how shiny our floors start to look… but don’t comment on that just yet as it might all go horribly wrong! Other things include the level of light control in the house (without making it too dark for visitors), and the conservation challenges that come from being a lived in house and not an environmentally controlled museum.
Hopefully it is nothing that we can’t handle, and I would very much like to be able to say in a few months time that we have got it all under control, or at least know where we’re going wrong. With a lived in house we’re never going to meet the ideal standards unfortunately, but we can do everything reasonably possible to balance the care of this house with the unusual amount of use it gets. Wish me luck!
We’re back!
After many months of beavering away behind the scenes, Hatchlands is now once again open to the public. For the last month, I have been trying to write a post about all the mad things we’ve been doing in the last month, frantically trying to get the house ready. But guess what? I’ve been too busy! I kept picking up my camera and taking it with me when going to polish a mirror, teach new staff how to drive our little golf buggy, waxing floors, etc etc, but each time I took the camera, I then got too absorbed in the job to take any pictures. All I ended up with was some rather bad shots of dusting a large chamber organ up a ladder.
Thankfully though, dear readers, while I was busy not taking pictures, we managed to get nearly everything sorted, and we flung open the doors last Sunday to welcome people back. Now we’re back into some sort of regular routine, I will make sure I share it with you, but in the meantime why not get some slightly more bite-sized nuggets from me and the rest of the team, as you can now follow us on Twitter! www.twitter.com/HatchlandsNT
Please come and find us there, but more importantly, come and visit, we’re ready and waiting!
This little light of mine…
While we’re all beavering away in the house this winter, I thought I’d pause and share a few photos with you. Here we are cleaning the chandelier in the Drawing Room at Hatchlands. Thank you to James Duffy for the excellent pictures.
Something a little scandalous…
I’ve spoken before about some of the criticism that the National Trust has faced over the last couple of years. Last time I focussed on “going Disney”, but one of the other things we were accused of was a tabloid level of “queasy voyeurism” by culture critic Stephen Bayley. There was a lot of discussion about the “vulgar” stories some properties were willing to tell about their inhabitants to get people interested.
It’s confession time – I read Heat magazine, my favourite TV show is The Only Way is Essex, and I won’t go out on a Saturday night if X-Factor is on. Clearly, I like a bit of shallowness every now and then, but so do a lot of other people. These things are popular for a reason! When discussing the above accusations in the office here at Hatchlands, I was quite happy to say that if, for example, I found a story that Fanny Boscawen (the original lady of the house) was having a secret affair with her butler, then that was a story I was quite keen to tell, as it would be fun! (Let’s just clear one thing up – as far as I know, there is no such story, and we’re not pretending there is.)
But then when I thought about it, I remembered we did have our very own scandalous story to tell, but one that we shy away from a little bit. ‘Celebrated beauty’ Beatie Sumner, a controversial Victorian socialite (think E4’s Made in Chelsea), was born at Hatchlands while her parents owned the house. She went on to cause a stir in the horse riding world by wearing men’s clothing and refusing to ride side-saddle, then managed to get herself involved with a married man, Charles Hoare, heir to the great banking family. Her father got a court order to keep the couple apart, but secret meetings and letters smuggled with family members continued for years, until they both found themselves in court accused of breaking the orders placed upon them. It was a national scandal and even the News of the World got involved. She ended up having his children, and then moving away with him to establish a naval training school, before marrying one of the most famous cricketers of her time, C.B. Fry. There’s a lot of detail I’m leaving out, but she had quite the life!
Beatie Sumner - Scandalous socialite
The reason we’ve not trumpeted her story too much is not really through any moral objection, but more the fact that most of it happened away from Hatchlands. She was born here, but her parents couldn’t afford to keep the estate, so by the time she was doing anything scandalous they had moved to Gloucestershire and had no real ties with their Surrey home. We’ve reached something of a compromise now – she’s an interesting character whose story deserves to be out there, but she hasn’t taken the spotlight away from our refined and sophisticated hostess, Fanny Boscawen, who most certainly did not get up to such things.
Next year, we’re going to try and focus on different eras each month. So maybe in June when we look at the 19th century, we’ll return to our little scandal and have some fun with it. That’s what this should be – fun. I want to tell you interesting stories about the people that lived here and shaped what you see today. If the most interesting thing about somebody is their philanthropy and good deeds, then I’ll tell you that… but if the most interesting thing is something a little bit naughty, I’d quite like to tell you that as well. I hope you don’t mind!
Hatchlands at Christmas
At the end of October, Hatchlands closes to the public for the winter. You may think we all just sit around drinking tea and gossiping until April, but there is still a lot of work to be done over the closed season, both inside and out.
For one weekend over the winter, we tear ourselves away from the tea and biscuits and invite you, the visitor, back in for a glimpse of Hatchlands at Christmas. It’s a tradition that goes a long way back, with the last owner of the estate, Hal Goodhart-Rendel, hosting a Christmas party for the local children every year in the early part of the 20th century. We continue this in a way by hosting the East Clandon village carols, but we also put on our own events as well.
Before we can do any of this though, there is one very important thing to be done. The tree! I’m sure we all love decorating our Christmas trees… but it becomes a slightly harder task when it is over 12 foot tall. Have you ever tried to put a star on the top of a tree using a litter-picker?
Some years, the weather conspires against us as well. The last few winters have seen thick snow, and although we’re starting to get used to it, we don’t really look forward to the hours outside shovelling snow. There are only a few of us that live close enough to get in and help. Last year I was one of the unlucky few who managed to come and help dig out the drive, but the year before that I was stuck in West Clandon, so lent a hand down at our neighbouring property Clandon Park (who are also hosting their own carols and Christmas events, do have a look.)
Staff clearing snow
This year we’re trying something new for Christmas. For many years we have been lucky enough to have Ayres and Graces performing a selection of festive music and readings for us, usually on Saturday and Sunday evening. This year, Ayres and Graces will be back on the Saturday evening, 10th December, but we’re doing something a little different on Sunday 11th. Come down to Hatchlands from 1.30pm and you’ll find donkeys to meet in the courtyard, the shop will be open for some important Christmas shopping, and if you’re lucky, Father Christmas might be persuaded to make an appearance. At 4pm we’ll invite you in to the atmospheric Music Room where you can join us for a good old-fashioned carol singing session. So, if you like your Christmas entertainment as a performance you can relax and enjoy, come along on Saturday evening, then if you want to join in and have some fun yourself, come and see us on Sunday. We’re looking forward to it!
Music and Readings: Saturday 10 December, 8-10pm, Tickets £16, senior citizen £15, student £14. Booking essential at Guildford Tourist Information Centre Box Office, 155 High Street, Guildford, GU1 3AJ, 01483 444334, www.visitguildford.com
Hatchlands Family Christmas Carols & Animal Visit: Sunday 11 December, from 1.30-5:00pm. Meet the animals around the manger until 4pm, and enjoy complimentary soft drinks, biscuits, mulled wine and mince pies. Join in with Christmas carols in Hatchlands House from 4-5pm. Visit the National Trust shop for last minute Christmas shopping, open from 2-5.30pm (£1 voucher on arrival). Advanced booking essential for carols by calling 01483 222482. Adults £5, children £3, Family (2 adults and up to 3 children) £14. (Payable on the day). If you don’t want to come for the carols but jut want to meet the animals, then there’s no need to book, admission will be: Adults £3.50, children £2, Family (up to 3 children) £10 (Payable on the day).
We hope to see you there!
Who looks after Hatchlands today?
It’s about time I told you a little more about how we run things today at Hatchlands. I thought I might start by introducing some of the other staff to you. By now you’re starting to get to know me, Mark the House Steward, but I haven’t told you much about what I do, or what anybody else does.
I’ll start at the top. Hatchlands is managed jointly with our neighbour Clandon by Julie our Property Manager. In collaboration with our regional colleagues, Julie is responsible for keeping the whole place going. Under Julie you have all the various heads of department, and then further down you have the likes of me. The administrative side of things is looked after by Susi our Administrator. If you ring the property, it’s quite likely she will be the first person you speak to.
We also have the department traditionally known as Visitor Services, but is shifting more these days to becoming more about the “visitor experience.” This all comes under the watchful eye of Ari, the Visitor Experience Manager, but within his team we have Katie the Events Assistant (come along to one of our events and you’ll see Katie’s handiwork in action.) We also have Kerry the Marketing and Communications Officer, responsible for spreading the word about Hatchlands and Clandon, and boosting awareness of what we get up to. Then there is Brigitte the Reception Manager and an excellent team of Visitor Services Assistants who man reception, recruit new members, but most importantly provide the first welcome for the majority of our visitors. Also now under the Visitor Experience umbrella are the shops at Hatchlands and Clandon, managed by Katie the Shop Manager, and staffed by her seasonal team of shop assistants. Please pop in and see what they can tempt you with next time you are passing.
The catering team are not employed by the National Trust, but we work closely together. Our lovely tea room, located in the original kitchen of Hatchlands, is a franchise managed jointly with the Clandon restaurant, and run here by Sheila, the tea room manager and her friendly team. I can recommend the ham and cheddar panini!
Moving outside, our 430 acres of historic park and garden are looked after by just two members of full time staff, Sue the Park and Garden Manager, and Dan the Gardener. Sue has been at Hatchlands for over 20 years, so is a wealth of knowledge that I’m hoping to mine for future blog posts! As with events and the shop, the gardeners are assisted by a dedicated team of volunteers. We would be lost without them.
Last but not least, we come into the house itself. We are managed by Rachel and Jo, our job shared House Managers. Under them you have me. In general terms, the House Manager is in overall charge of what goes on in the mansion, making the operating decisions and looking after the budgets, while the House Steward (me) tends to focus on the more day to day things such as organising volunteer rotas and making sure the house is running smoothly while we open, among a great number of other things as well of course. I work alongside Tora, our Conservation Assistant, who is responsible for preparing the house for opening each morning, as well as keeping an eye on environmental monitoring and care of the collection. Once the house closes we get stuck into the “winter clean” but we could write pages about that alone, so we’ll save that for another time. (Although if you watched “Petworth: The Big Spring Clean” on BBC4, you might have a better idea of what we get up to.) Working with us in the house, but slightly separately, is Alison, who organises things on behalf of the Cobbe Collection Trust; the charity set up to care for our musical instruments. Alison is instrumental in coordinating piano tuning, concerts, recordings and general care of the musical collection. Every new season we employ an Assistant House Steward, currently Melanie, who comes in twice a week to assist with the smooth running of the house, but the people we really couldn’t operate without are our team of volunteers in the house. Room stewarding, helping with the cleaning, playing the organ, flower arranging, giving short talks – they do all sorts of things that we simply wouldn’t be able to keep up without them! I’m sure I speak for all departments across Hatchlands when I say how much we appreciate the help and the time our volunteers give us.
So I hope this has given you some insight into the team. If you read my post about the historic staff structure you will see it was quite different, but in some ways still similar. Hopefully you will have the chance to read more from our current team over the next few months.
