It is a little late but we have been mega busy (dusting, hoovering etc), but here is the Castle in all its glory on BBC look north.
Auntie came to visit us on the 7th August to preview the House of Bling exhibition, which opened that weekend. The preview was aired that evening.
Saturday, 29 August 2009
Friday, 28 August 2009
How Clean Is Your Castle?
Our Clive has long had aspirations beyond his humble calling as Castle Custodian, and with the shock news last week that Kim Woodburn is quitting ‘How Clean Is Your House?’ Clive has become determined to seize to opportunity to become Aggie MacKenzie’s partner in grime.Feel sorry for the man who has to clean a medieval castle which has six floors, all grand in dimension. The magnitude of such a task leaves lesser men quaking with fear. Clive simply bolts on his ghostbusters style vacuum cleaner and heads up the 149 steps and gets on with it.
The cleaning has to be done at least once a month, as the surface of the floors in the castle cause a lot of dust to be kicked up. The recent increase in visitors because of the summer holidays and House Of Bling exhibition has made the task even more daunting.
If any Channel Four executives are reading this, we won’t be letting Clive go without a fight.
If any Channel Four executives are reading this, we won’t be letting Clive go without a fight.
Monday, 24 August 2009
Four Weddings and a Castle
This evening, Tattershall Castle will feature on Living TV’s new show Four Weddings, in which Grantham resident Suzanna Stevens-Brewin will be competing against three other couples for a chance to win a luxury honeymoon. The show is similar in format to Channel Four's popular Come Dine With Me, except that instead of dinner parties, the contestants battle it out to decide who has the best wedding. Each contestant attends the other three weddings and gives them all marks out of ten; everything is up for evaluation, with the dress, the venue, the catering and the presentation all being assessed by the rivals.
The couple's wedding took place at the Castle earlier this year and had a theme of Bling and Cinderella; Suzanne explains “We tried to save every penny where we could and have purchased most things from eBay, including my dress, and the crystals for my bouquet. My theme was Bling and Cinderella! We decorated the room in the Castle along that theme; including a Cinderella cardboard cut-out and decorations and balloons printed with Cinderella”.
The couple’s bridal party roles were all taken up by their children (Bridesmaids 15 & 8, Bestman 13, Flowergirl 16 months, Usher 10 and the gentleman giving Suzanne away was just 8 years old!)
The opportunity to feature in the show arose earlier in the year, when Tattershall
Castle was approached and offered the chance to feature in the show to some of the people who had their weddings booked at the castle; despite initial resistance from husband to be Martin, Suzanne ended up having a screen test for the production company and having her wedding chosen.
The show also features weddings from couples in Portsmouth, Doncaster and
Bromley and includes a wide range of budgets, themes and styles. Suzanne's budget was dwarfed by some of the other contestants, but one couple on the show married in their registry office and celebrated in their local pub, getting by on a budget of £580.
Tattershall Castle hosts up to fifty weddings a year, and recently celebrated its 300th wedding. Property Manager Stuart Crow explains “When we were approached by the production company about Four Weddings, we were only too happy to participate, and we were delighted when Suzanne and Martin made their big day available for filming. It takes quite a lot of nerve to allow an occasion as important to be analysed by others in a competitive environment, especially one which is going to be filmed!”
Suzanne and Martin have been regular visitors to the castle since moving to the area seven years ago, and Martin popped the question in July of last year in one of the Castle turrets. After that they decided it made sense to get married at the Castle too. Suzanne explains “It is every girls dream to be a princess and that is exactly what I felt on our special day. The sun shone from the minute we woke up and the day was absolutely perfect. I cannot fault anything. The staff at the castle were fantastic and I would recommend the venue to everyone either for their ceremony or just a day visit”.
Suzanne's episode of Four Weddings will be broadcast this evening at 9pm on Living TV, and she is looking forward to finding out how it comes across “I have not seen any footage so it will be a real surprise”.
The couple's wedding took place at the Castle earlier this year and had a theme of Bling and Cinderella; Suzanne explains “We tried to save every penny where we could and have purchased most things from eBay, including my dress, and the crystals for my bouquet. My theme was Bling and Cinderella! We decorated the room in the Castle along that theme; including a Cinderella cardboard cut-out and decorations and balloons printed with Cinderella”.
The couple’s bridal party roles were all taken up by their children (Bridesmaids 15 & 8, Bestman 13, Flowergirl 16 months, Usher 10 and the gentleman giving Suzanne away was just 8 years old!)
The opportunity to feature in the show arose earlier in the year, when Tattershall
Castle was approached and offered the chance to feature in the show to some of the people who had their weddings booked at the castle; despite initial resistance from husband to be Martin, Suzanne ended up having a screen test for the production company and having her wedding chosen.
The show also features weddings from couples in Portsmouth, Doncaster and
Bromley and includes a wide range of budgets, themes and styles. Suzanne's budget was dwarfed by some of the other contestants, but one couple on the show married in their registry office and celebrated in their local pub, getting by on a budget of £580.
Tattershall Castle hosts up to fifty weddings a year, and recently celebrated its 300th wedding. Property Manager Stuart Crow explains “When we were approached by the production company about Four Weddings, we were only too happy to participate, and we were delighted when Suzanne and Martin made their big day available for filming. It takes quite a lot of nerve to allow an occasion as important to be analysed by others in a competitive environment, especially one which is going to be filmed!”
Suzanne and Martin have been regular visitors to the castle since moving to the area seven years ago, and Martin popped the question in July of last year in one of the Castle turrets. After that they decided it made sense to get married at the Castle too. Suzanne explains “It is every girls dream to be a princess and that is exactly what I felt on our special day. The sun shone from the minute we woke up and the day was absolutely perfect. I cannot fault anything. The staff at the castle were fantastic and I would recommend the venue to everyone either for their ceremony or just a day visit”.
Suzanne's episode of Four Weddings will be broadcast this evening at 9pm on Living TV, and she is looking forward to finding out how it comes across “I have not seen any footage so it will be a real surprise”.
Suzanne and Martin celebrate on top of the Castle
Friday, 21 August 2009
Time to Say Goodbye
Francesco Sartori may have said it best, Andrea Bocelli may have sung it best (though here at the castle, we prefer Toše Proeski) but none of those chaps ever said it, and meant it, about a wombat.
After his stay at Tattershall Castle, it is time for the travelling wombat to bid us a fond farewell. The travelling wombat tours the world trying to see as much as is feasible for a stuffed, miniature marsupial. So far his travels have taken him as far as Italy, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.
However, the unnamed mammal has assured us the breathtaking views of the Lincolnshire fenlands from the top of the Castle by far top anything he has seen as yet. He was also very complimentary about our audio guide, although he did complain about the lack of decent foraging area. As we all know, the wombat has an above average sized brain for an Australian marsupial, and he has been very helpful is explaining to us all the finer details and references of the House of Bling exhibition.
Some of us have become more attached than others, poor old Clive has been unapproachable all day because of the sense of loss he feels about his departure. Where he goes next, we do not know, but it will be a long time before any of us here forget the little guy.
After his stay at Tattershall Castle, it is time for the travelling wombat to bid us a fond farewell. The travelling wombat tours the world trying to see as much as is feasible for a stuffed, miniature marsupial. So far his travels have taken him as far as Italy, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.
However, the unnamed mammal has assured us the breathtaking views of the Lincolnshire fenlands from the top of the Castle by far top anything he has seen as yet. He was also very complimentary about our audio guide, although he did complain about the lack of decent foraging area. As we all know, the wombat has an above average sized brain for an Australian marsupial, and he has been very helpful is explaining to us all the finer details and references of the House of Bling exhibition.
Some of us have become more attached than others, poor old Clive has been unapproachable all day because of the sense of loss he feels about his departure. Where he goes next, we do not know, but it will be a long time before any of us here forget the little guy.
Clive prepares to take the wombat to the bus stop.
Friday, 14 August 2009
The Travelling Wombat stays at the Castle for a week
10th August 2009
After a good rest and the end of quarantine restrictions Wombat finally decides he shoud visit the castle. First stop is to take the audio tour, unfortunatly the head phones he brought with him are a little too large for his head. If only he'd known that he could have down-loaded the tour onto his i-pod.
Half way round his tour he runs into Trusty the Hedgehog. Trusty is also visting the castle on his nationwide tour of National Trust properties. Although very much different in sizes they share a love of castles and historic houses
11th August 2009
Alarm bells were ringing at the castle today, Wombat had gone missing!!! where could he have gone? Lost alone in a foreign county where could he be? After a comprehensive search he was found inside the castle sliding down the hand rail to the spiral staircase. NAUGHTY Wombat! It was so much fun though.
12th August 2009
After a long day out wombat decided to spend the evening bellringing with Clive. He got rather dizzy holding on to the rope.
After Bellringing he decided to sample the local ale. Unfortunatly it was a little too strong for him and he had a sore head in the morning.
After a good rest and the end of quarantine restrictions Wombat finally decides he shoud visit the castle. First stop is to take the audio tour, unfortunatly the head phones he brought with him are a little too large for his head. If only he'd known that he could have down-loaded the tour onto his i-pod.
Half way round his tour he runs into Trusty the Hedgehog. Trusty is also visting the castle on his nationwide tour of National Trust properties. Although very much different in sizes they share a love of castles and historic houses
11th August 2009
Alarm bells were ringing at the castle today, Wombat had gone missing!!! where could he have gone? Lost alone in a foreign county where could he be? After a comprehensive search he was found inside the castle sliding down the hand rail to the spiral staircase. NAUGHTY Wombat! It was so much fun though.
12th August 2009
Wombats day off today, so clive took him to see the sights of Lincolnshire, starting with the Humber bridge and then onto Lincoln.
After a long day out wombat decided to spend the evening bellringing with Clive. He got rather dizzy holding on to the rope.
After Bellringing he decided to sample the local ale. Unfortunatly it was a little too strong for him and he had a sore head in the morning.
Friday, 7 August 2009
House of Bling
From tomorrow, Tattershall Castle is opening up to visitors for its House of Bling exhibition, a very exciting project for everyone involved, and a first for the Castle. The Castle is playing host to six international standard artists, who have each been given a specific area of the Castle to work in. The project is the start of an ongoing collaborative effort between the National Trust and the Arts Council England.
The artists have all drawn inspiration from the Castle and its history. The six floors of the Castle have been transformed with interesting installations ranging in scale and concept; including the transformation of the old Castle stables by landscape designer Sarah Price, who is also designing the gardens for the 2012 Olympic Park in London.
On the main castle lawn designer Linda Florence has cut a carpet design, which from the top of the castle looks stunning. The projects inside the castle include an audio installation which recounts the names of the visitors who signed the visitor book when the castle was opened to the public for the first time, and one of the floors has been taken over by golden cobwebs.
In addition to the art installations a series of extra events will be running alongside the House of Bling project, including star gazing, cloud spotting, bat watching and an archaeological forage specifically for four to six year olds. See future blogs for further details.
The exhibition opens this Saturday at 11am and closes Sunday August 23rd. The exhibition is free to Castle visitors though normal admission charges apply, admission is free for National Trust members.
Clive Brooke's Day Off
Preparations are ongoing for the upcoming House of Bling event (see later blog for details) but some of us just can’t help ourselves. Touched by the sad death yesterday of John Hughes, Castle Custodian Clive Broderick Brooke was so moved that he has decided to pay tribute to Hughes in his own inimitable way. More specifically, Clive has decided to recreate the Hughes classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off within the Castle grounds.
Clive soaking up the 'sunshine'
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