lighthouse keeper sean: cragside

This weekend Babs and JC took me to my favourite national trust place Cragside in Northumberland. It's been at least ten years since I was last there, so it was unusual to go back and see what I could/couldn't remember. Here are some snaps from the day. I wasn't allowed to use the flash in the house, so excuse the blurriness of some of them.

The kitchen

This is a very early washing machine:

a mousetrap and a VERY convincing mouse:

one of the many contraptions in the house:

some domestos...

The dining room

The hallways

This was supposed to be a statue highlighting the inhumanity of slavery, seems more like a highly sexualised and romanticised idea of slavery to me, quite sinister:

The gallery

one of the most impressive parts of the house, essentially just a very large corridor with loads of sculptures/ artwork.

this is one of the most beautiful statues I've ever seen. It's really haunting and the detail is incredible, I love the picture but it doesn't really do justice:

Turkish baths

Love this screen, apologies for the poor quality of the picture - there was a massive window behind it.

the plunge pool:

The tea room

(this wasn't called the tea room, I forget what it was called, but we heard a mother telling her daughter "imagine having a room in your house just for eating cake" it's a nice idea)

My bedroom

I decided that if I lived in Cragside that this would be my room:

The bedrooms

I tried to get this picture a few times, but without a flash they were too blurry. It's a pair of really gruesome cherubs. They're so ugly I almost love them: