Gibside Hall

For the last module on my MA, I had to create a technology-based alternative interpretation of an underused heritage site. I chose Gibside Hall at Gibside, which in spite of being a National Trust property, is pretty much ignored in favour of the gardens and the smaller buildings, simply because Gibside Hall is now just ruins.

I've always loved the ruins, I used to go to Gibside with my parents when I was a child, and I always thought it was the most beautiful part of Gibside. I decided to make an audio guide of sorts, that was a monologue by a former resident of Gibside, Mary Eleanor Bowes, who had such an interesting life, and in her own strange way, was a bit of a late eighteenth century feminist figure. I also made a video of the ruins, so that people could access the interpretation remotely as well.

Here is the Tumblr page for it with some more information and the video. Excuse the crude video, my editing skills are limited (it was the first time I've used a mac for anything other than checking my facebook page). There are also some clumsy edits in the audio as well, but we didn't need to make a complete thing, it's really just a prototype to demonstrate what I would (employ someone else to) do if I was in charge of interpreting the site. My auntie Ann did a brilliant job of playing the role of Mary Eleanor Bowes.

Here are some pictures I took of the ruins. The whole collection is up on a flickr page here. The pictures enlarge if you click on them.

Kingston Lacy

More pictures from Dorset. We visited Kingston Lacy, which is my new favourite National Trust place (although I still have a softspot for Cragside and Gibside). Excuse the blurriness of some of the pictures, you're not allowed to use a flash inside the house. Also, the order is a bit messed up because blogspot is rubbish for uploading loads of pictures.

My mother pointed out a rather humorously worded description on the information sheets that said that the Dining Room was dominated by William John's massive organ. Tee hee. Here is said organ:

Some cabinets that Babs was particularly taken by:

beautiful ceilings:

This painting was massive, there was another of a cow being savaged as well. I love how grim it is:

The picture can't do this painting justice, it looked like an engraving in stone:

This picture took ages to take, because there was a really slow-moving old woman ambling down the stairs.

There were a few of these peacock panels, I loved them:

This is what the rooms in the National Trust properties look like over the winter months, it takes two weeks for everything to be covered. It reminds me of a scene in the Others.

A hand-carved last supper scene, the detail is phenomenal:

The tent room, can't decide if I think it was beautiful or naff, reminded me of Cair Paravel in the Narnia books:

I love the word 'injurious' I'm going to try and get it into more conversations:

This is my favourite picture of the day, wish I could go back though and get a better angle, so that the miserable cherub would be less central.

There were a number of wood sculptures around the grounds. I love seeing contemporary artworks in a heritagey setting, as long as they fit. Some of these were beautiful:

This one reminds me of an episode of Jonathan Creek from series 4 called Gorgon's Wood. Some of the little "faces" reminded Babs and JC of Munch's Scream, I can see it!

This one was my favourite, but I couldn't get a picture of it that showed how beautiful the curve was:

Animal gravestones:

The Japanese Garden wasn't as impressive as we thought it would be, definitely just a Western impression of how Japanese gardens should be:

Hope you enjoyed! x