4 minute read
Jewel of the South Downs
Alex Klineberg gives a tour of Charleston, the Bloomsbury Set’s glamorous country retreat near Firle
One day, when we emerge from lockdown with terrible hair and depleted social skills, booking a trip somewhere will be at the top of my list. While travelling abroad might be off the table for the foreseeable, staycations and day trips might be the best we can hope for.
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One of the best day trips you can take from Brighton is to Charleston in Firle, which was the Sussex home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. It became a country retreat for the Bloomsbury Set, which was a group of writers, artists and intellectuals, many of whom lived in Bloomsbury – yeah, that’s where they got the name.
The London properties of the Bloomsbury Set were destroyed in The Blitz. Charleston is the only Bloomsbury property to survive with the original furnishings intact. And what lovely furnishings they are. Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant were both great designers and artists. Charleston became a life-long artistic project as well as a home. They painted everything themselves, from the fireplace to the dining table. The property has been preserved exactly as they left it. It’s now managed by the National Trust.
CHARLESTON STUDIO. PHOTO: PENELOPE FEWSTER
The Bloosbury Set is credited with helping to eshaping the culture we live in. Their sexual exploits inspired the sexual revolution of the 1960s, while the bohemian interiors of Charleston went on to inspire many designers. As you’re taking a tour around the house, you’re seeing the original vision that would go on to add a splash of colour and character to homes all over the world. The style of the property is timeless.
Beyond the charming furnishings, the stories of what went on in the house are quite something. Your tour guide will fill you in on all the details. Although Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell lived together and had a child, Grant was openly gay. Social and sexual experimentation were the order of the day among the Bloomsbury Set. Such behaviour was not only allowed, in many cases it was encouraged.
The columnist Peter Hitchens has credited the Bloomsbury Set with giving us the liberal sexual politics of today. As Quentin Crisp said, he came from a time that was so conservative, if a girl wanted to wear nail polish she had to leave home for good. The Bloomsbury Set changed all of that.
DUNCAN GRANT'S STUDY. PHOTO: PENELOPE FEWSTER
Another Bloomsbury and Charleston luminary was economist John Maynard Keynes. He was also gay, although he would later marry Lydia Lopokova, a Russian ballerina. One day, while sitting on a bench in Charleston garden, he wrote arguably the most important letter in British history. In the letter, he pleaded with the Americans to send financial and military aid to support the fight against Nazi Germany. The letter yielded the desired result, but the British government wouldn’t finish off paying the debt until Gordon Brown was prime minister. This is one of endless Bloomsbury anecdotes you might hear as you explore the house. You can even take a selfie on the bench looking all pensive.
DUNCAN GRANT'S BEDROOM. PHOTO: PENELOPE FEWSTER
Virginia Woolf was Vanessa Bell’s sister. She lived in Monk’s House just outside Lewes. She used to walk to Charleston and join her sister’s friends in their bohemian exploits. If you’re really looking to expand your Bloomsbury knowledge, you can also take a trip to what was Virginia’s house, which is nowhere near as interesting as Charleston. If you’re feeling a little morbid, you can retrace Virginia’s final steps to the River Ouse where she ended her life – it’s just ten minutes from Monk’s House.
Anyhow, back to Charleston. As you’ve gathered by now, many of the most influential British figures of the 20th century were regulars at Charleston. Towards the end of her life, Virginia Woolf said to her sister that while she had the fame and the career, Vanessa Bell had the family and the beautiful home.
You can still see the faded paint on the kitchen table made by decades of elbow marks. It’ll make you wonder about the marks you’ll leave behind. While few of us can hope to leave a mark like the luminaries of the Bloomsbury Set did, visiting Charleston will inspire you to up your game. The Bloomsbury Set may have been overachievers, but they also mastered the art of friendship and good living. “Only connect,” Bloomsbury author EM Forster famously said. And as Virginia Woolf discovered at the end, although she became a legend, she’d probably have traded it all in to live the life her sister had at Charleston.
CHARLESTON DINING ROOM. PHOTO LEE ROBBINS
After lockdown, book a trip to Charleston. The guided tour will take just over an hour. You’ll feel very sophisticated.
