Hall Place Gardens

One thing I forgot from the water exhibition: this statue by Gavin Turk, entitled Self Portrait (Fountain), which shows the artist holding a hose to his head. When the the water comes out and hits the head of the sculpture it instantly turns to steam, suggesting that the brain is burning with ideas. Sadly the steam didn't show up too well on these pictures but it is a fun idea:

Surrounding the house are a large range of gardens (and a load of geese), including cultivated gardens, vegetable plots and hedges shaped like... well, I don't really know what.

And inside the greenhouse:

Hall Place

Continuing the local theme, I also visited Hall Place in Bexley, which is a gorgeous Tudor mansion built for a former Lord Mayor of London (Sir John Champneys). The main part of the house was built in 1537, with some elements added in the 17th Century. There are also extensive gardens (inlcuding a temperate greenhouse, which is always lovely) and a butterfly jungle which I am not going anywhere near ever ever ever. Also a plant shop, where I may have bought some plants :D. 

Part of the exterior of the house is red brick, and part of it has a really interesting chessboard pattern made of flint and rubble masonry. 

Most of the Tudor features are still visible inside the house, including timber framing and the Great Hall that would have been the main feature of the house when it was built. 

Upstairs in the house there are some fantastic plaster ceilings dating from about 1650.

And finally, when we visited there was an art exhibition themed around water, which had some artworks that I really loved, including a video installation by Chyang Kung Kym, a large-scale photographic project by Noémie Goudal and a dress that changes colour when it gets wet by Studio Roso. 

The exhibition is on until 6th September and I do recommend it if you're in the area. 

The dress, dry:

And wet: 

Their website: http://studio-roso.com/

Noemie Goudal's website: http://www.noemiegoudal.com

Video interview with the artist explaining the art installation (Korean with English subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN126TEjXnM

This update is long enough already so I'm going to put pictures of the garden in another entry.

Danson House and Old English Garden

Even though I've got two whole blogs about the places I go in London, I have a tendency to go up to town and then wander off somewhere rather than looking at what is close by. Recently I borrowed some Art Fund cards from work and although I went to a few places in central London (the Shoes exhibition at the V&A, Apsley House, the Foundling Museum) I couldn't take photos so I haven't posted here, haha. However I also went to two properties that I'd been aware of for ages but had never visited. 

Danson House is a Georgian house in the borough of Bexley, run by Bexley Heritage Trust. It is a really well-restored property in Danson Park with a lovely tea room, so well worth a visit for a lot of reasons. There are a lot of impressive elements, including a rare (and massive) George Organ in the library, the gilded paintings in the dining room and the panelling at the top of the stairwell. 

Stairwell and panelling:

                                        

Other parts of the interior:

Dining room:

Salon:

Across from the house is a small, pretty walled garden (I think it was called the Old English Garden) and no, I still haven't learned the names of most plants: