John Griff column: Learning the lessons at the right time
Last week saw a milestone birthday for my partner, Lois. Mandated to annual celebrations during what is generally the coldest and most miserable time of the year for outdoor activity, we decided to do something focussed on the indoor delights of a place that neither of us had visited despite countless others having done so, including millions of schoolchildren. How had we not been there before?
The place in question was Hampton Court Palace, overlooking the Thames. Built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and the playground of Henry the 8th after him, the Palace is a treasure trove of architectural delights, showcasing the developments of building and domestic understanding, interior design and use of space from the 1500s onwards. It is also a space in need of – and receiving – constant maintenance. Owned by The Crown but managed by the Historic Royal Palaces charity, Hampton Court is one part of a portfolio that includes The Tower of London, Kensington and Kew Palaces, Hillsborough Castle and The Banqueting House. The charity researches the stories of these places, manages their upkeep and tells those stories again and again. It keeps history alive in the process and fires imaginations as to what it must have been to live in such times - and at both ends of the social ladder as well as in between.
Lois had asked to go to Hampton Court as a treat. Oddly, despite neither of us having visited there before, both of us have independent connections to the area. I have a dear friend who has lived there with his family for many years – I’m the godfather to one of his children. Lois has relations who used to live just a few streets away but many years ago. Both of us had visited the area many times previously – but never the Palace. So, although it Lois’ treat, it was one for me too.
We drove down to the area the day before our visit. We could have visited in a day but wanted to take our time and not be at the mercy of the M25’s daily traffic challenges. Our hotel stands across the road from the Palace gates and was built in the time of Henry the 8th to provide accommodation for visitors travelling to court. Now, we were staying. Overlooking a fast-flowing Thames, it was easy to imagine the various eras of the Palace and the occupants of it – particularly after we had visited and learned about them. It was clear just how much industry went into the day-to-day running of the place – as it does today, albeit without the royal residents who left for good in 1737. Space here does not allow me to document everything we took in – instead, I urge to you take the time to visit, even if you have visited before. Being there in person seems to bring the proximity of those who went before a lot closer - helped by being able to wander the same corridors, look through the same windows, view the same gardens and even spend time in the same Chapel Royal that still holds religious services daily. It was enthralling.
I’m not sure whether our trip was successful because we visited when it had fewer visitors (particularly school ones) on a wintry Friday in January, or because we are of an age to engage with the stories and see the sights with older eyes and minds. It is often said that every day is a school day - or should be. I heartily agree with this. The day you stop learning is the day you start to decline I suggest. Had Lois and I visited as our younger selves the experience might not have been as enthralling or enlightening. To learn, you have to be in the mindset to do so – mercifully for us we both were - and did. Age helped.
The same could be said of the architectural delights to be found here in Northamptonshire. Althorp House, Holdenby House (itself part of a much larger, former Palace), Delapre Abbey, Canon’s Ashby, Lyveden New Bield, Chester House, Rockingham Castle, Kelmarsh Hall, Hinwick House and Sulgrave Manor are just some of the places that tell their own stories of generations past for the generations who come – it’s vital that they continue to do so. If they ever were to stop the stories would be lost and it would be as though they had happened in the first place. Around each venue are the hotels, and accommodation providers which can help to make a day out a headline memory – memories matter.
Now that we’ve been to Hampton Court, I can see Lois and I doing more visiting, more learning and more memory making of our own to cherish, some of it right here on our doorstep. Why had neither of us been to the Palace before? Because it had always been there – and was ignored. It’s a mistake we’ll not make again.
For us, luckily, school’s in session.