The summer holidays have started and Palace House is bustling with visitors enjoying the special summer activities.
Summer has started…
…..there are Victorian games on the lawn, vintage cars and some well-trained falcons flying overhead!
There was a wet start to the summer activities with torrential rain forcing visitors to seek shelter from the elements. For those who braved the storms there was a treat in store in the Portrait Gallery with a live performance from Punch and Judy, enjoyed by young and old alike. There was music in the Lower Drawing Room which included sing-a-longs from some of the classic films such as The Sound of Music and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
With the weather improving the croquet set has made its way out to the lawn and families are getting competitive to see who can reach the highest score on the shuffleboard. The shuffleboard was a game families would play after dinner; using round wooden disks the aim was to get the disks through numbered holes at the other end of the board, the person with the highest score was the winner, and it’s not as easy as it looks!
In the newly refurbished Victorian kitchen children have been busy lending Cook a hand to roll and cut dough into shapes. Some of our visitors have made fantastic creations of their own such as butterflies, cats and one patient young visitor made an entire football team! If you would like to help Cook get creative in the kitchen the summer activities will be running until 3 September.
Titchfield history society annual picnic evening
The Titchfield History Society kindly invited the staff of Palace House to an evening picnic in the ancient grounds of Titchfield Abbey. Keeper of Collections, Sarah, says…..
It was a beautifully sunny day and having survived being cooked in my own car on the motorway I was so pleased to see Titchfield Abbey appearing in the distance!
The Abbey is an important part of Beaulieu’s history, as both Estates were brought by Lord Montagu’s ancestor, Thomas Wriothesley 1st Earl of Southampton in the 1500’s from King Henry VIII.
Organisers Colin and Marilyn were at the gate to meet me and showed me through into the sunny cloisters where members were setting up their picnics. From the baskets came a dazzling array of homemade salads, cakes and trifles and plenty of good wine to go with it!
After enjoying the feast Ken gave us a really informative tour of the Abbey and there were challenges to complete in teams such as ‘know your knockers’, a game where you had to identify different door knockers from buildings around Titchfield. This was a really wonderful opportunity to learn more about the Abbey and we send our thanks to the Titchfield History Society for being such wonderful hosts.
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