Sometimes it’s
easy to go back in time. You just knock on the door and walk into 1910.
First you
have to go to Petworth in West Sussex. This is a pleasant thing to do, as it is
everything a Sussex town should be. Full of history, flowers, gracious buildings
and delicious food (The Hungry Guest café in Lombard Street not only has fresh
delicious food, but friendly staff and most importantly to a greedy diner
(Sorry that should read Foodie diner) big portions. And real butter on a plate
and sugar tongs. Now I’m beginning to talk like my mother. So I’ll stop there)
Plus there
is that gateway to 1910.
Go to 346
High Street, through the gate and up the path past the gorgeous pink and purple
aquilegias. Then past the mangle and the meat safe to the door.
The Cottage
is set and dressed as it would have been in 1910, when it was lived in by Mrs
Cummings. She was an independent woman, who lived there on her own after her
marriage collapsed. Like most folk in Petworth, she worked at the big house and
indeed this cottage still forms part of the Leconfield Estate.
Mrs C was a
seamstress who worked both for the big house and took work in at home.
In tribute
to her and her skills an upstairs room is fitted out as her workroom. A
mannequin is poised at a treadle sewing machine, surrounded by what used to be
referred to as notions..thread, pins, darning wool, toffee tins full of useful
bits and pieces, darning mushrooms and sewing machine oil tins.Her bedroom
is just as you would expect a cottage bedroom to be. A beautiful bedspread on
the iron framed bed, clothes hung behind a curtain in the corner. Up a flight
of stairs is an attic room. Definitely the stuff of many a story.. steep
stairs, small bed and a view over roof tops from the small window. Perfect for a heroine before she marries the rich
Lord….
Downstairs
was fascinating. I didn’t venture as far
as the cellar, but the scullery gives you a real flavour of how hard life was
on the domestic front in Edwardian times. Mrs C did have running water.. (cold only) and used a copper to boil water for washing
herself and her clothes. The living room was small, dark and cosy. A table in
the window laid for tea..boiled eggs, a cottage loaf and a tea cosy firmly in
place. The ticking clock added to the general feeling of peace and comfort. Everywhere
you look there are pictures, mementos and all the knick knacks that would be
found in a home of that time.
So pay a
visit to Mrs Cummings house…she might not be there, but you will still receive
a warm welcome.
Details from
petworthcafe@thehungryguest.com
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