Day 16: Christmas at Bateman's

My friend and I decided that every year, instead of spending money on a Christmas present for each other, we would organise a fully Christmassy day out for the both of us instead. Last year took us to see Meet Me in St Louis at the BFI, a mulled wine on the Southbank and a Christmas themed afternoon tea. This year, both equipped with our National Trust memberships (and probably a zimmer frame as we are clearly more grannies than 23 year-olds), we headed out to Bateman's in East Sussex.

This beautiful red-brick Jacobean house was home to short-story writer, poet and novelist, Rudyard Kipling, and his wife Carrie. It feels like a proper family home so when I came across Kipling's daughter's extremely comfy armchair sat alongside a charming and well-stocked bookshelf, I couldn't help but sit down... We were told that Kipling's daughter Elise demanded her own furniture when she became older as she believed her parents knew nothing of real comfort!

Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay in British India in 1865. Although he moved back to England with his family when he was just five years old, he would continue to travel and the distant shores of India stuck with him and would later inform much of his writing, including his arguably most famous novel, The Jungle Book. The house itself maintains a strong relationship with the East through Kipling's artefacts and oriental rugs.

Sadly, despite his extraordinary travels and loyal wife, Kipling's life was laced with tragedy. His first born child, Josephine, died from pneumonia as a child and his son, John, was killed in the First World War.  It is said that when Kipling was grieving for his son, he read aloud the novels of Jane Austen to his wife and youngest daughter, Elise.

On a more positive note, we couldn't have picked a more beautiful day - crisp cold with bright blue skies. Plus, during the festive period, the National Trust decks out Kipling's beautiful home in all its Christmassy glory. We were welcomed by a lovely group of carol singers in the entrance hall, framed by holly, candles and a grand Christmas tree. The dining room was all ready for an Edwardian Christmas dinner, stockings hung expectantly from the fireplace in the living room, decorations hung from the traditional oak beams and the mill at the bottom of the gardens was transformed into an adorable elves workshop that we the children were going mad for. The house's mullioned windows overlooked the extensive gardens, with their water features, aligned trees, greenhouses and through-running river,  and out onto the surrounding meadows of the Sussex Weald. The whole experience was just so HAPPY and I would recommend it to anyone.