Parsonage redecorated.

It makes me a little nervous all this news.

What do you think of it?

Do you like it, or do you wish they do not change anything?

Parsonage Press Release from Jenna Holmes:

January 2013 will see the first major redecoration scheme in 25 years for Haworth Parsonage, once home to the world’s most famous literary family, the Brontës, and now one of the UK’s top tourist attractions.
 

Using historical and scientific analysis produced by academics at the University of Lincoln, and referencing contemporary sources including watercolours and letters by the Brontës, the Parsonage will undergo a major interior visual transformation led by historic interior design consultant Allyson McDermott of the McDermott Studio, Forest of Dean. The house will be restored to looking much as it did during the main period of the Brontë family’s occupation in the 1830s and 40s but will also include features introduced by Charlotte as part of her facelift for the house during the early 1850s when she began to spend some of the income she had earned from her novels Jane Eyre, Shirley and Villette in making the Parsonage more comfortable.
 

“This is one of the most exciting projects to take place at the Parsonage in many years and is the culmination of a two year research project. There have been attempts in the past to present the Parsonage as the Brontës’ home, but no serious archaeological work has ever been carried out before. The new rigorous historical research and scientific analysis resulting from this project has informed bespoke wallpapers, new curtains and painstakingly woven rugs. Objects from the Brontë Society collections will be displayed for the first time in this new context and familiar works will be reinterpreted. The rooms of the house are going to be transformed and may well surprise our visitors”. Quote from Ann Dinsdale, Collections Manager, Brontë Parsonage Museum.
 

Quote from new Executive Director, Professor Ann Sumner: “I am delighted to be taking up my new role at this exciting time and see the re-decoration taking shape. We now know so much more about how the Parsonage was presented when the Brontë family lived here and are pleased to be working with Allyson McDermott, benefitting from her wealth of experience restoring historic interiors. The newly refurbished rooms will enormously enhance the visitor experience at the Parsonage Museum and have inspired a wealth of learning events and an exhibition in 2013”.
 

Quote from Sally McDonald, Chairman, The Brontë Society Council: “When the Trustees of the Brontë Society agreed this landmark re-decoration it set in motion a singular opportunity to learn more about the Brontës and their home. We are delighted that when the Parsonage reopens its door on February 9^th we will be sharing more of that wonderful story with our members and our visitors”.
 

The newly refurbished Parsonage will reopen on Saturday 9^th February featuring some exciting new displays.

The project has cost in the region of £60,000.

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Contacts & Further Information:

               Ann Dinsdale (Collections Manager) 01535 640198 – a.dinsdale@bronte.org.uk

See:  bronteparsonage/parsonage-redecorated.

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 kleurrijkbrontesisters/redecorating-parsonage

allysonmcdermott.com/

Allyson+McDermott images

about/bronte_parsonage_haworth

The Bronte Weather Project has officially finished now.

 hathaways of haworth

 

 The Bronte Weather Project has officially finished now, however there are still a couple of loose threads to tie up, so i had to go over to the Bronte Parsonage Museum yesterday. I was meant to go on Tuesday, but because of the snowy freezing weather it got delayed a couple of days.

The trip over the moors was really spectacular - the snow covering everything and the colour of the sky mingling in with the hills. Thankfully the roads were clear, so the bus journey was not too fraught.

 

The Museum is closed to the public at the moment as they spend time redecorating the whole house. It was interesting to be in the Museum in a state of change - and the work carried out so far is absolutely beautiful - gorgeous paints and wall papers that have been especially chosen and researched to fit in with how the Bronte family would have had it. It's going to look stunning when it's finished.

bronteweather

Writing slope from the Taylor family

 

Stuff (New Zealand) reports that an antiques roadshow taking place in March will include a Taylor family item.
A Marlborough family's 19th-century writing slope, with links to one of the world's literary greats, will be among items an antiques expert will view during an antiques roadshow in Blenheim.
The Curios and Collectables Roadshow, a Marlborough Girls' College fundraiser, takes place on the weekend of March 8 and 9, at the school grounds.
The writing slope, made in Liverpool, has been handed down through the family of Mary Taylor, a lifelong friend of Charlotte Bronte, whose family inspired Bronte's novel Shirley.
Miss Taylor and her brother William Waring Taylor were among Port Nicholson's earliest settlers and the family name lives on in a central Wellington street. (Sonia Beal)