A Spring visit to Upton House – A 1940s vintage gem

The 1940s is one of my favourite eras for its styles, in homes and fashion. So to find out that one of our local National Trust houses has been staged in that style meant a visit was an absolute must.

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The house was the country home to one of the great merchant bank families of London, Lord and Lady Bearsted of M. Samuel & Co. (Heir to the Shell fortune) When war broke out in London and there was a great risk to his art and assets in London. he moved the bank and all its staff to the Warwickshire village to be based at Upton House. the National Trust have homed in on this period of the house’s history to recreate the scenes of the era.

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It is very cleverly crafted and gives a genuine view of the era. Of course with the 1940s providing such inspiration for current vintage trends of homes and fashion, this recreation of the era is very much ‘en vogue’

img_6990 Combined with this is the winter garden walk around some of the grounds which is alive with spring flowers at the moment.

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As the house tours are booked for set times, we started with the walk around the gardens.

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It was a chilly day but with glorious sunshine which reflected off the honey coloured stone of all the wall and brick work.

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It made a nice change to be able to see the architecture of the buildings and walls whilst the plants and flowers are still fairly dormant.

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The walk included some fairly steep slopes and stairs but it meant the sloping levels opened up some lovely vistas.

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A magnificent cherry blossom was just about in bloom when we visited this weekend which was simply beautiful to see

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We continued our chilly but invigorating walk as it took us back to the house ready for the tour inside.

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We have visited the house before, but at that time they hadn’t staged it in the 1940s theme. I did actually prefer it this time as I did think it accurately portrayed the key time in the house’s history.

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So if you have a real interest in this vintage era and have fairly good mobility, it is definitely worth a visit.

Sarah x