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Telegraph
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Princess of Wales displays relative Beatrix Potter's art in V&A exhibit
The Princess of Wales has showcased her distant relative Beatrix Potter's artwork in her own 'mini display' at a new V&A facility. The Princess – related to the Peter Rabbit creator through her great-great-great uncle – chose one of the author's watercolour paintings, depicting a forest glade, for a personally curated display at V&A East Storehouse. She also selected a childhood photograph album belonging to the author's father, Rupert Potter, alongside several other objects for the display, entitled Makers and Creators, at the east London museum. It is not the first time the Princess has shown a fondness for the works of the children's writer. Prince George's first birthday had a Beatrix Potter theme, and his nursery room was reportedly decorated with characters from her books. In 2014, The Telegraph reported that the Princess's great-great-great uncle was Dr Arthur Lupton, a Leeds University pro-chancellor whose brother-in-law, Lord Ashton, the First Baron Ashton of Hyde, was a first cousin of Potter. Potter, who died in 1943 at the age of 77, wrote 35 books, including The Tale of Peter Rabbit, which was an instant success after being picked up in 1902 by British children's publisher Frederick Warne & Co. For the new display, to be unveiled on Wednesday, the Princess worked with the V&A's curatorial team to select objects from across the museum's vast collections. It brings together objects chosen by the Princess to celebrate past makers and creators and is intended to show how historic objects can influence fashion, design, film, art and creativity in the modern day. Her display also includes a costume worn by Diana Vere in The Royal Ballet's 1960 production of The Sleeping Beauty, which was designed by Oliver Messel, one of the foremost stage designers of the 20th century. It also features a sculpture of hands by Clemence Dane from the mid-20th century and an oil painting entitled A Woman Holding a Mirror and a Rose by George Henry Boughton, an Anglo-American artist. The display is rounded out by a hand-quilted bedcover made in Wales between 1830 and 1840, a Morris & Co furnishing screen from the mid-1880s, a Qing dynasty porcelain vase from Jingdezhen, China, and a 15th-century earthenware tile. The Princess's selection is one of over 100 displays that have been exhibited in the sides and ends of storage racking inside the museum, and will be on view until early next year. The V&A East Storehouse, described as 'the nation's Victorian attic' by one art critic, includes 250,000 objects, 350,000 books and 1,000 special archives, with displays designed to reduce barriers and cabinets. It puts items that would otherwise be in storage on public display. The Princess, who is the V&A Royal Patron, visited V&A East Storehouse last month and was given a behind-the-scenes tour by the V&A's curatorial team, finding out more about why objects are collected, and how they are cared for, conserved and displayed.
Times
22-04-2025
- Times
Seven of the best National Trust properties to visit
Wherever you like to wander at weekends — be it castles, cottages, clifftops or stately homes — National Trust (NT) sites always feels like a homecoming. Established in 1895 for places of historic interest and natural beauty in England and Wales, the intention was to give visitors an insight into national heritage. Last year 25 million people filed into the more than 500 sites it manages — an act of conservation fuelled by tea and scones. With May presenting two bank holidays, it's the perfect time to explore somewhere new. Here are our suggestions (for more on each see As cosy as her timeless stories, this cottage near Windermere is where Beatrix Potter lived, farmed and spun countless bestselling tales. Children can spot Hunca Munca and Tom Thumb from The Tale of Two Bad Mice lit up around the house and see the doll's house that inspired the story. Roam nooks of antiques and keepsakes then head outside for colourful scenes from Potter's books, such as the garden path from The Tale of Tom Kitten and the beehive pictured in The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck (£17). Afterwards, explore Potter's life as a naturalist via her fungi artworks at the Armitt museum in Ambleside (£7; before flopping down in Keswick at the Lingholm Estate, believed to have inspired The Tale of Peter Rabbit — its stone cottages, stylish apartments and a Scandi-style couples' boathouse all make chic One nights' self-catering for four from £215 ( • More great hotels in the Lake District You'll get bang for your buck at palatial Petworth, whether wandering in the deer park, whose lake and sunset views inspired JMW Turner, or getting the gossip on 900 years of Percy family drama — one member was wrongly imprisoned for the Gunpowder Plot; another was executed for treason under orders from Queen Elizabeth I. The 17th-century pile that stands today has one of the biggest art collections under NT management, with works by Gainsborough and Van Dyck, as well as 20 Turner paintings — from June 21 further Turner works will be added to mark 250 years since his birth (£19). Alternatively, Petworth holds its spring antiques fair from May 16 to 18, but either way also be sure to head into town for the cobbled streets, independent boutiques and antiques stores there. Petworth Cottage Museum recreates the home of an estate worker in 1910 (£5; but you can stay first class at the Old Railway Station hotel, with its weatherboard façade and Pullman carriages. Details B&B doubles from £165 ( You can peek inside the NT's most overflowing wardrobe at Killerton, an 18th-century house and estate surrounded by glorious gardens. Its theme this year is fashions of the 1920s, so expect plenty of cloche hats, beaded bags and flapper dresses (£17). From the grounds there are views of Dartmoor, but closer still are the eight miles of water that runs between Exeter Quayside and Starcross, transforming from colourful canals to a blissful estuary. Go for a wander and stop at pubs such as the Turf near Exminster, from where a ferry takes you to the town of Topsham (£6) and its triple-tiered antiques centre and the Salutation Inn, which has snug rooms and suites and serves the cream of afternoon teas. Details Room-only doubles from £150 ( • Discover our full guide to the UK• Best hotels in Devon Anne Boleyn's story of supposed treason and tragedy still resonates today, and at her birthplace, amid pretty Jacobean brickwork and the blissful Bure Meadows, you can trace royal connections from King Harold to Catherine the Great. Spend hours pouring over the 12,500 books, manuscripts, atlases and pamphlets in the ornate Long Gallery library, established in 1742 (£15). Also explore the on-site Norwich Printing Museum, which continues the literary theme with its nostalgic array of lead, ink and iron apparatus (free; Later, the north Norfolk coast awaits, with horse riding, birdwatching and dune dawdling along renowned sandy stretches such as Holkham. Retreat to the well-heeled village of Burnham Market, where the Hoste Arms has stylish rooms and a spa B&B doubles from £140 ( • Norfolk v Suffolk: which is better? Built by the noblewoman Elizabeth 'Bess' Hardwick, a friend of Queen Elizabeth I, this property employed the talents of Robert Smythson, one of the first English architects. Lavish textiles on display include biblical battles among 230ft of Gideon tapestries, which were restored over 24 years at a cost of £1.7 million. They are set to a soundscape so visitors can soak in their beauty (£21). A half-hour drive away is the mellow-stone town of Matlock, home to John Smedley knitwear and the Unesco-listed Cromford Mills, a pioneering textile factory (£18; Stay in a chic room at Beeley Inn on the Chatsworth Estate, Hardwick's former family roost. Details B&B doubles from £147 ( Rumour has it that when an 18th-century viscount and his lady clashed over classical and gothic design, they decided to divide their mansion in two and build each half in their own style. That would explain why in one part of Castle Ward you can see the over-the-top plasterwork likened by John Betjeman to a cow's udder, and in the other spot the clean lines of classical Palladian. The rest of the grounds feature a huge man-made lake and a romantic formal garden that were settings for scenes from Game of Thrones (£14). Nearby is Ballyhenry Island, a birdwatcher's paradise on the Irish Sea-sheltered waters of Strangford Lough. A short wander from the water are cosy rooms and hearty suppers at the Cuan, winner in the Northern Ireland category of our 100 Best Places to Stay in the UK for B&B doubles from £130 ( • 100 of the Best Places to Stay in the UK• Read our full review of The Cuan Fearing local foes more than the English, the Welsh prince Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn built this fort, with its commanding sweep across the Severn Valley, in the 13th century. Battles ensued, as did centuries of remodelling to create giant clipped yews and wedding-cake Italianate gardens that hosted King George V shortly before his coronation. A tamed wilderness, its wisteria, woodland and wide open terraces are a breath of fresh air (£17). Nearby, explore the diverse landscape of the Dyfi Valley, home to towns such as Machynlleth, where the Museum of Modern Art has seven galleries and a concert hall in a restored chapel (free; The perfect base for a night is Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms, on the edge of a nature reserve and one of the best places in Wales to dine. Details B&B doubles from £300 ( • More great British restaurants with rooms Have we missed your favourite National Trust property? Let us know in the comments below Become a subscriber and, along with unlimited digital access to The Times and The Sunday Times, you can enjoy a collection of travel offers and competitions curated by our trusted travel partners, especially for Times+ members
