Now that the sheer incompetence of the Trump Administration dealing with the Covid pandemic has meant that all Americans are banned from so many major countries around the globe, we were kind of excited to get a in invite to visit some stately homes in the UK without leaving lockdown.
Nick Collinson and Dan Vo are two award winning tour guides who are planning to give the queerest virtual look online at the grand palaces and stately homes that have such a rich history and have been the settings for queer love of British aristocracy and royalty ……including a Queen or two
Some of the amazing locations you will see are:
Knole was the ancestral home of Vita Sackville-West, which inspired Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando. The property is where the original, fragile manuscript is kept today.
- Sissinghurst Castle is where Vita Sackville-West made her home. Her beautifully designed gardens, while a source of inspiration for English gardens across the country, were first designed by her with same-sex romantic dalliances in mind.
- Kensington Palace is the current home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their young family. It was once home to Queen Anne, played by Olivia Colman in 2018 movie ‘The Favourite’. Its corridors echo with the turbulent relationships between the queen and her ‘favourites’.
- Shibden Hall is the focus of the BBC lesbian drama series written by Sally Wainwright, ‘Gentleman Jack‘ starring Suranne Jones and Sophie Rundle. Within a stone’s throw is also the church where Anne Lister and Ann Walker married.
- Nymans House is another ancestral home – this time of the renowned designer Oliver Messel, creator of extravagant stage sets for London’ West End. He later turned his eye to architecture and created a whole new world with a distinctly queer aesthetic
- Madresfield Court has belonged to the Lygon family since the 12th century. It was home of Liberal politician William Lygon, 7th Lord Beauchamp and Governor of New South Wales, who had a penchant for youthful, rosy-cheeked footmen. His story inspired Evelyn Waugh to write Brideshead Revisited.
- Castle Howard was catapulted into the public eye in the 1980s, when it was used as the setting for the TV adaptation of Brideshead Revisited. It is still synonymous with the well-loved novel and in 2008 reprised its role in the big screen adaptation.
- Apethorpe Palace was once a prized residence of James I (James VI of Scotland). It was here he met his long-term ‘favourite’ George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and a recent discovery provides more clues to the nature of this relationship…
For further information and book tickets check HERE
