DULWICH

We awoke back in our Islington flat and spent the morning catching up with the blog and various other chores before heading out, in the middle of the day, for the journey from the Archway tube station, some fifteen minutes' walk to the north, down under central London to end up at the nearest tube to our friends in Dulwich, south of the city. Margaret and Bernard are the parents of the young couple with whom we traded ten days in the Laguna cottage for ten days in their London flat; they had kindly invited us down for the afternoon and were there at the station to drive us to their lovely home in this pleasant suburb.

A beautiful, sunny day--and unexpectedly warm. We spent some time admiring the back garden...

... a delightful mix of wild growth and cultivation...

... which includes such treasures as a fig tree, a vegetable garden at the bottom end, a lily pond and a productive raspberry patch. Not to mention the birds. Bernard tells us that they have seen thirty different species over the years, and that at least a dozen are regular visitors to their bird feeders. From the bottom of the garden, we heard a greater spotted woodpecker at work in the neighbor's graceful acacia tree. A genuine paradise, amazingly quiet and private for the suburb of a great, noisy city.

(Is this not a Constable?)

Margaret had prepared a delicious lunch for us--poached salmon and new potatoes with vegetables and salad, followed by fresh strawberries and raspberries and cream! After lunch, we left for our promised tour of the landmarks of this part of the city, the Dulwich Picture Gallery and and College. Too much fascinating history to recount here; suffice it to say that it was all originally a part of one great estate, and that much of it has been protected from the ravages of commercial development.

Our first stop was at the Picture Gallery--an amazing treasure house of great paintings from the Italian Renaissance to Constable and Reynolds, including some masterpiece work by the likes of Rembrandt and Rubens. Bernard--a person of some influence in these parts!--had arranged for a personal tour guide for the four of us, and our extraordinarily well informed docent regaled us with great stories about the history of the place, its founders and benefactors. as well as about the astounding collection. One of London's best kept secrets, it is only recently beginning to be widely known and is, of course, a magnet for historians and scholars who find it a mine of new topics for research and study.

Of particular interest to us was the surprising current exhibition, Twombley and Poussin: Arcadian Painters, exploring these painters' common interest in poetry, myth and nature, and the curious coincidence of their ages at various stages of development. The show includes some absolutely wonderful paintings by both artists--the most amazing of which, for me, were the Twombleys, especially his huge, magnificent "Four Seasons." They cast the painter in a whole new, richer and more incandescent light for me.

Here's a part of the original Dulwich College buildings, now alms houses:

And a recent bronze statue of the school's founder, Edward Alleyn, a celebrated actor on the Elizabethan stage of Shakespeare and Marlowe. Too much history to attempt to recall today, but here's a link to further information. On to the college itself, then...

... where Bernard attended school many years ago and where he is still very active in alumni work. Dulwich is one of the fine English "public" schools---and one which has made a consistent effort, over many years, to maintain access for students other than the wealthy few who could afford the hefty fees. Like many schools of its kind (including my own, Lancing College,) it has produced many outstanding figures including, in the case of Dulwich, the explorer Ernest Shackleton, whose storied survival lifeboat, the James Caird...

... is preserved to this day in one wing of the college. That's another inspiring story of great courage, sacrifice, leadership and perseverance--qualities which schools such as these are intended to foster.

A great afternoon. After a late tea and a bite of delicious "lemon drizzle" cake in the garden, we bade a grateful farewell to our generous hosts and returned to our flat to solve a water heater problem. It involved several transatlantic calls; but the less said about that, the better. We missed our mouse this evening...