Virginia Woolf

My Virginia Woolf class went on a little field trip a couple weekends ago. We weren't allowed to take too many pictures, but I'll just talk about it a little. So, I think the general area we visited is called Sussex, but I could be completely wrong. The trip from Bath took about 3 hours via bus and we ended up on the south coast past Portsmouth somehow or another. It was a nice, pretty day, and it was cool to look at fields upon fields of blooming rapeseed, which is everywhere. Lots of yellow fields at this time of year.

First place we went was Charleston House, which is where the famous Bloomsbury group would escape to . The Bloomsbury group consisted of people like the Woolfs, Virginia Woolf's sister and artist Vanessa Bell and her family, E.M. Forster sometimes, economist Keynes, and a number of other people. The house was pretty cool because it was decorated everywhere by Vanessa Bell. All the doors, tables, and walls are very cleverly painted. It's a neat sort of artist house. A number of other famous writers and artists have spent time at Charleston House as well.

Second place was Berwick Church. Not too much to say about it really. It was painted by Vanessa Bell, which apparently was a controversial issue within the parish at the time, but ended up happening anyway.

Third place was Monk's House, where Virginia and Leonard Woolf lived for a number of years. It was, in fact, the very house Virginia Woolf lived in when she walked to the River Ouse a few miles away and drowned herself. Only got to see a few rooms and Woolf's writing cabin in the back yard. Not too impressive compared to Charleston House. There was something very historically artificial about the feel of the place, as if the national trust was trying a bit too hard to capture a feeling.

Honestly, my favorite thing about the trip was just getting into the English countryside on a nice weekend day. I'll have my Amsterdam post up in a couple days. And, of course, the royal wedding is this Friday. Though we'll all be staying in Bath, there is still a big celebration apparently.