Hall Place

Continuing the local theme, I also visited Hall Place in Bexley, which is a gorgeous Tudor mansion built for a former Lord Mayor of London (Sir John Champneys). The main part of the house was built in 1537, with some elements added in the 17th Century. There are also extensive gardens (inlcuding a temperate greenhouse, which is always lovely) and a butterfly jungle which I am not going anywhere near ever ever ever. Also a plant shop, where I may have bought some plants :D. 

Part of the exterior of the house is red brick, and part of it has a really interesting chessboard pattern made of flint and rubble masonry. 

Most of the Tudor features are still visible inside the house, including timber framing and the Great Hall that would have been the main feature of the house when it was built. 

Upstairs in the house there are some fantastic plaster ceilings dating from about 1650.

And finally, when we visited there was an art exhibition themed around water, which had some artworks that I really loved, including a video installation by Chyang Kung Kym, a large-scale photographic project by Noémie Goudal and a dress that changes colour when it gets wet by Studio Roso. 

The exhibition is on until 6th September and I do recommend it if you're in the area. 

The dress, dry:

And wet: 

Their website: http://studio-roso.com/

Noemie Goudal's website: http://www.noemiegoudal.com

Video interview with the artist explaining the art installation (Korean with English subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN126TEjXnM

This update is long enough already so I'm going to put pictures of the garden in another entry.