PP4 - Renishaw

Sir Reresby Sitwell and Renishaw Hall from the south

A rather pleasant, obviously lived in and loved, country house, without the heaviness of dated furnishings which one sees in so many of these grand houses, and a beautiful garden which was landscaped by Sir George Sitwell (the present incumbent's grandfather) but Lady Penelope has added colour. Sir Reresby and Lady Penelope a charming couple and Sir Reresby granted us an interview before he dashed off for a lunch date - we placed him by the fireplace in the entrance hall above which is a Piper triptych of Venice which made a good setting. After they left we were placed in the hands of David Bateman, the housekeeper, a sterling chap who took us round the house to photograph relevant Piper works from the HUGE collection, on to the roof of pinnacles and battlements with superb views over the surrounding countryside, round the gardens and the Gothic Temple (aka dog cemetery), into the museum, and then explained how to get to the lakes and Triumphal Arch - and all done with a sense of humour. By the end we were rushing like mad things trying to get all our filming completed in the allotted 4 hours before the penalty charges clocked in.

David Bateman and Charles outside the north front of Renishaw

And I discovered more about David Horner, known as 'Blossom' - Osbert's boyfriend - which was interesting!