A sneak peek at the new Dartington Heritage Centre
Let’s go back in time.
The gramophone is playing, the sunlight falls through leaded glass onto a desk, and downstairs a small boy is being handed through a window onto the lawn. The boy is Peter Nicholson, who as a baby often came to work with his mother, Mary, whose name is still on the Bakelite internal telephone on the wall.
We are at Dartington Great Hall, where Mary Bride Nicholson was Dorothy Elmhirst’s private secretary for ten years and where Peter is now, decades later, in charge of the renovation of Leonard and Dorothy’s private apartment, which opens to the public this week. (16th August) I was given a sneak peek while the pictures were being hung and the finishing touches arranged.
This must, I asked Peter, be an amazing moment for him? “Yes, and I get quite emotional because I think my mum would really love the fact that we have brought these rooms back to life, and people can see the lovely things they collected over their lives.” Lovely things are everywhere, even in the Deco bathrooms and along the corridors. Mark Tobey paintings, Bernard Leach pots, (and in the entrance, his potter’s wheel), ancient Chinese ceramics, Ben Nicholson paintings, Winifred Nicholson flower studies, and the original Staverton-made furniture which once sold at Heals. There is even the last remaining Picasso (the rest were sold long ago).
Where the work is
In Leonard’s study there is a particular sense that he’s just stepped out to inspect his farm, and that he’ll be back soon, perhaps with Tagore or Imogen Holst, while Dorothy is in her garden or chatting to the children at the school. Peter definitely expects people will want to come and see where the couple once lived and worked. “There are so many stories woven here of the people who worked here, played here.” Including his own; “When my mum couldn’t get anyone in the village to look after me she would bring me to work in Dorothy’s office on the ground floor. I was a toddler crawling round and they would put me out of the window onto the lawn. It was a very small drop!”
The budget
The idea to open the apartment as a heritage centre isn’t new but the old ideas were too grandiose and costly, he explained. He was convinced the rooms – once used as Trust offices – could be brought back to life and so far two floors have been rewired, decorated and furnished for £100,000. All the art works, ceramics, chairs etc were already there – they just needed to be brought out of storage. The money came from selling four rare books, a rug and six Indian prints.
we have brought these rooms back to life
Now the has to attract paying customers. Peter believes this is what Leonard and Dorothy would have expected. “It is entirely in keeping with [their ideas of] rural regeneration, and that included commerce, forestry, textiles and so on, which all had to pay their way. The difference was they were all embedded into an ethos of culture, the arts and education. Making arts accessible to everyone.”
Peter adds: “Dartington has been through the mill these last two years and nearly close to the cliff edge, but there is enough belief and passion coming from David Triesman and Robert Fedder about really giving this a good shot.”
Volunteers will act as guides for the tours of up to 16 people at a time. The special exhibitions – the opening has many Mark Tobey works – will change regularly and it’s expected that works from
other galleries with connections to Dartington, such as the Bernard Leach pottery in St Ives and Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge, will be shown here.