Tea at Trianon: A West Sussex Vineyard

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, April 11, 2024

A West Sussex Vineyard

English wine. I never knew. From Country Living:

The ideal country house with the ideal lifestyle business? Dillions Farmhouse and Vineyard in West Sussex are up for sale. The country house property checklist usually starts off with things like ‘pretty’, ‘period charm’, ‘nice garden’ and ‘convenient location’. But once you’ve got those staples ticked off, you can start to look for the rather more niche attributes. ‘Granny annexe’ is a popular one for those embarking upon the adventure that is multi-generational living; while ‘own vineyard’, while more of a pipe dream, is also a cracker.

How nice, then, to find Dillions Farmhouse, a home which ticks all those boxes and more. (Read more.)