This is obviously an early Meades film and one that was thought lost or at least hard to find. It was turned up on an old VHS tape and put online by MeadesShrine.
The great man visits Marsh Court (or Marshcourt), a house built by Edwin Lutyens in the first few years of the 20th century.
When he made this film the house was home to a prep school. I shall not quickly forget the shots of small boys doing their PE under the gaze of hunting trophies.
The school had closed by 1993, because Wikipedia records that it was then
bought by the Belgian car importer Joska Bourgeois for £630,000. Bourgeois allowed the British businessman and politician Geoffrey Robinson to appear as the owner of the house, he would eventually inherit it after her death, some eight months later.
Do you think the use of clunch is part of the jokiness?
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He obviously enjoyed the word, but it is the correct term for that stone.
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ReplyDeleteBetween 1993 and 2007, the price increased for £630,000 to £13m.
The current owner favours modern furniture and lighting. I remain unconvinced.
http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/edwin-lutyens-robert-couturier-english-manor-article
How delighted I was to see this film as I had two children at school at Marsh Court which closed abruptly as a school in 1989. How I used to love wandering around the school and the grounds at drop off and pick up times and attending fêtes and concerts. It is indeed a building that inhabits dreams.
ReplyDeleteThank God for the internet and for the poster of this. For some reason I have never been able to get Meades film about this house out of my head. I have searched for this video many times , in vain, until now.
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