I made yet another trip to Greenwich- this time to visit the venerated Fan Museum. I have been before after reading about it on a list entitled 'London's Hidden Gems' but had never had afternoon tea here, so I thought I'd take my SuperDean for a little civilized treat.
The Japanese style garden is truly beautiful and the parterres are set out in a fan shape. The last time I was here you could wander into it but this is no longer allowed- something to do with the neighbours complaining. Why, I cannot fathom. The museum is only open during the daytime, and that includes private events, so it's not as if late night wild parties occur on its grounds.
The beautiful garden.
Upstairs, a lady working at the museum kindly let me use her office to take this photo overlooking the garden. She suggested I write a letter to Greenwich council complaining about the garden ban, and I might just do that!
The stunning Orangery with Dean in the corner, facing the mirrored doors. The garden doors are to his left. We had the place to ourselves.
View of the entrance door from our seats.
Looking towards the side. Apparently, the lady who painted The Orangery's continual mural did so in forty days. I offered up my services if the paintings ever need retouching- I did, after all, study art and design before I studied fashion.
The lovely ceiling.
The detail in this room is amazing and a lot of care has been taken over it. Here we have a butterfly resting on the fancy light.
And here's a model of a fan and an orange tree.
And now we get to our lovely tea, which was real value for money at £8 per person. I'm going to visit the Princess Diana exhibition in Kensington Palace in the summer and will pop into their orangery, but just for a cuppa- their afternoon tea is a pricy £27.50 each, but you kind of expect that from such a venue. Also, at KP, if you want to have a 125ml glass of champagne with your tea that's another tenner added on, setting you back £37.50 in total. O-k-a-a-a-a-y... They can stick that where the sun doesn't shine and I'll stay faithful to The Fan Museum!
The steps outside had these wrought iron railings in the shape of fans- I got my camera out and said, 'Ooh, let me take a picture- here are some more fanny bits...' Perhaps I could have chosen my words with more care!
The museum consists of a one room fixed exhibition on the ground floor and a two room changeable exhibition space on the second floor, so it's small- but perfectly formed. Here's my favourite of their Biblical Fans collection, depicting Jacob's Ladder. I kept referring to it as, 'The Stairway To Heaven,' which is some misnomer. Then I couldn't remember that it was Led Zeppelin who sang that song- and I call myself a rock chick. I should be ashamed of myself!
It's a little known fact that I once made a fan for my introductory project at The London College Of Fashion. I had to look at the work of a Japanese erotic artist and make a report. They didn't like it- they said all they wanted was an A4 black and white document with a couple of photocopies, rather than the creative, colourful piece of artwork that I had put together. The boring, idiot gits. That experience is recreated for the character Elizabeth in my first novel, entitled 'The Reject's Club.'
The ladies' toilet is also acclaimed and has won awards. Here's a photo of me in said toilet... These are two similar but interesting selfies...
Note to self; wear another top- just lately, whenever I'm being photographed I seem to be wearing the same pink top and cardi...
Here's the toilet wallpaper.
The attention to detail throughout this museum is immense. Look at this cute fan soap in a pretty fan soap dish...
This was a lovely day but the third time I've been to Greenwich in as many weeks, so that's me all Greenwich'd out for the time being.
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Great! It sounds good. Thanks for sharing..
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