We live in a Georgian house and whilst we adore it's stylish simplicity and elegant proportions when winter sets in we hate the draughty sash windows and the huge heating bills.
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| Sarah Vaughton b. May 1711 d.1749 |
A Great-Aunt made it her life's work to trace our family tree back to the English Civil War and it turns out that we are direct descendants of Oliver Cromwell. Personally I'd have preferred to be of Royalist stock, the wigs were far more fabulous. However the family can also boast Thomas Guy, founder of Guy's Hospital, London, as one of our own.
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| John Cook of Greenwich (married Sarah 26 Jan 1757) | | |
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| Sarah Cook (nee Vaughton) b. 10 June 1739 d.19 November 1811 | | | | | |
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| I've become hooked on Georgette Heyer's Georgian novels thanks to the lovely Alex |
Faux period brooch
Vintage pendant
My favourite glass makes even cheapo lager taste better.
Old houses are so expensive to maintain, we desperately need the exterior repainting but things just seem to get in the way.
Always interesting to trace back the family tree! Lovely pictures! Your home looks good! :) Thanks for sharing Vix!!! And yes you can have your Peas later in the day! English Breakfast for you :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a BEAUTIFUL house, I do love Georgian proportions. And how exciting that you can trace your history so far back to someone actually important!
ReplyDeletebtw, I love Georgette Heyer too, she is really coming back into vogue. I have even started collecting the old hardback versions, I love them so much :)
Lovely post, Vix.
ReplyDeleteMy gran used to love Georgette Heyer.She used to keep her books piled up in her wardrobe(!) and when I was young I go and sit in there and read all her Heyer, Agatha Christie and Pan ghost stories! My grandad used to keep his books in the same way so I'd sit in his and read all his westerns and crime novels. xx
Hi there-what a lovely post, you've have amassed some truly gorgeous pieces and love the history of your family tree too, its amazing stuff!! x
ReplyDeleteI love Georgian houses. My friend lives in the most beautiful Georgian place with huge bay windows. Stunning in summer. When I go round in winter I take slippers and a blanket! :) xx
ReplyDeleteYour home is amazing. I have been researching my family tree for the last few years but have never come across anything that exciting. I am Devonian through and through though...x
ReplyDeleteWhat fascinating ancestry you have - Georgian houses are the best - lovely proportions and thick walls so there is soundproofing from the neighbours(living in Victorian quarters can be very noisy!). Love your vintage jewellery.
ReplyDeleteYou and Jon have such an amazing house, the bow windows are gorgeous too; but you're right about the upkeep, we've been in our house about nine years and still haven't found time to complete some of the rooms. You've got very illustrious ancestors and I'm with you on the Royalist front, just for the flowing locks, billowy white shirts and those thigh high leather boots...swoon. I watched a drama series on Channel 4 last year set in the Civil War called The Devil's Whore, and all the Royalist guys looked h.o.t.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'm another Georgette Heyer fan, I like reading about the foppish men!!
I'm with you on draughty old houses, I live in a Victorian School house and about this time of year I start buying rollnecks, floor length wool skirts, slippers and fingerless mitts.
ReplyDeleteI love Geogette Heryer too.
Your house looks fabulous - outside and in, well worth any inconvenience! My dad bought me a huge pile of Georgette Hayer books months ago - have only read 1 so far, the print was too small until I got my specs. Will need to work through them all. xx
ReplyDeletewow…your home is amazing. Ive always loved the idea of tracing back the family tree. Amazing stuff girlie x
ReplyDeleteYeah,great wigs is where it's at!Flipping Cromwell wouldn't have known fun if it smacked him in the face!!
ReplyDeleteJeez,we've just come back into the building after a whopper aftershock.The show must go on!
I just adore your pad,living in all that history blows me away! Love your fave glass!I must show off my fave shot glasses...
LOVE YOU!
xxxXXXxxxHelga
What a gorgeous home !
ReplyDeleteThis is very much like my dream apartment.
In the dream, Rod and I live on the entire top floor of an older house (with hardwood floors, all white walls and tons of deep dark wood antiques.Tons of colorful pillows all over the place and lots of huge florals. Fresh flowers daily on the table, too. there is a screened-in porch on the front and rear and my studio is huge and so are my closets ;) Plus, my computer table is huge and has a glass top :)
(I have very specific dreams ;)
Thats a beautiful house!!..I love old houses - they have character unlike the new cookie-cut houses..
ReplyDeleteUmm, would it sound too desperate if I said I love your house? (I like its greyness actually; we occasionally happen to get blinded by colour here in India.)
ReplyDeletePS: One of our profs swears by Georgette Heyer, but she is also the type that loves debating whether Tess of the D'Urbervilles was raped or seduced without ever reaching a conclusion.
Also, I'd do anything for that brooch. It's so lovely!
What a lovely post !
ReplyDeleteAnd I adore your house !
Oh I love Georgian properties, mind you I always seemed to live in big draughty Victorian ones and now we live in a modern build faux Victorian one. Maybe one day my dream will come true, mind you know what you mean about the exterior - check out Georgian society and exterior paint colours, white is the hardest to maintain.
ReplyDeletePS posted polish today so you should get tomorrow - sorry distracted by start of school xx
Hi Vix, we lived in a Georgian house a few years ago, it was freezing...its freezing here too though, i walk round with my hot water bottle and blanket and go to bed in more clothes than i wear out....I love your pendant, it looks like Fee :) xxx
ReplyDeletePeriod home. How wonderful.
ReplyDeletethe georgian items are breath-taking. to have in possession all those things that are at least couple hundred years old.. i'd be thinking of its own history a lot
ReplyDeleteFascinating post. Georgette Heyer eh? I always thought she was a bit like Barbara Cartland so I avoided her - I may well check her out. Loving your lager glass by the way!
ReplyDeleteYou have a gorgeous home filled with so much history! As for the draft problem maybe you should get a Snuggie! Do they have those in the UK? They are blankets with sleeves and they make them now in differenc colors and prints and even snuggies for dogs!
ReplyDeleteHave never read Georgette Heyer though I have seen her books. I'll check the next time I am at the library.
Love your fave lager glass, oh and your family pictures!
~Bonnie
Dear Vix, your house is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI live in a Victorian house and luckily it's not cold as I had something done to the sash windows years ago. You're right they are much more expensive to maintain.
How wonderful to have your history on your walls!
I'm rather partial to Georgette Heyer myself.
I really love your blog! xx
And again... but of course you would live in such a grand and gorgeous and wholly individual house...
ReplyDeleteGeorgian; you're living such a romantic life! Romance with history, nothing beats that
ReplyDeleteI love the house, and the glass and all your Georgian treasures! It must be so lovely to have so much historical background in your everyday surroundings, VIx!!
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued by the books also, will keep an eye out for Georgette Heyer. :) Char xx
Your house is beautiful! Must be great to be able to trace so far back in your family tree!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to trace my family tree back, see if I was made from good stock. :)
ReplyDeleteGorgeous Georgian treasures, love that glass.
xx
Oh wow you have some incredible family history! Your house is so beautiful - I love the paint the way it is:). Damn shame about the cold - I hate draughts! I think any drink would taste good out of that beauty of a glass. xo
ReplyDeleteI want your house. I really do. We used to live in a big Victorian house which was permanently freezing but there's just nothing to beat those high ceilings and beautiful proportions. I can't bear modern boxes.
ReplyDeleteI'm very disappointed that you're descended from Cromwell. Such a humourless bore - you look far more like you should be a relation of Prince Rupert (mild swoon). Far, far back in my family tree is William Wallace (Braveheart) - how fun. Can't say I've ever felt the need to paint myself with woad and charge the English but hey ho!
I'm so pleased that you're enjoying the Heyer novels. Full marks on the correct description by the way - it really ticks me off when people describe all her books as Regencies when quite a few of them (TOS & DC included) aren't.
Oh my word what an AMAZING house! Vix, it's gorgeous! And I love Georgette Heyer, ah, 'These Old Shades' is probably my favourite one.
ReplyDeleteJust got Animal's People in the post today! I was so excited! Thank you so much!
xxx
I would love to explore your Georgian house, and I love that you're looking into that period and reading Georgette Heyer. I think I'll pick up some of hers next time I'm at the library, too, and I'll start keeping an eye open for my own accumulation of vintage editions after Penny Dreadful's comment.
ReplyDeleteThrough a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen is a sweeping Georgian (and 18th century French) historical I liked enough to keep, although it's darker than Georgette Heyer.
Beautiful house! Georgian houses are definitely my favourite architectural style - I love the big windows and high ceilings. Aren't most old English houses cold and drafty? Sometimes when I get up in winter it's 12 degrees... Last year we put insulation strips into the window frames and that makes a huge difference (plus collecting wood from autumn on). xxx
ReplyDeleteYour house looks stunning, truly and wholeheartedly stunning xx
ReplyDeleteYour house really is so completely beautiful. I always assumed the bit in the second pic was next door, silly me! xxx
ReplyDeletemagnifique et quelles jolies pieces pour tes collections
ReplyDeleteOhhhhh how I love Georgette Heyer. Once I had demolished all the Austens, my mum handed me her box of Heyers from the Sixties and I demolished them all as well. Some of the covers are so very groovy.
ReplyDeleteExcellent family tree research. My mum does it as well, I'm descended from some interesting people but none so interesting as Oliver Cromwell himself!! Wow....
p.s I want your house! Beautiful...