If you spend time at Home Hill, you may feel as if you have stepped out of time, the carpets, wallpapers and furnishing are very much as Dame Enid, wanted the house to be shared with the public.
Maintaining the collection and buildings as Dame Enid envisioned brings a special set of conditions for the caretakers, unlike a traditional museum that provides a space to view various collections, the whole house is the collection and a lot of care is taken to try to preserve the in situ fittings.
Special consideration must be given to any repairs that may need to be undertaken, and cleaning old fabrics is a delicate proposition. Even light can be damaging and therefore lightbulbs have been removed from many of the lampshades created by Dame Enid.
Below are a few then and now photos, the older ones were provided by Dame Enid to her family as a guide for how to present the house, paired with images of the house as it is presented today. You will see differences for many practical reasons, but the overall feeling and presentation is definitely as Dame Enid intended.
Maintaining the collection and buildings as Dame Enid envisioned brings a special set of conditions for the caretakers, unlike a traditional museum that provides a space to view various collections, the whole house is the collection and a lot of care is taken to try to preserve the in situ fittings.
Special consideration must be given to any repairs that may need to be undertaken, and cleaning old fabrics is a delicate proposition. Even light can be damaging and therefore lightbulbs have been removed from many of the lampshades created by Dame Enid.
Below are a few then and now photos, the older ones were provided by Dame Enid to her family as a guide for how to present the house, paired with images of the house as it is presented today. You will see differences for many practical reasons, but the overall feeling and presentation is definitely as Dame Enid intended.