Stansted House

Thursdays are volunteering days again and this week we took our crochet group on tour to Stansted House. It’s closed to the public until Easter but we had a closed-doors visit, firstly sitting around the 250-year-old kitchen table crocheting (or pretending to, in my case) while being filmed and then had a tour of some of the rooms, and a special viewing of some of the textiles that are usually kept locked away.

My crocheting may not have improved but I found out a lot about Loelia Ponsonby, whose family owned the estate. She was a talented artist and needleworker, magazine editor, the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s Miss Moneypenny (and the namesake of 007’s previous secretary) - and the person who invented bring-a-bottle parties!