Enlightened

I'd never heard the word 'pargeting' until our son told us he was doing some as a 'taster' during a training course a few years ago. We casually mentioned this to friends in East Anglia and they decided to show us the depth of our ignorance by taking us to Saffron Walden to show us its presence on every second building.

I just googled 'pargeting' to check the spelling and the third hit is the Saffron Walden web site, so I guess our friends are in a bit of a hot spot. The other top hits are 'heritage crafts' (which is why our son got involved) and The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, so you see the territory we are in. It is decorative (usually lime) plaster work on the outside of buildings, and those sites tell me it tends to be done where local building stone isn't up to much - so I suppose that's why it is rare around here

They give Henry VIII the accolade for bringing it to England, but most things of uncertain origin are ascribed either to him or "the Romans", so I take that with a pinch of salt. Apparently, he brought Italian workers in to decorate a royal palace; they call it 'stucco', which I would say is a better known word

Our son decided his effort would be a present for us, so he chose a beekeeping theme, and it now sits on top of the larder. It deserves a better place, but the lime-rendered and plastered kitchen is its natural home and we haven't yet found a better way to display it

On the whole, we are not demonstrative people, but when this room was created with a much higher vaulted ceiling than we ever imagined from the deigns, we decided a bit of drama was necessary. When we spotted those lamps with sisal rope, wooden hooks and metal shades, we felt the adrenaline flow. We do, after all, live next to a heritage brewery that still uses wooden cogs on its drive-shafts and takes deliveries of hop-sacks