Drove 40 mins out of town yesterday to Northampton to visit a very special house. Like many people, my favourite designer/architect is Charles Rennie Mackintosh. As you probably know nearly all the buildings he worked on are in Scotland but he took a commission in 1916 to design some of the interiors of a house in Northampton for WJ Bassett-Lowke, a local businessman. The house was bought by the council in the last decade and is administered by a trust who, with the aid of a Heritage Lottery grant restored it completely and now it's open to the public. I nicked this pic off the web as photography isn't allowed in the house. This is the lounge/hall where the Bassett-Lowkes entertained their guests. Imagine walking into this room in 1917! The rest of the house is equally beautiful but less dramatic - even the lady of the house couldn't stomach it for more than five years and it was completely redone in grey in the the early 20s. Anyway, I loved every inch of the place and now I have to go to Glasgow to see the rest of his creations. Here's a link to the house but going via the google image search here takes you to a lot more info. Oh, and if you want to visit when you're here, I'll happily go with you. You get the tea and cakes though...
ps - sorry about yesterday but got home to find that the cover for the golf book had to be reprinted and things just went all kerplooey after that...
