Welcome to Willow Tree

As Chapel and Collections Officer at Clumber Park I look after several collections of objects on the Estate, including a museum of agricultural tools donated to the estate in the 1980's.

The collections is called Willow Tree Farm and is housed at a farm in Hardwick Village on the estate. It is open every Wednesdays until October and both May bank holidays and is looked after by a fantastic group of volunteers.

Before it opened again we gave Willow Tree Farm a good deep clean to get rid of the many cobwebs that had gathered there over winter.

Luckily for us it was beautiful weather and with our fab team working hard we had pretty much the whole place finished in a day. Starting from the top, brushing the cobwebs and dust down to sweep it all up. All the objects got a bit of TLC and now look spic and span.

There were several large stone plinths in the barn, blocking one of the door to the farm courtyard so I asked the wonderful Estate Support Team to help me move them out of the way to where they could be admired.

The stone plinths are enormously heavy so the guys used a tele-handler to move them. They made it all look very easy and the plinths are now arranged nicely and not getting in our visitors way.

There are lots of interesting bits tucked away at Willow Tree Farm, from a life-size plastic cow (her name is Gertrude and she's quite famous around these parts!) to some interesting graffiti.

The graffiti shows horses pulling carts and jumping and is in an area that quite possible once housed horses. Maybe these pictures were the stable boys way of inspiring the horses that lived there.

Another equally interesting but distinctly less agricultural thing housed near the farm is the masts to the Lincoln ship. The Lincoln was a replica ship built in miniature for the Dukes to sail on Clumber Lake. The ship was unfortunately sunk and now lies at the bottom of the lake and the masts are no longer with it.

The museum itself showcases the evolution of agricultural equipment, and many of the pieces are still in working order meaning visitors can really get a feel for how farmers work and how food is produced.

There are also plenty of activities for children to have a go at, and the farm is a brilliant spot for a picnic in the sunshine!

As always I have to say a huge thanks to the wonderful volunteers for all their hard work in making what we do possible, and thanks to Sleem for his photos!

Chapel Complete!

After many weeks of hard work doing the Deep Clean the Chapel of Saint Mary the Virgin is once again open to the public and back to normal!

The Deep Clean means the team of staff and volunteers clean from as high as we can reach, using long poles to vacuum the walls, working all the way down, finishing with scrubbing the Chapel floors.

The candlesticks that stand on top of the Rood Screen are  objects that can only be cleaned once a year. They are out of the way, so do not suffer from any corrosion due to people touching them, but they do get dusty and are affected by the humidity.

So we brought them down from the Rood Screen, to dust them off with a pony hair paint brush and then remove any corrosion. We do this with a metal cleaner in very minute quantities, gently applying it with wads of cotton. You can see the difference this makes in this picture; the one on the left has been cleaned and the one on the right is still to do.

After we have removed the corrosion we put a protective layer of wax on the candlesticks. This will stop any moisture in the air from reacting with the metal and potentially corroding the candlesticks. Finally they are buffed until the shine with a very soft duster, before being replaced on the Rood Screen.

The same wax we use on metals can also be used on other objects, such as the marble floor that leads up to the altar in the Chancel. The floor is cleaned and then a fine layer of wax is added and buffed up. This increases the floors shine, as well as protecting it from dirt, grit and the effects of people walking across it.

Cleaning the intricate wooden carvings with a hogs hair paint brush was a great opportunity to really study the beautiful details and admire the craftsmanship. Delicate cleaning like this allows us to get into all the nooks of the beautiful carvings, making sure we are doing a really through job of removing cobwebs, dust and debris. 

One of the last jobs to be done during the Deep Clean is to scrub the floor, a huge job and a very good upper arm workout. We use water with a very small amount of mild detergent in, and proper scrubbing brushes. It gives you a taste of the life of a parlour maid and makes me quite glad that I am not one! You can see how much scrubbing we did by how worn down the brush was once the floor was done.

Finally now all the items have been returned to their proper positions the Chapel is looking wonderful and ready to receive visitors again! Now onto the next big project!

Have you thought about volunteering?

During this Deep Clean, in a new place while learning the ins and outs of a new job, I have been so grateful for the help of my conservation volunteers.

Small in number but mighty in effect, my volunteers have put in hours of their time, worked really hard and been very patient with me as I have been learning the ropes. Without them I would be no where near ready to open up at the end of next week!

I started my journey with the National Trust by volunteering, and still volunteer today. In an industry where funding is a real struggle, and the situation is only getting worse, volunteers are invaluable. But they are much more than that too.

Volunteers provide a wealth of knowledge from all walks of life, and give us the capacity to do vital work and keep our properties running. They are passionate and dedicated. They are motivating and can provide ideas for wonderful challenges that staff can rise to. They are also such good fun to work with and often become friends along the way.

But enough about what volunteering gives us, what can volunteering give you?

I was in my second year of university when I started volunteering at The Greyfriars House & Gardens. Volunteering here gave me an escape from the drama of housemates and the headache of coursework. It also gave me lots of inspiration for what to base projects on, and the access to do some really through, unique research for those projects. It allowed me to meet people I would have never met usually, and most importantly it showed me what I wanted to do with my life.

After university I took up a voluntary position at Powis Castle for a year. The Trust run two similar schemes, Internships and Full Time Volunteering. There are subtle differences such as the length of time in which you volunteer, whether you live on site, and how many days a week you do, but these schemes aim at providing experience for those looking to work in the Heritage Industry. Since 2011 over 200 people have done a National Trust Internship.

My time at Powis not only meant I got to live in the most amazing location, have some truly unique experiences and get to care for a stunning collection of objects. It also gave me a huge base of conservation knowledge, and as a full time volunteer I had to time and flexibility to learn how other departments worked too, something which gives me a much better understanding of how a property works as a team.

Sometimes I cannot believe the amazing things I have done through volunteering, brilliant, once-in-a-lifetime experiences and so much fun! Finally all this volunteering gave me the tools I needed to get my dream job at Hardwick Hall!

Most employers offer between three and five paid days a year to do voluntary work, and since the Community Life Survey 2014-2015 found that 69% of people asked volunteer at least annually, could be well used. The impact this has on charitable organisations is immense.

The National Trust is increasingly looking at different ways for people to volunteer, making it more flexible and targeting different audiences. You can now volunteer as a family, as a company, every week, once a month or just a few days a year. You can try your hand at several different voluntary roles, or experience life at several properties. The opportunities really are endless and I'm sure your local property would love to have you. So go forth, volunteer and have fun!

Find out more by following this link: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/volunteer
(bonus points if you spot the pic of me!)

Garden of Fire!

I stared my new job as Chapel & Collections Officer at Clumber Park on the first of December, just in time for all the festive fun! And just as I started Clumber was hosting a very different types of garden event, the Garden of Fire!

The Walled Kitchen Gardens were temporarily transformed into an enchanted, illuminated garden that felt like you had stepped straight into a fairy tale.

Working with Fuse Fireworks the events team at Clumber Park undertook something daring and different, and being lucky enough to have the opportunity to see the event I think it really paid off!

The Walled Kitchen Gardens, with their gorgeous red brick walls and the largest Glass House in the care of the Trust, are beautiful in their own right. However on this evening they were transformed into another world.

Candles hung in glass jars from trees and on posts, as well as from in plant pots on purpose built metal structures, creating fantastic fiery visions for visitors wandering round the garden.

The first section of the experience felt like walking amongst the stars. The whole experience just made me feel so relaxed and dreamily happy.

There also braziers burning bright, and one are where as you walked past bursts of fire were sent leaping into the sky.

I think my favorite structure was the sphere, although the pretty heart was a close second.

Accompanying visitors round the garden was a soundtrack of beautiful, ethereal music. This really made the experience, bringing it to another level and totally transporting you to this beautiful, other-worldly Garden of Fire.

If you ever get the opportunity to visit something similar do, it was such a unique, lovely experience!

Closed for Cleaning

I have now official been working at Clumber for two months and currently am mostly focusing on getting the Deep Clean of the Chapel finished.

After all the excitement of Christmas and then my trip to Oslo I had a quiet, oh, three days to settle into everyday life at Clumber before the Chapel of St Mary the Virgin was officially closed for the Deep Clean. 

We are now a third of the way through, which having just worked that out makes me feel quite good. It is quite strange leading a deep clean in a new place so soon after starting, but I am really enjoying the experience.

The Chapel is such a beautiful building and I loving getting to see it from all these different angles.

We started the deep clean by packing away all the smaller items in the Chapel so that we can start by cleaning from the top of the building (well as high as we can reach) down.

The smaller bits are wrapped up and stored safely and will be cleaned before they are put back out.

Next we started at the very top of the building, in the Bell Tower, and began working our way down through the tower to the ground. The stairs up to the Bell Tower look like the could belong in a castle, with little windows dotted about as you climb up. 

The stairs spiral one way, breaking for a little corridor with a window overlooking the Nave, and the spiraling the other way up to first part of the Bell Tower.

Then up a ladder through a hole in the floor to where the bell is housed. Here there are windows with no glass in them, so a favorite place birds. This means it is very messy, and since there is no power up there has to be cleaned by hand.

There are some fantastic views across the estate from this point in the Chapel.

After that I did the Organ Loft, which was a tight squeeze for one person and a back pack hoover. This is another area of the Chapel accessed via spiral staircase, a very narrow wooden one this time. The organ surround is beautifully decorated, painted in greens and gold, and you get a fantastic view of the stained glass window on the East side of the Chapel.

A lot of the work in the Nave is done from the top of a scaffold tower, but in the Chancel it has to be done from ladders fitted in around the choir stalls. This is a little awkward but we do the best we can.

The Chancel is full of beautiful carved pieces, Angels, Saints and decoration on the choir stalls. It is one of those areas that is a real pleasure to clean because you get the opportunity to take time and appreciate the beautiful detail of all the figures, and the amazing craftsmanship that has gone into them.

Going up on the scaffold tower in the Nave is fantastic. There are stone walkways either side of the Nave that can only be accessed off the scaffold so I have enjoyed going up on these and looking out over the rest of the Chapel.

Up here are hidden a few little characters, the seven deadly sins. However I think they all look rather cute considering they are the things which can lead to eternal damnation. Just look at this little fella!

Standing on top of the scaffold tower you are still no where near the ceiling of the Chapel. To clean as high as we can we use an industrial vac and three long poles with a brush attachment on the end. It is certainly a workout for your arms!

Once we have hoovered the arches and walls of the Chapel, we work our way down and get to the elaborate ironwork lantern braces hanging in the Nave from the middle level of the tower. These are cleaned with a hogs hair paint brush, dusting them into a hoover.

The rest of the lantern is reached from a ladders, using a softer pony hair paint brush for the brass section, so as not to scratch the gleaming surface.

Spiders seem to love this Chapel and since we are cleaning places only reached once a year it has been very rewarding to get rid of the layers of dust and huge cobwebs hanging everywhere.

I want to say a huge thank you to all the volunteers that have come in to help so far, and thank you to Sleem for documenting the process so thoroughly, and then letting me steal his pictures for my blog!

While we have still got a lot of work to do before we open again on 13th March I am really enjoying myself. As long as I don't get too distracted by all the beauty and hidden details in the Chapel we should have no problem getting ready to re-open.