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Kenwood House & St Alban’s Cathedral Visit
The Travel Group had a very enjoyable day at Kenwood House and St Alban’s Abbey.
 Setting off on a bright, but chilly, winter day the first stop was Kenwood House. A treasure house of art, it is for some reason not usually visited by coach parties. The house is surrounded by park land which adjoins Hampstead Heath, and is open all but two days of the year. The park is well used by the locals but there was no crush within the house. The walls are covered with art works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Constable and Turner to name drop a few of the artists. They are all displayed in a delightful house which includes some magnificent rooms designed by Robert Adams. Thank you, Ian Botttreill, one of our members who used to be Custodian at the house, for the lively introduction to the history of the house and amusing events that happened whilst he worked there.
After lunch we set off for St Albans Abbey which was filled with light from the low winter sun.
Each of England’s cathedrals is a celebration of the artistic and architectural skills of past times. Fortunately for us its very neglect in centuries past meant that it escaped the white washing of walls and clearing out that happened to other churches. Looking in the right places you could see remains of the medieval wall paintings that would have covered the entire church in a riot of colour.
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