One afternoon last week, we spent a few interesting hours at the Russell-Cotes Museum, on the East Cliff at Bournemouth. The museum is the former home of a wealthy Victorian couple, Sir Merton and Lady Annie Russell-Cotes. Sir Merton developed the grand Royal Bath Hotel, which is next door to the house. Together, the Russell-Cotes` travelled widely and collected many strange and interesting objects from around the world. They amassed an Art Collection which includes works by Alfred Munnings, Danti Gabriel Rossetti and numerous other contemporary artists.
This Summer`s Exhibition, The De Morgans and the Sea, highlights the stunning ceramics and paintings of Arts and Crafts artists William and Evelyn De Morgan. We were keen to see this and loved the work that was on show.
These photos were taken on my camera phone as we walked down the sloping clifftop path towards the museum entrance. The cliff`s wild slopes were a mass of bluebells and whitebells in bloom.
Sun shone through the clouds above Poole Bay and the Purbeck Hills.
The Museum, once a home, has bay windows overlooking the sea. In the formal gardens, azaleas flowered among the statues.
Early marigolds..........
......and the path to the grotto.
From the upstairs windows of the house, once the main bedrooms, these must have been wonderful views to wake up to in the morning.
The dome shaped roof is that of a new restaurant building at the Royal Bath Hotel. Behind it, the West Cliff of Bournemouth stretches towards Poole Harbour. As we watched the sun beginning to dip in the afternoon sky, rain was falling in the west, over the distant heathland of Purbeck.
More about the Russell-Cotes Museum and its collections is at
www.russell-cotes.bournemouth.gov.uk
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10 comments:
what a great building, and lovely flowers too.
Gosh, that brings back memories. The HUGE Munnings canvas of his wife on a cracking bay TB (and the background just a mishmash of daubs by comparison!) and the Lucy Kemp-Welch painting of the gypsy ponies at the fair. The tinkle of water from the indoor fountain, the collections of ephemera from around the world - I saw a Japanese helmet at the weekend and immediately thought of the Russell-Cotes Museum! The back of the house, overlooking the sea, has such character, and yet the road side of it always reminds me of a municipal toilet block!!!
I just adored the archway to the grotto!
The museum sounds a delightful place to visit - what beautiful views from the windows :)
What a wonderful looking house.
Love from Mum
xx
With a view like that you would never want to get out of bed in a morning.
Love that bank of blue and white bells.
This looks like a very interesting place to visit and the views across the water are fantastic.
That's an incredible looking house.
I have passed this museum so many times over the years and have always meant to come back and stop and visit it! It was lovely therefore to read all about it. I must now follow your example.
Sarah x
what a lovely buildign and interesting sounding museum. i used to go on family holidays to Bournemouth when I was a child and I don't remember that place at all....
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