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Snowshill Manor
A return visit to Snowshill Manor and one we looked forward too with much anticipation. We thoroughly enjoyed our first visit and yes thoroughly enjoyed our second just as much. We received our official invitation to visit from our, amazing host Mr Charles Paget Wade, and duly knocked on his front door at the alloted time. On arrival we were given our map of the house and gardens and given free range to wander throughout. Members of Mr Wades staff were available in most rooms to provide valuable information on the cornucopia of items that he has amassed over the years.
Charles Paget Wade had a passion. From the age of seven he collected and restored beautiful and interesting objects carefully choosing them for their colour workmanship and design. He has created an atmospheric and theatrical place, where unlikely treasures are waiting to be discovered in dark corners, which is true of every room that you visit. He lived his whole life accordinging to his motto, "Let nothing perish" aand he delighted in finding unlikely treasures, that perhaps had become unfashionable and unwanted and yet displayed great colour, workmanship or design. He thought that they should be saved and most importantly celebrated. As an architect and extremly talented illustrator he had the creative eye and a sense of drama and fun; he used these when it came to displaying his collection.
The following is an extract from the National Trust on the history of Charles Paget Wade Born in the suburbs of London in 1883, Charles Wade was the son of Paget and Amy Wade, owners of several sugar estates in the West Indies. At the age of 7, he went to live with his Grannie Spencer in Great Yarmouth. A stern woman who scorned any form of luxury, Charles spent his childhood amusing himself. Grannie’s cabinet Grannie was a keen collector and, every Sunday, Charles would marvel at the items in her cabinet, where she housed her collection, you can see this very cabinet in the manor today. It was not long before Charles began collecting too. It started with a small bone model of St Michael, bought with 18 weeks worth of pocket money and sparked a lifelong love of collecting in a young Charles. Architect and artist Despite not being a great student at school, Charles went on to secure work as an architect. Alongside his flair for architectural visions and drawings, he also loved to draw and paint for pleasure. When his father died in 1911, Charles inherited enough money to stop work and absorb himself in his passion for collecting, which he used to further his collection. And while serving with the Army in the First World War, he spotted Snowshill Manor up for sale. A home for his collection On his return, he purchased Snowshill Manor, a Tudor manor house with adjacent cottage and 14 acres of land and set to work revamping the house and turning the farmyard into a cottage garden into an Arts and Crafts garden with the help of M H Baillie Scott. While his collection took pride of place in the main manor, Charles set up home in the small Priest House opposite. Word of his collection soon spread among literary and artistic types, and he welcomed several notable people to Snowshill Manor in the early 20th Century, including J.B.Priestly, Virigina Woolf and even Queen Mary. Marriage and death It was not until his 60s, that Charles met his wife 44-year-old vicar’s daughter Mary Graham. They married in 1946 and lived at Snowshill Manor before spending increasing amounts of time in St. Kitts in the early 1950s. During a visit back to England 5 years later Charles was taken ill and died at Evesham. Mary survived him by many years, ending her days in the nearby village of Broadway. Several years before he died, Charles approached the National Trust asking them to accept the Manor as a gift to safeguard the future of his collection, an offer which was accepted. House Steward Jennifer Rowley-Bowen said: "Charles Wade was an avid collector of extraordinary objects; an artist, poet and craftsman, he saw beyond the ordinary and created a magical world for himself at Snowshill Manor. We love sharing this story with visitors, who get a sneak peek into the life of an interesting man."
The pictures that follow can in no way show the eclectic mix of items that he collected. They can not in any way show the range of items from the small to the large, only a personal visit can attempt to come close to achieving that.
For further examples of the artistic genius of Mr Wade I would refer those with the interest to look up a book by Mary Stratton, titled "Bruge a record an impression". This book is most ably illustrated by none other than Charles Paget Wade. A man with an incredible talent and the forethought to collect objects that would have otherwise been discarded as old fashion or out of date..