thumb|right|Charleston Farmhouse, near [[Lewes, East Sussex]]

Charleston, in East Sussex, is a property associated with the Bloomsbury group, that is open to the public. It was the country home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant and is an example of their decorative style within a domestic context, representing the fruition of more than sixty years of artistic creativity. In addition to the house and artists' garden, Charleston hosts a year-round programme of Bloomsbury and contemporary exhibitions in a suite of galleries designed by Jamie Fobert Architects which opened in September 2018. Two restored barns are home to The Threshing Barn café and The Hay Barn where events and workshops are held throughout the year. The Outer Studio at Charleston hosts a permanent display of Bell and Grant's Famous Women Dinner Service, and there is also a shop selling Bloomsbury-inspired art, homeware fabrics, fashion, books and stationery.

Charleston hosts a number of special events throughout the year, most notably the Charleston Festival, which each May invites artists, writers, thinkers and changemakers to discuss the best in art, literature, ideas and politics, past and present, just as the Bloomsbury group did around the Charleston dining table.

The house is located in the village of Firle, in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England.

History

thumb|The house

thumb|The Breakfast Table by Roger Fry

In 1916 the artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant moved to Sussex with their unconventional household when Grant, under the terms of his exemption from military service, was employed at a nearby farm together with David Garnett. Over the following half-century Charleston became the country meeting place for the group of artists, writers and intellectuals known as Bloomsbury. Garnett, Clive Bell and Maynard Keynes lived at Charleston for considerable periods; Virginia and Leonard Woolf, E. M. Forster, Lytton Strachey and Roger Fry were frequent visitors. is a charity set up in 1980 to restore and maintain the home of the Bloomsbury Group artists for the benefit of the public. The unique collection at Charleston is illustrative of the art and lifestyle of the influential Bloomsbury Group and has been on show to the public since 1986. Charleston attracts visitors from the local community as well as the rest of the UK and abroad.

In the financial year ending 31 December 2020 the Trust's income was £2,078,352, including £722,303 from five government grants. Expenditure was £612,000 in cost of raising funds, and £683,520 on charitable activities.

Covid-19, emergency appeal, and funding

thumb|upright=1.2|Charleston Farmhouse seen from the south-east

The COVID-19 pandemic that broke out in 2020 initially had a devastating financial impact on Charleston, which ordinarily receives no public funding, and relies on income through ticket sales and spend in its shop and café. Charleston received £89,293 from the government's Getting Building Fund in November 2020, and £240,542 in July 2021 for a new cycle path and to resurface the access road. This gave rise to criticism, as the access road is reported to be privately owned by the eighth Viscount Gage, who was a Conservative member of the House of Lords until its 1999 reform, and his wife Alexandra Gage, Viscountess Gage.

Charleston closed to the public during the early part of the pandemic, and the charity launched an Emergency Appeal to raise funds. The Farmhouse was open at the end of 2021 following a Historic England grant.

Further reading

  • Bell, Quentin, Virginia Nicholson and Alen MacWeeney (2004). Charleston: A Bloomsbury House and Gardens. London: Frances Lincoln Publishers.

See also

  • Berwick Church includes murals painted in 1941 by Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell, and Quentin Bell
  • Monk's House, Rodmell, the home of the Woolfs
  • Omega Workshops

References

  • Official website