Once Upon A Time A King Fell in Love

Blickling Hall, from the TNNA Winter Show 2014

Once Upon a Time there was a young English upper class lady, born in a lovely English manor house called Blickling Hall somewhere in the early 1500s.   Blicking Hall still exists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWt8-4bBUI0

The lady has long been dust but she became Queen of England after Henry VIII broke from the Catholic Church, taking his whole kingdom with him, so he could marry her.  Only a few years later she was executed by her husband so he could marry someone else after she failed to produce a male heir, but her legend still lives.  I'm talking Anne Boleyn, of course.  Henry VIII's love letters to her exist in the Vatican, of all places,  Their only child, Queen Elizabeth I, is considered one of England's greatest rulers.

Blickling Hall, Seen As in a Dream

When Leigh Richardson showed me her Manor Born series, which celebrates the huge variety of ancient and beautiful buildings that exist all over England today, I was bewitched by Blickling Hall and its lion.  I had to stitch it.  Here are Blickling Hall's siblings, by the way.  Each is special architecturally and because of its history.  But Blickling Hall spoke to me.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp720x.html

If you compare my finished piece to the unstitched Manors on the Leigh Designs website, you will notice that my version of Blickling Hall has a border added.  Because of Amy Bunger's Tudors Home Study last year, I knew that Anne Boleyn had a favorite pearl necklace with three pear-shaped pearls.
http://www.amybunger.com/f/1013.pdf

Because of Amy's mention of this necklace, I did a little more research and discovered that Anne loved pearls (as did Queen Elizabeth I) and also loved initial jewelry which was very popular in the 16th Century.  This is the origin of my optional pearl and gold initial necklace border.
http://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/2011/03/18/anne-boleyn’s-jewellery/

Ingatestone Manor

I'm not the only one who has stitched a Manor so that you can have a stitch guide.  Here is Sharon Quick's Ingatestone Manor.  The Petrie family has lived there since they bought the place in the early 1500s.

Hatton Hall

Sandy Arthur stitched Hatton Hall.  For me, this is the classic British estate house.  It's not a castle, it's a home complete with sheep grazing in the foreground.  It would be wonderful to wander any of these manors, however.  They are not castles, although many housed queens (or ghosts).  They are historic houses, the perfect settings for costume dramas and daydreams.

Enjoy....

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
@ Copyright 2013 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.