discoverbritainmag.com 15ENGLISH ECCENTRICSFor the most part
the Earl had turned his
back on England, but
he did miss fox hunting.
He remedied this by
organising hunts in the
grounds of Hotel Egerton
complete with an English
huntsman, hounds and
even a fox which he had
imported over from his homeland. He would don his
hunting pink (confusingly the name of the traditional
red coats that hunt masters wear) and follow the pack.
This sort of tomfoolery is akin to the antics of
Charles Waterton of Walton Hall – now the Waterton
Park Hotel – an extraordinary house in West
Yorkshire that was built on a tiny island accessed
only by a footbridge. This seems a fitting seat for
Waterton, something of a 19th-century action man
who could hardly sit still for his thirst for adventure.
After all, he once captured a cayman by jumping
on its back and tying his braces around its mouth.
Unbelievably this was the one of the least
remarkable things about him. You see, Waterton
would sleep with his foot out of the window, hoping
to attract the interest of vampire bats enough so one
might bite his toe. He would spend entire dinner
parties embodying a specific animal, going as far as
hanging from furniture and mimicking their calls. He
was a tree-climbing, bird-spotting friend of naturalist
Charles Darwin and madder than a box of frogs.
Hoarding is another favoured pastime of the
English eccentric. Snowshill Manor in Gloucestershire
is quite simply a life-sized cabinet of curiosities,
curated by its long-time owner, Charles Paget
Wade. In the walls of this Tudor manor, convention
doesn’t exist; Snowshill is teeming with treasures.
Born in 1883, Wade dedicated his life to his
collections – and could well afford to thanks to
money left to him in the will of his father, who owned
several sugar estates in the West Indies. An architect
by trade, he bought and restored Snowshill after the
First World War. Then he filled every nook and
cranny of it with objects, including but not limited to,
musical instruments, model ships, toy animals,
mousetraps, Samurai armour and an entire model
Cornish fishing village. There are thought to beNATIONALTRUSTIMAGES/MIKEWILLIAMS/JAMESDOBSON➤Clockwise from top left:
Charles Wade; Snowshill
Manor, Gloucestershire;
Wade’s bedroom
in the Priest’s House
at Snowshill ManorCharles Waterton would sleep
with his foot out of the window,
hoping to attract vampire bats010-018_DB_English Eccentrics_AprMay20.indd 15 25/02/2020 14:For the most part
the Earl had turned his
back on England, but
he did miss fox hunting.
He remedied this by
organising hunts in the
grounds of Hotel Egerton
complete with an English
huntsman, hounds and
even a fox which he had
imported over from his homeland. e wou d don his
hunting pink (confusingly the name of the traditional
red coats that hunt masters wear) and follow the pack.
This sort of tomfoolery is akin to the antics of
Charles Waterton of Walton Hall – now the Waterton
Park Hotel – an extraordinary house in West
Yorkshire that was built on a tiny island accessed
only by a footbridge. This seems a fitting seat for
Waterton, something of a 19th-century action man
who could hardly sit still for his thirst for adventure.
After all, he once captured a cayman by jumping
on its back and tying his braces around its mouth.
Unbelievably this was the one of the least
remarkable things about him. You see, Waterton
would sleep with his foot out of the window, hoping
to attract the interest of vampire bats enough so one
might bite his toe. He would spend entire dinner
parties embodying a specific animal, going as far as
hanging from furniture and mimicking their calls. He
was a tree-climbing, bird-spotting friend of naturalist
Charles Darwin and madder than a box of frogs.
Hoarding is another favoured pastime of the
English eccentric. Snowshill Manor in Gloucestershire
is quite simply a life-sized cabinet of curiosities,
curated by its long-time owner, Charles Paget
Wade. In the walls of this Tudor manor, convention
doesn’t exist; Snowshill is teeming with treasures.
Born in 1883, Wade dedicated his life to his
collections – and could well afford to thanks to
money left to him in the will of his father, who owned
several sugar estates in the West Indies. An architect
by trade, he bought and restored Snowshill after the
First World War. Then he filled every nook and
cranny of it with objects, including but not limited to,
musical instruments, model ships, toy animals,
mousetraps, Samurai armour and an entire model
Cornish fishing village. There are thought to beNATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/MIKE WILLIAMS/JAMES DOBSON
➤Clockwise from top left:
Charles Wade; Snowshill
Manor, Gloucestershire;
Wade’s bedroom
in the Priest’s House
at Snowshill ManorCharles Waterton would sleep
with his foot out of the window,
hoping to attract vampire bats