Room-by-Room
About Larkspur
Christmas at Larkspur
During December, Larkspur is decorated for Christmas, using traditional decorations with a different theme each year.
The house is in Shepherd Street, in St Leonards on Sea town centre. It's a small, terraced house, built in the 1830s, and would have been one of the first houses in St Leonards as then was, to house the workers and tradespeople to serve the grander St Leonards 'new town' that was still to come, designed by Decimus Burton, as a 'pleasure resort for the aristocracy'.
The decoration throughout the house is loosely based on the Arts & Crafts movement (apart from the 'Jack & Jill' bathroom, which is entirely modern). The wallpaper and most of the fabrics are William Morris original patterns, and the furniture is in oak, in a plain artisan style consistent with the Arts & Crafts movement. Most of the lighting has Tiffany glass shades, a stained-glass technique involving copper foil and lead solder developed in New York by Louis Comfort Tiffany in 1878.
There's high speed broadband wi-fi throughout the house, should be around 50Mb. There's gas central heating and hot water from a combi boiler, with thermostatic radiators in each room, with a programmable wireless thermostat and timer for the heating.
There's a living room, bedroom, dressing room, bathroom, kitchen/diner, and courtyard garden. For details, see 'room by room' page. Small to medium-sized, well-behaved dogs are allowed, at no extra charge.
On arrival, you'll find a welcome pack including a bottle wine for longer-staying guests, sometimes from a local vinyard - and locally made dog treats, if there's a canine guest!
Car parking is on-street, and can be difficult close to the house in the mornings and evenings. Parking is limited to two hours, but we supply vouchers that allow all-day parking (cost included in the booking). There is a car park ten minutes' walk away that always has spaces, and also has two rapid charging points for electric vehicles.
Larkspur is five minutes' walk from St Leonards Warrior Square railway station, and five minutes' walk from the seafront promenade.
The Arts & Crafts movement and Pre-Raphaelites in Hastings
William Morris was one of the founders of the Arts & Crafts movement, in the mid-nineteenth century, The movement was a reaction against a perceived decline in standards that the reformers associated with machinery and factory production. Morris was also closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelite 'brotherhood', a group of artists who rejected the impressionist style of painting in the late nineteenth century, returning to a detailed, romantic style that prevailed before the Italian painter Raphael. The Pre-Raphaelites frequently visited and lived in Hastings, and painted locally. Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddal were married at St Clement's Church, in Hastings Old Town.
© Catocala 2020