We wish you a Mappy Christmas

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Lamb House on West Street has been transformed into Mallards from the popular EF Benson books set in Rye. The exhibition and tableaux are open until Sunday December 22 (apart from Thursdays), from 11am until 4pm, with the last entry at 3:30pm. It’s free with the normal entrance fee for the National Trust property.

This is Mallards as we first encounter in it the series which began in 1922. Miss Elizabeth Mapp safely ensconced in her ancestral home (which she inherited from her aunt). The house is set for Christmas and left as if Miss Mapp and her guests (the table it set for four, perhaps the Padre and Evie and Major Benjy) have just slipped across to the Garden Room, which was later destroyed in the war.

An interrupted supper

But it is clear that the scene is from a later period as there is evidence of Lucia Pillson within the house and she did not move to Tilling (Rye) until nearly a decade later, renting a house called Grebe along the Military Road. A letter lies ready to be delivered on the desk, regretting that space does not allow the committee to show Lucia’s painting at the annual display of art.

Idle pleasures

The exhibition has been moved to the breakfast room, accessible through the garden. There is also a lobster hunt around the house and a beautiful Christmas tree.

It is very good to see that Lamb House is now being used to celebrate EF Benson as well as Henry James who also lived in it. When I was a volunteer there, we did have many visitors who were big fans of James but EF Benson was also very popular. As someone whose entire life changed direction because of the Mapp and Lucia books, it is wonderful that the National Trust have also embraced our dear Fred.

Image Credits: Seana Lanigan .

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