One man's treasure is another woman's junk

Charles Wade was an odd duck. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. He started collecting things when he was 7. In 1919, he bought Snowshill Manor to house his collection. In his own words he didn't buy valuable things but ordinary, everyday items made with the highest skill and quality. When the estate was given to the National Trust in 1955, the house was crammed with tens of thousands of items. Wade stipulated that nothing was to be labeled and the light level was always to be kept at candle light level. He spent a fortune (from sugarcane plantations) on what looked to me like a pile of junk. What I did really enjoy was the house itself. The core part was built in the 1400's. The rooms are low with small windows and heavy oak beams and floor boards. The next addition was in the early 1600's. The windows are larger as are the ceilings. And the last addition was 1720 - high Georgian panelled rooms. Nobody had tried to blend the house together. As you can see from the picture of the front of the house, it looks half and half. Poor Mrs Wade didn't even get to live in her house. With her husband, she lived next door in a 4 room priest's house again crowded with "treasures". She must have longed for the 6 month winter break on their Caribbean estate. We talked to a lady in the village who remembered Mr Wade well. She said she's never got over her surprise that he gave it to the National Trust because he hated people. "When we were kids, we couldn't even lean against his wall without being told to move on." Ah, but the views and the village of Snowshill are beautiful.