Stories Project

Margaret Cooke - Clip 1, 26.03.2024

[In response to a question 'What was your first connection to Chiddingstone?] That was when, it was before I was married, my mother and I came over, as I say we were living in Petts Wood near Orpington, and we just came over for a day out and decided to visit the castle. At that time the exhibitions that we looked at were in what is now the Library, in the old mahogany cabinets with the sloping surfaces, and people were encouraged to sort of walk in a circular way around those cabinets. Denys stood in the doorway observing people’s pleasure, looking at his collection that he was so proud of and so invested in. He had quite an old-fashioned look about him, I do remember that because this would have been about 1973 and he looked slightly out of his time but perfectly pleasant, and as I say appeared pleased to see other people’s pleasure. Certainly my memory of it, which says more about me than anyone else, was that my mother was intent on looking at every single object in detail and reading every single word of the captions attached to the objects. I suppose in my 20s and about to get married I had my thoughts slightly elsewhere and was not so enthusiastic about spending a considerable amount of time examining every aspect. Nevertheless, I have a very vivid memory of that day, seeing him and sharing that time with my mother before I got married. You know it’s a happy memory even though I can joke about wanting to say ‘let’s move on’ (laughter).