Diwali at Kedleston

Kedleston Hall has had ties with India since the early 1900s when the current owner, Lord Curzon, was Viceroy there. The hall still contains a large amount of treasures and artifacts he acquired during his time there, and in recent years the local National Trust have promoted a greater understanding of Indian culture through decorating the hall for Diwali, holding art exhibitions inspired by the collection and music recitals.

As our grandson was staying with us we took him along, and despite an initial reluctance he was interested, and particularly entranced by the light projections. He also loved playing board games - Indian versions of the familiar snakes and ladders, and ludo.

On other days, there'd been diffrent entertainments, including a performance by Tala Tareng, a harp and tabla duo who I've seen before at Kedleston. Unfortunately an event I'd been looking forward to - a recital with Indian flute and tabla - fell victim to a water supply crisis which closed the whole site for several days.

My favourite was this huge rangoli design in the Marble Hall. I couldn't really capture the size of it but the figures at the far end give a clue to scale.

We went along to see last year's Diwali decorations but this year's displays were bigger and better. than before - ceiling projections, hand made flower poms poms and lights everywhere bringing colour and brightness to this dull time of year.