House, Gardens & Cafe Open Tuesday - Sunday 10.30 - 17.00

Cancelled: Sweet Valentines  

Please note that unfortunately this event has been cancelled. If you have bought a ticket you will be refunded. 

Gilbert White’s House, Great Parlour, 7pm, 13th Feb

Join us in the atmospheric Great Parlour for an alternative Valentines celebration, with Sweet Valentines, a dramatic and entertaining solo literary recital of poetry, prose and readings about love. Performed by actress and speaker Rowan Suart, this recital celebrates Valentine’s Day and its history. Suitable for adults and older children, there is a mixture of comedy and poignancy from writers such as Byron, Austen, Dickens, Shakespeare, Hardy and more!

Rowan Suart is a professional actress and speaker based in Hampshire, and has performed diverse roles on the stage, in television and on BBC Radio 4. Recent favourite stage roles include Carlotta Gray in Coward’s A Song at Twilight, Mrs Elton in Rattigan’s The Deep Blue Sea and Mrs Malaprop in Sheridan’s The Rivals. She is a guest speaker for social groups and organisations throughout the county and beyond with her themed literary recitals, including Austen Sisters at Gilbert White’s House last year.

Sweet Valentine’s starts at 7pm, doors open 6.30pm, wine and soft drinks available to purchase beforehand.

 

    Gilbert Whites House

    Gilbert White was aged 7 or 8 when the White family moved from the Vicarage on Selborne’s Plestor, to this house, called ‘The Wakes’ (named after the Wake family who had lived here previously). At that time the property would have been no more than a ‘two up, two down’  but over the subsequent years lots of extensions and additions have been made, creating the long sizeable house you see today.

    The rooms have been restored following descriptions in White’s own correspondence and include a chair he used at Oriel College, Oxford (loaned from the College), items of contemporary furniture, family portraits and bed hangings embroidered for him by his aunts.

    On display is the original manuscript of his book, The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, which was purchased with generous help from English Heritage and others.

    Learn more