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East Grinstead, on the edge of Ashdown Forest
at the very east of the county and only 30 miles from London, has
a High Street with the longest continuous run of 14th century timber-framed
buildings in England. East Grinstead is the home of Standen,
a show piece of the Arts and Crafts Movement at its best. It is
a large family house of the 1890's designed for James Beale, a London
solicitor, by the architect Philip Webb. It retains the furniture,
fittings and decoration designed and made for it by Webb, his friend
William Morris, and other artists and craftsmen of the period when
British design led the world. Here you can see pre-Raphaelite pictures
by Edward Burne-Jones, Fore Maddox Brown and other artists of the
period.
The garden at Standen combines the talents
of Webb and Margaret Beale, a skilled plantswoman, with an informal
layout using both native and exotic plants. From the top terrace
there are glorious views over the Ashdown Forest towards Crowborough
Beacon.
Lo-tek
recording studios is only 7.8 miles from East Grinstead town centre
(en route to Crowborough).
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