Shows
Your Places or MineEWELME: A VILLAGE AND ITS VANISHED MEDIEVAL PALACESend us a textWhere is Ewelme Palace? It was one of the most splendid houses in the country when it was built in the 15th century but nothing of it now remains. There are, however, some of the ancillary buildings and monuments that went with a great medieval estate. Its chatelaine Alice, Duchess of Suffolk, is remembered by one of the most beautiful tombs in the country. A granddaughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, she became a great heiress when her first husband, the Earl of Salisbury, was killed by a cannonball while fighting in France. Her s...2025-06-261h 01Your Places or MineNATIONAL GALLERY: THE SAINSBURY WING AND A NEW CHAPTERSend us a textThe National Gallery, now 200 years old, occupies one of the most famous buildings in London, on the north side of Trafalgar Square. This Greek Revival masterpiece by William Wilkins was designed to take account of the view of St Martin in the Fields from Pall Mall—so unusually it was conceived as having been seen from the side. Clive and John discuss both Wilkins’s design and the Sainsbury Wing, added by Venturi, Scott Brown in the 1980s. This extension followed the controversy of the Prince of Wales’s speech at the RIBA at Hampto...2025-06-1956 minYour Places or MineMEDITERRANEAN CAPRICE IN SNOWDONIA: THE STORY OF PORTMEIRIONSend us a textIn this episode, Clive and John discuss the holiday village of Portmeirion, an improbable, festive vision of the Mediterranean built on a wooded peninsula of Snowdonia, whose centenary falls this year.Portmeirion was the creation of the architect and card-carrying Welshman Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, who died at the age of 94 in 1978. Clough, as everyone called him, was a conspicuous figure. Wearing an attention-seeking combo of tweed breeches and long yellow socks, he took a prominent role in the debates that raged over conservation, town-planning and the countryside. With a natural flair f...2025-06-1254 minYour Places or MineCASTLE HOWARD: VANBRUGH'S PALACE REDISPLAYEDSend us a textCastle Howard in Yorkshire is one of a select group of country houses which must be seen as complete works of art. Visitors to the great domed palace, set in the gentle landscape of the Howardian Hills north-east of York, may be bowled over by the panache of the architecture, or the beauty of the woods; by the dazzling quality of the pictures and furniture, or the charm of the porcelain. Together they show why the English country house has so often been regarded as be a beacon of civilization and the arts of...2025-06-0551 minYour Places or MineGLYNDEBOURNE: THE HOUSE THAT GAVE BIRTH TO THE OPERA FESTIVALSend us a textPicnic hampers, black tie, world-class opera — it’s the season for Glyndebourne, the festival that sired the happy, uniquely British phenomenon of country house opera. This week Clive and John discuss the house from which it all began (still central to the experience) as well as the headstrong, eccentric but visionary John Christie, founder of the festival in the 1930s. They reveal a tale of love, passion (for music), setbacks, epic dreams and triumph… somebody should write an opera about it.2025-05-2949 minYour Places or MineTHE TOWER OF LONDON: THE MOST NOTORIOUS CASTLE IN ENGLANDSend us a textThe Tower of London is one of the great sights of the capital, a place that is as steeped in history as it has sometimes been, through the numerous executions it has witnessed, drenched in blood. In this week’s episode of Your Places or Mine, Dr John Goodall, Britain’s foremost historian of castle architecture, discusses this extraordinary fortification-cum-palace with Professor Clive Aslet, describing both its architectural features and the uses that it has served through the centuries. First built by William the Conqueror within an angle of London’s Roman wa...2025-05-221h 04Your Places or MineLUTYENS AND LADY EMILY: A MARRIAGE OF OPPOSITESSend us a textIn his mid 20s, Lutyens fell passionately in love with Lady Emily Lytton, daughter of the Earl Lytton, a diplomat and Viceroy of India who had really wanted to be a poet. He pursued her ardently, writing letters that were romantic, delightful and often funny. Beating down opposition from Lady Emily’s family, they got marriage in 1897 but were an unlikely couple. She hated bearing children and domesticity. He was often away from home, on an endless round of visits to clients, country houses and building sites. Frustrated and feeling neglected, Emily found spiritu...2025-05-1556 minYour Places or MineLUTYENS AND HUDSON: HUDDY AND NEDSend us a textSir Edwin (Ned) Lutyens’s old friend Edward Hudson founded Country Life in 1897. A London printer, he was not a countryman, but commissioned three country houses as well as the Country Life office in Covent Garden. Convinced of Lutyens’s genius, he also ‘boomed’ him through the magazine and lost no opportunity to promote his career.Nobody could be better placed to discuss this extraordinary creative partnership than Clive and John, both of whom are closely associated with the magazine that is Hudson’s legacy.Although not outwardly charismatic, Huddy — as L...2025-05-0859 minYour Places or MineLUTYENS AND GERTRUDE JEKYLL: HOME AND GARDENSend us a textThe first of a series on the early-20th-century architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, this episode examines the relationship between the young Ned — gangly, witty, shy — and the craftswoman turned gardener Gertrude Jekyll, his senior by 25 years. With her deep instinct for crafts and passionate attachment to Surrey, she shaped the boyish architect and introduced him to many of his best early clients. She describes the building of Munstead Wood, the house outside Godalming which he designed for her, in her book Home and Garden.2025-05-0157 minYour Places or MineTHE MAJESTY AND SPLENDOUR OF WESTMINSTER HALLSend us a textClive and John discuss one of the most spectacular medieval buildings in Britain, Westminster Hall. Originally built by William the Conqueror’s heir, the voracious William Rufus, it was a structure of immense ambition — said to be the biggest hall of its kind north of the Alps. In the 14th-century, this huge space was reimagined as a statement of royal majesty by art-loving Richard ll; carved angels looked down on the divinely appointed king from the hammer beam roof. Ironically, this would be where Charles I was tried and condemned to death in 1649. At...2025-04-2453 minYour Places or MineKING CHARLES III'S ROYAL PASSION FOR ARCHITECTURESend us a textOne of the greatest of HM the King’s many enthusiasms is architecture. He made his first pronouncements on the subject in 1984 with the famous ‘Carbuncle’ speech and has been championing the causes of tradition, community, Classicism and Transylvania ever since. After 40 years it is time to take stock of his achievement, seen most obviously in the model town extensions (Poundbury outside Dorchester, Nansledan outside Newquay) that are the Duchy of Cornwall’s visionary answer to the housing crisis, but also at Dumfries House, which he rescued from break up. Thanks to the training pr...2025-04-171h 03Your Places or MineMR CUBITT'S DISTRICTSend us a textIn this first episode of Your Places or Mine, Clive and John are in London’s Pimlico, exploring the dynamic personality of the great Victorian builder Thomas Cubitt and the area’s struggle to become fashionable. The idea of Your Places or Mine is to replicate the fun that Clive and John have on their visits to old sites, towns and buildings around the country, which have often resulted in entertaining discussions in the car home — part historical knowledge, part banter. We hope you enjoy it! 2025-04-101h 03