Earlier this week we had the pleasure of meeting Laura Beresford, who is one of Maud Russell's grandchildren. Following the visit of Julian and Emily Russell to Mottisfont a couple of months ago, I went to Dorest with James Rothwell (our curator) and Kerry Bignell (our House Steward) to collect a number of artefacts that used to be in the house when Maud Russell was alive.
Laura met us at her mother's house near Blandford, which she was clearing out as it has now been sold. Photo albums and scrap books had all been laid out on the floor by Laura and we couldn't wait to start looking through them, as they revealed all sorts of wonderful insights into life at Mottisfont during Maud Russell's time:
Laura was absolutely brilliant at showing us the albums, scrap books, pictures, ornaments, furniture and books that used to be at Mottisfont:
This picture of Gilbert Russell is one of the items that will be offered on loan initially and we hope to be able to exhibit it in the house shortly:
Everything now needs to be recorded and processed and the furniture - including two sofas that used to be in the Morning Room - will need to be put into quarantine so that we do not introduce any contamination into the house.
We left Laura with a big job ahead of her to go through the rest of the house. And I must thank her for all of her help. There will be so much interest in these items from staff, volunteers and visitors alike.
Emily is currently going through Maud's war diaries and we will be able to add these to the collection at some point. The National Trust is in dialogue with Emily about a possible book chronicling these diaries.
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