Beatle Mania
We’ve been giving our National Trust cards some hammer this week and Friday was no exception. Mark really wanted to go see the two Beatles houses in Liverpool so we booked online and went to Speke Hall to catch the minibus.
Speke Hall itself is another fine tudor building, with a Victorian/Edwardian interior. It’s in very good condition as it was permanently occupied by a landowner or tenant since it was built. Many houses from this period were left to decay for some time before the National Trust got hold of them and are often empty (or nearly empty) shells. Apparently though custodians live in Speke Hall permanently to keep the fine and beautiful interiors safe from thieving scousers. It’s one of the NTs more expensive properties to visit as a result.
After looking around the Hall we caught the minibus - first to John Lennon’s childhood home, Mendips, and then to Paul McCartney’s old house, 20 Forthlin Road. Now, I’m not really very interested in the Beatles, however, the tour guides’ enthusiasm really grabbed you and it was actually very interesting. Yoko Ono bought Mendips when it came up for sale and gave it to the NT specifically so that it could be opened to the public. The house has been restored as best as possible to the way it was when John lived there and it’s treated very sympathetically. I expected a bit of a theme park and that I’d feel like a bit of a vulture, picking over the bones of someone’s life, but it didn’t feel like that at all. The tour guides are obviously avid fans without being obsessive and scary, and they actually live in the houses all year round, giving tours during the season and generally looking after the houses the rest of the time. I think it’s wonderful - thanks Yoko.
Paul’s house is the smaller of the two, but you can definitely sense that it was the louder with boys playing guitars, drums and pianos at all hours. The neighbours must have loved that. There’s an exhibition of Michael McCartney’s (Paul’s brother’s) spectacular photographs all around the house placed close to the spots where the photos were taken - that’s really cool. My favourite was probably the one where Paul is climbing up the drainpipe so he can sneak in the bathroom window - the drainpipe is still there.
I’m definitely glad I went.