Lydiard Tregoze by Sir Hugh Casson (transcript of radio broadcast in 1953)

A talk first broadcast on the BBC Home Service in September 1953 by leading British post war architect, Sir Hugh Casson. Here he captures the romance of Lydiard Park in a lyrical piece of writing which remains unmatched.

'The colouring of the stone is exquisite – a white-flecked lilac grey with a warm golden underglow, as though the stones had managed to soak up and store the sunshine of many centuries. Even on a wet February evening this house would look friendly and beautiful. As it happened, I was lucky in my weather. It was the sort of day the weather people call ‘bright periods’. The air was diamond bright, shadows fell on turf and stone as crisply as if they had been painted there. It was a day designed for architecture, and there before me was architecture designed for such a day: a gentle, Georgian house, sunning itself as serenely as an old grey cat, accepting admiration but too old and confident to demand it.'

Includes descriptions of restoration in progress.