Three years ago, it looked as if Charleston could be a victim of the pandemic. It had recently completed an expansion into the adjacent barns. It is dependent on visitor income. No visitors were able to come and its annual festival was online. Now, three years later, there is something impressive about how resilient it has been: a good and lively café; two exhibitions; the house in good order; an ambitious public programme; a concert which we can’t go to this evening.
It is presumably testimony to the generosity of philanthropists who rightly admire it and have supported its survival.
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
I remember Nathaniel Hepburn (who did such excellent things at Ditchling before moving to Charleston) tweeting about possible minibus links back in January. I have never been to Charleston or to Farleys (I don’t drive) and there must be a lot of other people like me who would be part of a natural audience for the place but who can’t afford to take a taxi from a fairly distant train station.
Dear Joan, I’m pretty sure there’s a minibus service for two weeks during the Festival in May. The Festival programme has just gone live. Charles
Thank you, Charles. I’ll have a look.