A Stitch In Time

The painting, drawing and needlework of Lord Montagu’s mother, Belinda, Lady Montagu is currently celebrated in a retrospective exhibition at Beaulieu’s Palace House. Viv Micklefield gets a guided tour

- Viv Micklefield

I hope this exhibition will be a surprise to a lot of people. It’s very colorful and I’ve taken great delight in telling the stories behind it,” says Lord Montagu leading the way down the carpeted corridor. And there’s no hiding that he’s excited to share what awaits ahead.

Until relatively recently this was a largely unseen collection of pieces by his mother, Belinda, the first wife of the third Baron Montagu of Beaulieu. Pieces made for her family, for the Hampshire attraction, and for numerous ecclesiastical commissions.

According to his Lordship, who has co-curated the celebration of 87-year-old’s artistry: “For my sister Mary and me, it’s been a great pleasure to stage this in recognition of all the wonderful work my mother has created through the decades.”

And, fittingly, they’ve chosen to use as a backdrop spaces which were once part of the family’s private wing within Palace House, that now extend from the permanent exhibits devoted to some of Beaulieu’s other femme formidable.

First impressions of this latest show, suggest that creativity runs in the genes of this historic home’s former chatelaine. Indeed, Belinda’s grandmother Daisy Drummond was a highly respected dressmaker and couturier in Southampton. While her mother, Boojam Crossley, made clothes at home for her daughter during a childhood spent on the Cadland Estate, near Fawley.