Charleston: A Bloomsbury House & Garden

Set in the heart of the Sussex Downs, Charleston Farmhouse is the most important remaining example of Bloomsbury decorative style, created by the painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. Quentin Bell, the younger son of Clive and Vanessa Bell, and his daughter Virghinia Nicholson, tell the story of this unique house, linking it with some of the leading cultural figures who were invited there, including Vanessa's sister Virginia Woolf, the writer Lytton Strachey, the economist Maynard Keynes and the art critic Roger Fry. The house and garden are portrayed through Alen MacWeeney's atmostpheric photographs; pictures from Vanessa Bell's family album convey the flavour of the household in its heyday.

Quentin Bell (1910 - 1996) the younger son of Clive and Vanessa Bell, grew up at Charleston. He was a painter, sculptor, potter and art critic, and held chairs in Fine Art and History of Art at the universities of Leeds, Oxford and Sussex. His books include the prize-winning Virginia Woolf: A Biography, Bloomsbury and a memoir, Elders and Betters.

Virginia Nicholson is the elder daughter of Quentin and Olivier Bell. Virginia spent her childhood holidays at Charleston, and is now is a trustee of the house. She is also the author of a series of acclaimed social histories, including Among the Bohemians: Experiments in Living 1900 - 1939. She is married to a writer, has three children and lives in Sussex.