Felicia and Floris at Ushaw

On the 17th of November Felicia and Floris drove down to countryside of County Durham for a meeting at Ushaw Historic House, Chapel and Garden. We arrived a bit early so had the pleasure of looking around the gardens, see the last bits of their amazing Lafcadio Hearn exhibition, and meet some of the locals.

Floris making new friends

This was our second meeting at Ushaw, and this time we specifically drove down to get to grips with some of their collections whilst planning future activities and events.

At Ushaw we met with Megan, who took us around the wonderful buildings before we had a look at some of the wonderful items kept here. In particular, we were excited to handle and see up close a 18th century chocolate pot. This item truly encapsulates the global circulation of commodities and ideas, whilst also being a part of the exciting story of how it ended up at Ushaw.

As such, we are aiming to put together, in collaboration with Ushaw, a number of activities and events that take this marvellous item as their starting point in order to highlight not only the global circulation of goods and ideas, but also the connected histories of the North East. Much of this would be aimed at schools and we were therefore very glad to be able to work with Megan on this as she has vast experience in, and knowledge of, the education system.

We are looking forward to continuing our collaboration with Ushaw and the opportunity to communicate our findings and idea with the public through working together with this wonderful historic location.