A historic home is seeking nominations for key workplaces to receive annual garden pass tickets for staff so they can visit for free once attractions are allowed to open again.
Kiplin Hall and Gardens, a 400-year-old Jacobean house, now a museum, between Northallerton and Richmond, is surrounded by grounds including lakeside walks, woodland paths, and a productive walled garden.
Director James Etherington said: “We can all see how hard key staff are working right now.
“At Kiplin we want to do what we can to help.
“We aren’t in a position to make ventilators or protective equipment, but we can make our healing spaces available to key workers for free, as soon as we are allowed. Kiplin has been a place of solace in the past, and we will be here to offer people a tranquil space once this initial crisis has passed.
“In 1940 men evacuated from Dunkirk arrived at the house for rest and recovery.”
Miss Bridget Talbot, the last owner of Kiplin Hall credited with saving it for the nation, wrote a moving account of the Dunkirk arrival in 1940 that she circulated to newspapers.
She wrote: “After Dunkirk a regiment was given a rendezvous at the house; all day and all night straggling and exhausted men arrived.
“The owner did everything that was possible in the way of collecting food, blankets and cushions and by three the next afternoon every floor was covered with men sleeping as if dead.
“It was a sight never to be forgotten with the hot sun streaming in at the windows on to the pictures, old furniture, the walls of books and the floor a silent carpet of prostrate khaki figures.
“With the help of a little gardening, bathing in the river and sleeping these Dunkirk men gradually recovered from their weariness and mended their shattered nerves.”
Kiplin welcomes nominations from or for anyone providing a key service, for example; hospitals, post offices, delivery companies, schools, waste collection services, food shops etc.
The pass will cover whatever remains of the 2020 season once the lockdown is lifted and the 2021 open season.
To make a nomination or register your interest please follow Kiplin Hall on Facebook or contact marketing@kiplinhall.co.uk
More information about Kiplin Hall and Gardens can be found online at www.kiplinhall.co.uk.
Online you will find a virtual touch screen tour of the hall, video-guided tours on YouTube with Dawn Webster, historical research into family trees, as well as recipes from the tea room and updates during the lockdown on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.
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