Holiday Decorations and English Antiques at Science Hill

In late November a few old--as in long time--friends gathered at Science Hill Inn and Wakefield- Scearce Gallery for lunch and an afternoon of browsing through room after room of English antique furniture and assessories. Each room was all decked out for the holiday season--an excellent place to find some inspiration for your own holiday decorating. Science Hill started out as a girl's prepatory school in the 1800s by a Methodist minister's wife who believed that young women should learn more than the expected homekeeping skills, art and music--for example, science.



Now this historic building houses the Science Hill Inn which serves delicious southern cuisine such as shrimp and grits, Kentucky hot brown, hot water corn bread, and desserts too delicious to mention such as bread pudding laced with bourbon sauce. Other rooms are part of the Wakefield-Scearce Gallery which contains high quality English antique furniture and assessories, all for sale.

After lunch we wandered through the gallery. From the inner courtyard you can see by the architecture that this was once a dormatory. Here are views from below and above, looking very festive. I especially admired the ceiling light fixture for its simplicity and the old iron grillwork mounted on the wall:

Almost every room in the gallery has a uniquely decorated Christmas tree, including this towering beauty in the main room. Every year the tree is decorated with the same German glass ornaments, toys, and other fanciful pieces like this year's music theme (see closeup):



Then here are a few more trees that were especially pretty, like this "golden" one:Or this one decorated with , I think, English crackers:
Or this one that was decorated with fruits and shells: After the trees, the next favorite decoration would have to be wreaths: red ones with curling ribbons, a woodland wreath for a rustic door, or a classic evergreen to adorn a beautifully molded door:



Finally, a few examples of the fine English antiques and decorative assessories, like this desk and chair with a simple arrangement in green and gold:
The hearth and mantle dressed with a seasonal swag and antique fire tools:
Some fine birds for a table display:
English bone china for the holiday table:
Or my favorite, a painting of two pampered pooches:
I should have warned you that this lunch and tour took the whole afternoon. I hope you've enjoyed the holidays at Science Hill and gotten some inspiration for your own decorations.

Happy Holidays!