The Dillington Blog

Dillington House is like a theatre in which there is a performance everyday and it is true that no two performances are the same and the audience varies incessantly.  The metaphor is a good one as everyday the performance has to be really good and there is a backstage too with its own dramas and prima donna moments – usually from the kitchen!   

As in every organisation the ‘behind the scenes’ dramas can be as entertaining as they are sometimes challenging.  In hindsight, we are often thrown in hysterical laughter at some things we encounter.  As with the problem of the guest who was having trouble working the television who actually thought the remote control was a mobile telephone someone had left behind.  Or the time we were called to check the ‘dangerous electrical wire’ in a bedroom only to discover the concern was over the aerial hanging out of the back of the clock radio.  Oh, yes, and then there was the time that a guest stumbled on the stairs pushing his wife down headfirst down a whole flight.  Was it an accident or deliberate?  It could have been either although she spent three nights in Yeovil hospital recovering from concussion.  Cows or sheep escaping from the park and into the garden is an almost annual sport – although there’s a very unfunny side of it from a horticultural perspective.  And I will never forget the time someone who had said she was vegetarian choosing the gammon steak because she liked the look of it!  Talking of food, some people relish the potato harvest when huge trailers come through piled high with spuds.  As they bounce over the ‘sleeping policeman’, or take the corner a little too fast, a gift of King Edwards’ fall to the ground ready to be scooped up and taken home for supper.

These instances, and many more, may one day be written up into a television series as there’s nothing more challenging and entertaining than working with customers – especially the general public.

What fun and games we have had trying to get our heads around the wonderfully Byzantine world of Facebook and Twitter.  Not only that, getting our links on the website and being out there (somewhere) to be searched by Google has also been a bit of a sport.  We were often faced with the Little Britain response of ‘computer says no’!   Cracking these issues is really important as, like it or not, the world is changing fast and we have to be part of that change.  This is not to say that the old ways of doing things are invalid, far from it, but the new technology can be of real assistance and it is relatively cheap to use.  It’s understanding how to do it that requires the investment – human time and brainpower together. 

This links through to a conversation yesterday morning with students attending a residential week on English Literature.  We were discussing as to how technology was being used in publishing such as print-on-demand books, the Kindle and iPad plus the new online markets such Amazon and Abebooks.  The traditional way of buying books from a bookseller remains valid but increasingly less central to the means of accessing books or knowledge more generally.  I am sure the book will not disappear in the same way painting did not disappear after the advent of photography but new types of painting emerged and the role of the artist changed.  I am certain we are living through a similar paradigm shift.  Books may become rare and fabulous things again – as in the medieval period.  The trashy holiday novel (great for the beach or airport wait) may end up being only available as an e-book and  the real money will be given to publishing something worth owning – as well as reading.  Perhaps today’s big challenge is in news reporting and opinion writing.  How on earth do the economics of the Fleet Street work in an age of so much ‘free’ information?  We live in interesting times on a journey to who knows where.

Finally please help us do something on Facebook.  If you are signed up as a Facebook user, click on http://www.facebook.com/Dillington#!/Dillington?sk=wall and then click on the ‘likes’ button when you get onto our Facebook ‘wall’, this will help others find us on a Google search… believe it or not.

Now I know opera isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but nobody can deny the emotional power of music and opera has some terrific tunes.  For huge chunks of the population Nessun Dorma will forever be associated with football and Pavarotti even though many will not be able to tell you from what opera it has been lifted.  The rich and the powerful have always been associated with opera and the theatres in which it has been staged.  Indeed, the combination of large musical forces, visual spectacle, dramatic staging, red plush and social extravagance make a heady brew and from this it is possible to track many social, political and cultural trends. In a very real sense the opera house was and remains a crucible within which reactionary forces meet those with revolutionary ambitions. 

This mix of forces and the cultural consequences has been wonderfully described by Daniel Snowman in his excellent book The Gilded Stage.  Daniel comes to Dillington on Sunday where he will outline his thesis.  I can’t wait, but before that there is the Met Opera’s live relay of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung to be seen in high definition at Cineworld in Yeovil.  By the way, Nessun Dorma (None Shall Sleep) is Calaf’s aria from Turandot – Puccini’s last opera.

Last weekend was one of those extraordinary Dillington weekends when something special happened.  The Hanning Room was transformed from its usual use as a room for refreshments and dining into an intimate concert hall seating some 36 classical music aficionados and four of Europe’s finest musicians – the Quartetto di Cremona.  It was an occasion when the music was put back into the chamber.

Over the weekend four concerts – each one consisting of two works – were given to an attentive and engaged audience.  Things were helped by erudite and illuminating talks given by Terry Barfoot who also provided excellent programme notes.  Special staging, lighting and fabulous flowers all made their contribution too.

The Quartetto di Cremona are actually based in Genoa and are Italy’s only full-time professional string quartet.  That is an extraordinary statement in itself – Italy’s only full-time professional string quartet!  Their playing is as exquisite as it can be exciting.  They are full of passion but also play with great sensitivity and, although this sounds like a cliche, they also play with vocal quality in their approach to melody.  Tunes are phrased and float like arias.  But don’t be deceived, the QdC can bite as well.  The attack in Shostakovich’s 8th quartet was vicious and very nasty.  Music like this at close quarters is hugely affecting – seductive, visceral and not for the faint-hearted. 

Moving proceedings into the theatre for the public concert on Sunday afternoon (the quartet’s fifth concert of the weekend!) changed the dynamic somewhat.  Performed at a different resolution, their programme of works by Respighi, Schumann and Beethoven were wonderfully played but enjoyed with a sense of respectful distance.  Their projection of the music was still marvellous but the searing heat of the bow against the string somehow cooler.  This difference brought about by the scale of the space is extremely interesting although anyone who has both been a performer and a spectator will recognise the phenomenon.  Of course it gets worse as more distance is created when you listen to music on the radio and things get even more distant when you listen to the perfect but literally historic performance of a CD. 

All this goes to reinforce the completely different experience of live music.  At Dillington there are concerts aplenty and I am certainly looking forward to the double-helping on Sunday 19th February when the Carducci String Quartet and the Petrof Piano Trio give two concerts for our delectation!

Modern businesses, governments and local councils spend a lot of time collating facts and figures.  Most of this work is necessary and some of it is not.  For over 10 years at Dillington we have been recording customer satisfaction through a feedback form which can be number crunched and which also allows for so-called ‘customer opinion’ to be expressed – anonymously.  As tiresome as form filling can be, this feedback is really useful and tells us a lot about the customer experience and specifically where we got things right and where we need to improve.  Given the existence of this information I thought you might be interested in some of the current statistics.   

Over 82% complete and return the forms.  Statistically this really good as dissatisfied people are always likely to complete the form.  We are also aware that couples often decide to submit one form for both. 

97.5% say that the tuition on a course was either good, very good or excellent.  65% excellent, 26.1% very good and 6.5% good. 

94.6% say that the teaching rooms were either good, very good or excellent.  Not bad for a venue which was never designed for the purpose to which it used today. 

96.7% thought the residential accommodation was good, very good or excellent.  Again, we have a range of accommodation – some quite luxurious and whilst some are at the bijou end of the scale.  All accommodation is en-suite these days and we know this makes a difference! 

The catering gets high marks too.  97.3% rate the food as good, very good and excellent.  Given the peculiarity of people’s taste, this isn’t bad at all.  0.3% – probably one miserable person – thought our catering was poor. 

The general atmosphere during a visit is an important indicator as to whether people are having a good time or not and in this we score a massive 99.4% with 49.2% and 41.9% saying excellent or very good respectively.  98.5% of respondents say that courses represent ‘value for money’.   

Of course, there are some other figures too and they also paint an impressive picture of customer satisfaction.  In this age when we are all becoming a bit more discerning, then to achieve these levels of customer satisfaction is something we should shout about…. but we don’t.  Instead we work quietly to improve our service even more as once you are at the top there is only direction of travel and it ain’t up!

The new wires this morning were reporting the death of the former fascist minister Manuel Fraga Iribarne. He was the last surviving minister of Franco’s dictatorship and so, in a real sense, a dreadful era comes to an end. Of course, since 1975 Spain has been on an extraordinary democratic journey which has embraced the vast array of cultural and social diversity which defines the Iberian peninsular. Even with the many economic problems besetting the so-called Eurozone, and the rest of the world, the Spain of today represents everything opposite to the ideals which Franco insisted on.  That said, Franco was a monarchist and he personally engineered the return of the Bourbon monarchy after his death.  Little did he know the destiny of Spain which was to be steered by its youthful monarch.  

This last weekend the great Christopher Pollard delivered a course on the Spanish monarchy from the beginning of the 16th century to the contemporary and popular reign of Juan Carlos I. It was a tour-de-force of historical insight with excellent context and great character sketching. Only three monarchs, according to maestro Pollard, made the grade – Carlos V, Philip II and Juan Carlos I. Carlos III came close mainly for his modernising tendencies but ultimately didn’t cut the mustard for his failure to reform the despotic monarchy itself nor recognise that reform was desperately needed in respect of land ownership. If sweeping through the machinations of the Spanish monarchy wasn’t enough, Chris then gave a public lecture on the causes, course and legacy of the Spanish Civil War. The clarity of his story was exceptional; an achievement which is astonishing given the complexity of the issues at play. Perhaps most shocking for a British audience was hearing how the church conspired with the fascists to achieve a Franco victory. It is no wonder the church in Spain is but a shadow of its former self – maintained in large part by clergy and lay people from the third world.

Even from this thumbnail account it should be clear that Spain is a country of extraordinary historical riches and we are very lucky indeed to have the services of Christopher Pollard. He has now returned home to Madrid but he’ll be back in March to talk about the history and culture of the little know region of Extremadura. See the courses programme for more information.

Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles is a diplomat of rare distinction.  A middle-east specialist who speaks the lingo and who has worked in Tel-Aviv, Cairo, Riyadh and Kabul.  Following hot on the heels of the Great Sewell, Sir Sherard spoke eloquently about the tragedy of the middle east and the missed opportunities to make political progress.  He said that all too often Whitehall politics is guided by an enthustiastic military (with no criticism of their can-do attitude) and an eye to popular opinion and a  sabre-rattling press.  The dynamics are crucial.  The politics are difficult and undemocratic.  The sums of money huge.  It was a sobering thought to hear that the Afghan government has an income less than an average size English county council – around £1bn.  At the moment the US military contribution is massive and their cash is crucial.  Sir Sherard said that at least £30bn per annum was needed to secure a viable Afghan army and police service once western military forces were withdrawn. 

This was a totally captivating talk since it provided an extraordinary insight into the internal mechanisms of global politics from someone who was there that the table and on the ground – to mix my metaphors.  Of course the question which  was on everyone’s lips was ‘why were we there at all?’  To answer this we have to look to Presidents Bush and Obama and their belief that things can be sorted with military force.  This may have worked for the British in Palestine in the 1930s but the world has changed since then and the means of resistance far more sophisticated as we found out to our cost in Northern Ireland.  Ultimately the peace will be won by talking and negotiation – even with  those we call our enemies today.  Hardly surprising most of us thought although time is frightenly short to get anything agreed in what is an massively complex set of issues.

The Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery has been a sell out for weeks and so, inevitably, there has been considerable public disquiet about not being able to get in to see this extraordinary display.  The disquiet isn’t really to do with the total number of tickets on sale because these have to be limited, but because the 500 tickets available on the day are snapped up by those who can get in the queue very early – often before the sun has even rised.   Unfortunately those who live outside of the capital, or beyond an early commuter journey in, have no chance at all of gaining access.  The discontent was expressed quite vociferously during questions following Brian’s second talk of the weekend on Saturday afternoon.

These public lectures were originally organised for last November but had to resheduled.  They were also organised with the full co-operation of the National Gallery who kindly supplied the images.  Brian presented an overview of the exhibition and its main focus on the paintings and drawings made during the artist’s time in Milan.  Of course Brian, being Brian, pointed out stylistic inconsistencies which raised issues about the chronology presented in London.  He also doubted the attribution of at least three of the paintings in the exhibition and demonstrated his thesis by a close examination of the works.  He defended the exercise of bringing together works from disparate locations as in doing so, the strengths and weaknesses of historic attributions could be questioned – confirmed or challenged.  This he did convincingly.

In respect of the ticket situation, Brian said that he couldn’t understand why the exhibition could not have opened at 7.00am and stay open until late every night.  You could of added 8 hours extra viewing time each day and all the money you needed to cover the extra staff costs would have been covered by the additional ticket sales.  What a simple idea but then Brian always does sees things in a straightforward kind of way.

It has been a wonderful Christmas at Dillington. The feedback for those staying over the holiday is excellent and very positive. Of course, getting the formula right is a bit of a worry but years of experience enabled us to create the right atmosphere and that’s half of the task. We all know the logistics of organising a family Christmas can be quite challenging and the amount of shopping, cooking and washing up is formidable. No wonder so many seek out alternative ways of ‘doing’ Christmas! Now it is time to take down the tree and put away the decorations for another year. The office is preparing for the publication and posting out of the new programme which ‘The Friends of Dillington’ will get by Friday 6th January. This will take us through to the end of September 2012 which, when you come to think about it, will be the time to start thinking about Christmas again.

With Christmas 2011 now behind us and New Year celebrations almost upon us, it is time to take stock of the old year and hope for something different in 2012. For the country, communities and for many individual lives, it has been a difficult year. The forecast for 2012 is, according to some, not too promising either. The fresh green shoots of economic revival have been slow in breaking the surface but emerge they must. Here’s wishing you and us a more prosperous New Year and I hope your visits to Dillington continue to be remembered for excellent service and good value, great food, marvellous courses, talks and concerts plus all the other thing wonderful things we provide too.

Christmas celebrations are in full swing. The magnificent tree, decorated with enormous skill by yours truly, has been greatly admired this year. The fire is roaring in the grate – as it should, and Christmas carols are gently wafting across the Hall as distant voices might. Warm overcoats hang on the stands. So far we’ve had a plethora of office parties and lunches are being taken as I write on plates laden with delicious homemade cooking. In addition to this usual activity, this year we are playing host to 34 guests here for Christmas itself. Presents have been bought and wrapped and great attention is being made to ensure it is a special stay for all concerned. We’ve even placed the festive edition of Radio Times in every bedroom so that everything worth watching can be programmed around yet more food. Again for the first time, we are also hosting Christmas dining on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but please do not ring to book yours as we are now full.

With all this festive merriment at Dillington let’s not forget there are people working hard behind the scenes also. As you can imagine, there is a mass of organisation and work behind every event. The ordering alone requires a brain the size of a supercomputer! But this is what we do all of the time.

Whatever you’re doing this festive season, can I wish you a happy a very happy Christmas and an even happier New Year.