Batemans
Batemans was the home of Rudyard Kipling, the poet, writer and author of children’s favourite The Jungle Book. The interior was inspired by his upbringing in India, with Oriental and Asian furnishings and he designed the gardens himself. The place has a very personal feel. He even carved his initials in the door.
Batemans is dated 1634 but probably older. Kipling bought it in 1902 and lived there until his death in 1936. Seemingly years ahead of western fashion ideas, he described it as having good feng shui. The garden was laid from the award money from his 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature. In it you will find a shrine to his children who died at an early age. In the garage you will find his material pride and joy, a Rolls Royce.
Kipling was primarily a poet. His most famous composition, simply titled, If, was recently voted by a landslide the greatest poem in English literature. However, he is perhaps more renowned for his novel The Jungle Book which was later turned into a successful animated film by Walt Disney. At Batemans you can discover the original illustrations to the book which formed the basis of the Disney production.