All images Morbid Anatomy
As a kid, I was forced to visit heritage houses one after the other until we had covered most of the South of England. At the time, I was not so keen. It was hard for me to stand still and listen to guides sharing their knowledge. We used to regularly visit A la Ronde, which having visited it umpteen times as it was near to where we lived, I began to fall in love with it.
Two spinster sisters built the cottage around a central octagon, with a further eight rooms off this with a view to displaying their collection of curiosities after their ten year great tour of Europe. (Finished around 1796) I loved looking at their tiny rooms filled from top to bottom with feathers swirled into pictures, and cabinets crammed full of dolls, lace, scary nursery rhyme books, the beds as they had slept, silhouettes, and right at the top of the cottage was a round grotto made from all the shells they had collected. Appreciative now of course, I can imagine the life that was once led in such a monumental building.
You see, I sometimes wonder where my love of vintage comes from and I think it could be from a childhood filled with looking at other peoples houses. As I have mentioned before, I love curiosities and I love collections. So next time I am visiting Paris I would like to head to see the Cabinet of Curiosities of Bonnier de la Mosson, at the Library of the Museum of Natural History. If like me you are the nosy parker type, and fancy a trip to Paris, lets go press our noses and let our warm breath fog up the glass of one of the most fantastic curiosity cabinet I have ever seen.
More images here.