I renewed my membership to the National Trust today and visited Bateman's, the former home of Rudyard Kipling.
Kipling was a prolific poet and author, some of his most famous works include
The Jungle Book, Kim and
Just So Stories. He enjoyed enormous critical success, became an international celebrity and was one of the first authors to earn a million.
At uni I studied
Kim, the basic plot is a young Irish orphan living in India befriends a Buddhist Lama and is recruited into espionage by the British rulers. It's a while since I read it, but I remember finding the descriptions of a British lad growing up in India interesting, as my family has links to the country. The views on colonialism and casual racism are a product of the time. The novel was written when the empire was a point of pride, but nowadays sentiments in the novel make uncomfortable reading. A selection of Kipling's works can be bought at the gift shop of the property.
Fittingly for the family home of an author, there are loads of books dotted about and Kipling's desk, where he did a lot of his writing, is nicely chaotic and cluttered with various mementoes from his travels. Have a look after the jump for more pictures:-
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| Rudyard's study |
