Batemans, a Jacobean house, home of Rudyard Kipling
'That's She! The Only She! Make an honest woman of her - quick!' was how Rudyard Kipling and his wife, Carrie, felt the first time they saw Bateman's.
Surrounded by the wooded landscape of the Sussex Weald, this 17th-century house, with its mullioned windows and oak beams, provided a much needed sanctuary to this world-famous writer.
The rooms, described by him as 'untouched and unfaked', remain much as he left them, with oriental rugs and artefacts reflecting his strong association with the East.
Bateman's is very much a family home, but impressive none the less.
Bateman's is a 17th-century house located in Burwash, East Sussex, England. Author Rudyard Kipling lived in Bateman's from 1902 to his death in 1936. His wife Carrie left the house to the National Trust on her death in 1939, and it has since been opened to the public.
Exterior
Bateman's is a modest Jacobean Wealden sandstone mansion built in 1634 for a local ironmaster, John Brittan. Six brick columns form a massive central chimneystack above the gabled facades. The house came originally with 30 acres but Kipling acquired further land until the total holding which today is over 300 acres.
Some of the large brick chimneys.
The front entrance.
Two views of the house from the garden.
His 1928 Rolls Royce Phantom 1 is in superb condition and is on view behind glass in the garage. The bill of sale is shown and the vehicle, with a Hooper body, cost £2900 plus some extras. A significant sum in those days. Kipling reputedly earned around £5000 per annum and, for comparison, a secretary at the time was paid about £80 per annum.
Collage of pictures of the 'Roller' through glass.
Three more views of the garden and lily pond with gold fish.
(The young ladies were welcome but incidental subjects)Interior
Today the rooms are left as they were when the Kipling family lived there. Kipling and his wife created interiors that complemented the 17th-century house. The heart of the house is the book-lined study, at the top of the stairs, where Kipling worked. He sat at a 17th-century walnut refectory table under the window and his writing tools, paperweight, and pipe are still there.
Collages of some of the rooms including the drawing room with blue sofa, the Edison phonograph in the parlour, a bust of Kipling at the foot of the stairs, Kiplings study with full waste paper basket, an 'en suite', and the dining room.
Bateman's also reflects Kipling's strong links with the Indian subcontinent. There are oriental rugs in many rooms and the parlour displays Kipling's collection of Indian works of art and artefacts. His bookplate shows a small figure reading on top of an elephant. Exhibition rooms contain manuscripts, letters, and mementoes of Kipling's life and work.
Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907. Also, in his lifetime, he declined several offers of a knighthood.
History and setting for books
When Kipling first went to Bateman's on a house-hunting expedition in 1900 he fell in love with it at first sight. He purchased it in 1902, and made it his home, even paying for a new road to be built to the nearest main road. Kipling wrote some of his finest works here including: "If—", "The Glory of the Garden", and Puck of Pook's Hill, named after the hill visible from the house. The house's setting and the wider local area features in many of his stories in Puck of Pook's Hill (1906).
Kipling's poem The Land is inspired by the Bateman's estate.
Bateman's has been used in film making and also provided the exterior scenes for the TV film My Boy Jack about the death of Kipling's young son Jack in the First World War and his family's grief, were shot at Bateman's.
Mill
There is a working watermill on the property, using the waters of the River Dudwell, supported by volunteers. It operates every Tuesday and Saturday afternoon producing stone ground flour for sale in the visitor shop.
The small flower meadow on the approach to the mill.The mill race drives the waterwheel outside, and this in turn drives the wooden cogwheels on the ground floor inside. These transfer power upstairs to the millstones. Two pairs of millstones are encased in wood and have a bell to warn the miller when the corn in the hopper runs out. In the grinding process the corn keeps the millstones apart, preventing sparks and a fire risk. The bell has a strap which is held down by a full hopper of corn. When the hopper is nearly empty, the strap is released, thus ringing the bell.
Collage of the mill, the interior and the water wheel.Just one of hundreds of properties owned by The National Trust, all part of our UK heritage.......
What is all the white stuff on the roof?
)
So I have to assume that the large Koi can survive and, indeed, many people have them in their home pond. But they are something else that gets stolen.....rogues 
