There is an original Picasso tile – of an abstract face with a yellow nose – roughly cemented into the wall above the Aga in the kitchen of Farleys House in East Sussex. “Patsy [the housekeeper] I always scrubbed it with Vim,” says Jenny, my guide. “Lee and Roland believed that art should be lived with – and not just for a museum.”
The pair in question consists of Lee Miller (American model, muse, fashion photographer and World War II correspondent for Vogue) and her husband Roland Penrose (surrealist painter, author and co-founder of London’s Institute of Contemporary Art). They moved to this house in Muddles Green, Chiddingly, in 1949 with their two-year-old son Antony. From the street, the modest Queen Anne facade gives no impression of the colorful world inside.
Miller’s story will hit the big screen in September with Lee, starring and produced by Kate Winslet. It’s a passion project of Winslet’s and has been in the making for a decade. It tells the story of an extraordinary life – and will undoubtedly attract more visitors to her former home.
“Kate captures the essence of Lee,” Antony tells me as we chat over tea in his childhood bedroom. “She spent a lot of time at Farleys, doing very compelling research, going through the archives and asking questions. She wanted the film to be authentic. It’s a film about a woman, made by a team of women, and that was important too.”
Although views of the Downs were filmed here, a replica of the sitting room was created in a studio in Budapest. But “everything is correct, even the paintings on the walls are perfectly recreated,” says Antony.
Visitors to Farleys can take a fascinating tour and wander through the sculpture gardens and gallery spaces. The kitchen is still in its 1950s glory – complete with spices in the cupboards. On the wall hangs a Picasso sketch from 1950: this one is of Grasshopper Bulls, an ink drawing inspired by the couple’s bull, William.
In the final room hangs an iconic photo of Lee in Hitler’s bathtub in Munich at the end of the war
The dining room is painted in the yellow of Farmers Weekly, to which Penrose (a ‘gentleman farmer’) subscribed. His bright mural inspired by the Long Man of Wilmington – which can be seen from the house – adorns the fireplace and surreal paintings line the walls. A cabinet of curiosities contains objects ranging from a Honduran pottery chicken to a mummified rat and a Picasso piece.
A small display – brass knuckles engraved with her name, a Rolleiflex camera, a US military insignia – reminds us of Miller’s time on the front lines as one of the few female photographers following the Allied forces, and of the Nazi horrors she witnessed was a witness. In the final room hangs an iconic photo of Miller in Hitler’s bathtub in Munich at the end of the war, while dusty combat boots from the Dachau concentration camp stain the bath mat.
Growing up with Miller as a mother wasn’t easy, Antony says. “She was a very, very difficult woman. Looking back, she clearly suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and self-medicated with alcohol. But of course I didn’t understand that as a child.”
What he does remember is the stream of interesting characters who came to stay with Farleys, many of them friends from her time in pre-war France. Picasso “smelled nice and was good for cuddles”. Man Ray was “very funny and generous with his time”. The visitors’ book is a who’s who of the 20th-century art scene, with signatures, poems and drawings from such luminaries as surrealist poet Paul Éluard and artists Max Ernst and Joan Miró.
Miller largely left photography when she returned to Britain after the war. “After the things she saw, she couldn’t go back to taking pictures of dresses and hats,” says Antony. A new passion provided an outlet for her creativity: cooking, often with a surreal touch (the food for a dinner party might consist of pink breasts made from cauliflower or the signature green Muddles Green chicken).
She hid so much of what she had experienced. The woman I met was so different from the mother I had known
Anthony Penrose
It was only after Antony’s late wife, Suzanna, discovered 60,000 negatives and thousands of pages of painstaking notes in the attic after Miller’s death in 1977 that he began to truly understand his mother. ‘She had hidden so much of what she had experienced. The woman I met was so different from the mother I knew,” he says. Years of archival cataloging and research work followed and formed the basis of his 1988 biography, The Lives of Lee Miller, which inspired the film.
“The film is very honest,” says Antony. “She emerges not as a shiny heroine, but as a deeply scarred person for whom the price of her journalism was extreme – but she never expected any sympathy.”
In addition to regular house tours, Farleys offers longer private tours with a member of the Penrose family, with the opportunity to learn more about the vast archive of photographs and manuscripts (Antony’s granddaughter Ami Bouhassane is co-director of the house and archives). There are also two galleries. The smaller one, in a former barn, has a café and changing exhibitions by contemporary artists, as well as an exhibition about the house celebrating the 75th anniversary of the family’s move in.
The larger gallery, which opened in 2020 in a converted cattle shed, currently houses an exhibition of Miller’s work in England during the blitz – including fashion shoots for Vogue against bombed-out London – and Antony’s own incredible three-and-a-half-year exhibition. travel around the world in a Land Rover in the 1970s (that’s another story and subject of a memoir in the making).
Later this summer there will be an exhibition of stills from the new film, combined with the original photographs that inspired the scenes.
There is also a program of workshops and events, and a surreal picnic takes place on the grounds every August. I stroll through the gardens, which are littered with intriguing sculptures (including Antony’s Oak and Lead Sea Creature and Michael Werner’s Fallen Giant) and imagine the colorful people who have been here before.
“The Surrealists were about challenging conventions,” says Antony. “People, especially young women, often tell me that Lee’s story inspired them to make a change in their lives. I think that’s great – and Lee would have done that too.’
Related: Surrealism and war: the life of Lee Miller – in pictures
This area of East Sussex appealed to Miller and Penrose because of its beautiful scenery and proximity to London and France (the Newhaven to Dieppe ferry is nearby). It was home to another unconventional artistic household in Charleston, which Penrose had also visited. Home to the Bloomsbury set – with modernist painters Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and David Garnett’s ménage à trois at its center – it was a rallying point for some of the 20th century’s most radical artists, writers and thinkers.
“Actually it was [art critic and artist] Roger Fry, who was involved in the Bloomsbury set, who suggested to my father that we go to Paris and become an artist after Cambridge,” says Antony. “That was the beginning of Roland’s involvement with the Surrealists.”
From Farleys it is only a 15 minute drive to Charleston. The whole place is a work of art; virtually every surface is painted. There are guided tours, but most visits are self-guided and staff are on hand to provide insight into the enticing characters who lived and worked here. “Isn’t it wonderful to be shocked by the lives of people from 100 years ago?” says the woman at the door as I leave.
Where to stay
Between Farleys and Charleston on the Firle estate, near Lewes, the recently opened Shepherd’s Cottage makes a suitable base. The secluded cottage dates from the end of the 18th century. Hand-painted stencils adorn the walls of the two bedrooms and the sitting room features specially printed hemp wallpaper depicting scenes of barns and buildings from the estate. The expert renovation used original bricks and traditional materials (for example, the kitchen floor is a mixture of lime and ash, not concrete). It feels like a very comfortable and charming (TV-free!) time capsule, with memorabilia from the thirties and forties.
Related: The South Downs bolthole that offers a ‘complete escape from the world’
Charleston is just a stone’s throw away and Firle is a 40-minute walk along country lanes. (I go to the Ram Inn for dinner and walk back under the stars.) Firle Place itself is home to a remarkable collection of Old Masters. For more art, Charleston recently opened a new exhibition space in Lewes.
This area of Sussex has no shortage of stunning walks – the cottage is on an old byway between Firle and Alfriston, and the South Downs Way is on the doorstep. A little further afield is Berwick, the pretty church vividly decorated with the Bloomsbury set, and the Long Man of Wilmington. Stop by the church in the village of Wilmington to see the impressive old yew tree.
Farley’s house and gallery is opened Thursday, Friday and Sunday from April to October 31 (entrance € 10,- or £23 with guided tour). Shepherd’s cottagesleeps fourby £179 per night, minimum three nights. Courtesy of Sussex Modern. Lee is out in British and Irish cinemas from September 13.