Lady Jane Felsham's House

Lovejoy wasn't like Agatha Christie's Poirot or Sherlock Holmes, even if the A&E channel in America played all three TV series in the early 1990s. Lovejoy primarily investigated antiques: where they came from, who had made them, and why people wanted to buy or sell them. His love for these authentic artistic creations of the past often clashed with his ability to operate a profitable business. Unlike Poirot or Holmes, Lovejoy was a slippery character, a lovable rogue. Hard to define but easy to like. Impossible to trust, yet with a heart of gold. 

His friend, Lady Jane Felsham, was someone you could always relate to. She might have married into an aristocratic family, and live in a mansion, yet she was an ordinary woman, and ran a successful interior design firm. Lovejoy's antics infuriated her at times, both for personal and professional reasons. Her husband Lord Felsham never approved of their friendship. Still, her loyalty to Lovejoy was unshakable.

When her husband abandoned her to live in another country with another woman, Lady Jane remained in Felsham Hall. Her marriage might be over in spirit, if not in actuality. Still, was a principled woman who believed in doing the best with what she had been given. So she continued to reside there, and lent her time, money, and title to civic and charitable causes. 

Lovejoy helped her carry on with running the affairs of the old and important house, as well as aiding her business and charitable efforts. Their friendship matured, and might have become something more. But then her husband returned, and told her that he had lost all his money and his ancestral home. Left without a choice, and little more money than she had brought to the marriage, Lady Jane departed Felsham Hall to pursue a new life elsewhere. 

Nevertheless, the house, and Lord Felsham's ancestral grounds, remained a part of the series, even after his uncaring, irresponsible actions forced Lady Jane to pursue a new life elsewhere. Lovejoy's old rival Charles Gimbert returned to make Felsham Hall his home. Gimbert was a nefarious character, who loved antiques for the money and power they could give him. Lovejoy never really liked Charles, but he remained nearby, somehow unable to leave the manor house--and his link to Lady Jane--behind. 

In the final season, Charles Gimbert inexplicably vanished. After awhile, Lovejoy realized that, like Lady Jane's husband, Gimbert had also lost the manor through financial mismanagement. So once again, the antiques dealer again lingered, continuing to look after Felsham Hall.

At the beginning of the series, Felsham Hall was just another old house, and Lady Jane merely another beautiful woman. By the series' end, Felsham Hall had become a beloved place, the center of Lovejoy's existence. Just as it tore at Lovejoy's heart to leave the house and grounds, it hurt us too. For Lady Jane and Lovejoy's spirits had seeped into the bricks and mortar, the rooms and passageways, the gravel drive, and the manicured grounds.

The locals may know the mansion as Belchamp Hall, but for fans of the series, it will always be Lady Felsham's house. We met one such local walking her dogs, cute little Norfolk terriers, the morning we visited Felsham Hall. She said the hall, located in her little village of Belchamp Walter, sees few visitors these days. Still, over twenty years after the series ended, Lovejoy fans still come. Many, like us, from overseas.

It was just a moment in time, a brief visit. A walk along the familiar drive, an attempt to capture via photographs the house and the grounds. A moment to inhale the spirits of Lovejoy and Lady Jane. 

And then, all too soon, it was time to leave. Time to turn my back on the manor, and depart through those gates. Lady Jane rode through those gates in a taxi when her husband's actions finally forced her to leave.  Lovejoy packed up his business and drove through them in his little pickup truck at the end of the final episode. So I wasn't doing anything my friends hadn't done. Still, having just arrived, and knowing I would never return--it was hard to Felsham Hall.

Like so many people, I lack an ancestral home. But for a brief moment, I was able to return to a beloved house where I had been a frequent and welcome visitor. I finally saw with my own eyes, not just through the TV screen, a place inhabited by friends I had cared for, and people I loved. People who had made the place special, even if they, and their traditions, had been entirely fictional.

Farewell, Felsham Hall. Thanks so much for allowing me to visit.

Dragon Dave