Enchanting places

 I’ve had two fantastic visitor experiences in the last week.

The first was my visit to Kensington Palace on Tuesday. The purpose was a workshop meeting, but the day ended with a tour of the wonderful Enchanted Palace show.

I’m very behind the curve here – my colleagues at the National Trust have been talking about the show ever since it opened last year, but I’d never got around to visiting until now. My mistake – it’s a treat for the senses. The exhibition takes the principal suite of royal rooms at Kensington, and converts them into an immersive experience involving drama, intrigue, glamour, beauty and mystery. There’s a unifying story to it all, which turns out to revolve around the lives of seven royal princesses over the last 300 or so years, each of whom lived at Kensington.  What I loved was the blend of contemporary art and fashion (with dresses by Vivian Westwood and Bruce Oldfield, for example), and the highly theatrical setting of the rooms. The three men dressed as a cross between clerics and the chaps from Orbital were a fascinating sideshow – and made me feel like I had wandered onto the set of a Terry Gilliam film.

Anyway, I took part in a discussion later in the week with some of the creative geniuses behind the show, as well as the recent re-presentation of places like Dover Castle, Kenilworth, and Audley End (the nearest place to me). All agreed that experiments like these aren’t to everyone’s taste, but can be crucial for widening audiences, especially attracting younger people who might not otherwise be inspired to visit heritage sites. They also require significant investment – you have to be really committed to it, and invest in all the necessary research and preparation. Otherwise, you won’t do justice to the ‘spirit of the place’, and the re-presentation becomes too superficial. Finally, they can be undone by poor customer treatment – the entire visit has to be an experience, from the welcome on the door to the way you are treated on the way out. Any enchantment can be immediately dispelled by a long queue at the café, or over-eager haranguing to take membership. For mansion properties, the trick is to make visitors feel like they are guests. A complimentary drink on the terrace could provide an unexpected treat at the end of a tour of the house.