Thank Fathom it’s Friday

And the winner of the best decade is…

Erik Britton26 July 2024|

The Fathom team is just back from our annual getaway, which we spent in Hinwick House – a stately home on the Northants/Bedfordshire border that offers a mish-mash of 18th-century architecture, antique memorabilia of various vintages, stuffed animals, expensive-looking silverware and vases, an in-tune grand piano, and a truly surprising number of bugles in all sizes. The décor suggests a storied past full of foxhunts, servants and white-tie dinners – think Bridgerton. Most of those stories are however buried in nostalgic pastiche, with many bits and pieces of stuff from history but less of what actually happened in that house. The getaway was grand for all that, and the house very accommodating and enjoyable. Nostalgia is looking at the past rose-tinted, which this house very much encourages you to do. One of the exercises we did at the getaway was to take a more clear-eyed look at our own past, removing the rose tint. When was the best time to be alive? And what are our main concerns for the future?