We headed to #RudyardKipling's house in #Rottingdean to stroke his nose to make our dearest wishes come true.
Who is Rudyard Kipling?
Not to be mistaken with Mr Kipling who makes exceedingly good cakes, Joseph Rudyard Kipling was a Victorian poet, journalist and story-teller. He was born in India which inspired much of his work, including his most famous work of fiction The Jungle Book written in 1894. He was the youngest person to ever win the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907.
Whether Rudyard Kipling was a colonialist, jingoist, racist, anti-Semite, misogynist and right-wing imperialist warmonger is one for us to debate another day, we we just visiting his house in Rottingdean to give his nose a little tickle.
Why tickle his nose?
To make our wishes come true of course! To be fair it’s not actually his nose, but the nose of a strange stone face embedded in the walls of his old house.
Rudyard lived at The Elms in Rottingdean, just outside of Brighton, between 1897 and 1902 before moving to the famous, now #NationalTrust owned, Bateman's House. He rented the house for just 3 guineas a week, and wrote some of his famous Just So Stories here.
The goblin-like stone face is called the #WishingStone, or #WishingFace. If you stroke the little guys nose and perform the Wishing Stone ritual then your dearest wish comes true, and we were very keen for our dearest wishes to come true!
The League of Gentlemen
When doing our research we found out a great little story about the League of Gentlemen. They had their first stage show in Brighton in 1995 and Mark Gatiss wanted to head to Rottingdean in search of the Wishing Stone on their way to the gig. When they got there each of them made a wish; they wished that The League of Gentlemen would be a success. On their way back all four of them stopped at a little shop, as they walked in the woman working in shop looked absolutely horrified, seemingly terrified of the four comedians as if they were going to do an armed robbery. They couldn't stop laughing as they left the shop, and it's how Reece Shearsmith came up with the characters of The Local Shop.
If that's not proof that the Wishing Stone really works then I don't know what is, but we were still keen to find out for ourselves.
Kipling Gardens
Although you can't get into the house as it's privately owned, you can walk round the gardens which include a walled Rose Garden, Herb Garden and Wild Garden, as demonstrated by Nigel below.
We explored the gardens, keeping our eyes peeled for the Wishing Stone.
It is said when Rudyard Kipling lived here, this is when fell in love with the Sussex Downs and Sussex Coast, and it is where he wrote the poem Sussex. We found an excerpt of the poem on one of the walls.
But this wasn't what we were looking for...
The Wishing Stone
We eventually found the stone. I won't tell you exactly where it is, because part of the fun is finding it, but I will tell you it's not in the gardens, and it's on one of the outside walls.
We each took it in turns to make a wish; my friend, Nigel and myself. However, it's not quite as simple as just rubbing the little guys nose. Village tradition says you have to do three things:
Rub his nose with the forefinger of your right hand
Make your wish
Turn around, against the sun, three times clockwise
There is only one rule about your wish - it can't be able money! Success, yes, but money, no no no.
Did the wishes come true?
Now I know the question you are all asking - Was it a success? Did your wishes come true?
We were heading to Snowdonia in our campervan the following week to go hunting for the terrifying #Gwiber, and I wished that our van wouldn't break down on the way. However North Wales went into a local lockdown the following week from Covid-19 restrictions and we never made it to Snowdonia, so who knows whether my wish would have come true.
I asked Nigel what he wished for, but he refused to tell me.
As my friend, he later told me that he wished that everything would be OK, which is a very broad wish and you could argue that it has or hasn't come true.
Unfortunately my friend did not follow my very-easy-to-follow instructions of wishing for something tangible so we could prove once and for all whether or not the Wishing Stone grants wishes.
You will have to go to Rudyard's house yourself to find out whether the Wishing Stone does really work, and if I ever make it to Snowdonia I'll let you know if we breakdown.
The works of Rudyard Kipling
If you fancy reading some of Rudyard Kipling's works they are out of copyright now so you can read them for free online.
Here is a link to the poem If- and here is a link to the poem Sussex. I've also attached some of his books that you can download below ↓
Other things to do in Rottingdean
If you want to make a day of it, you could also:
Head to the beach to do some rock pooling. You could go hunting for the giant crab Karkinos like we did!
St Margaret's Church is a wonderful little church and well worth a mooch around.
Visit the Grange Museum & Art Gallery to find out some local history and see exhibits from local artists.
Enjoy a pint and a bite to eat at The Plough Inn, a traditional pub in the heart of Rottingdean, next to the village pond and green.
Did you rub the stone's nose? Did your dearest wishes come true? Please share your stories below! I couldn't actually find out much about the origin of the Wishing Stone, if you know more about its origins then please let us know.
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