This painting was commissioned by a local care home, a fabulous place with an interesting history. Zetland Court was built in the 1840s and was originally known as Branksome Dene. By 1880, it was owned by Lord & Lady Wimborne of Canford and, much extended, used as a Seaside Villa. Sold on to publisher and banker Sir Ernest Cassel, he left the estate to his granddaughter, Edwina, in 1922. She later married and became Lady Edwina Mountbatten. Subsequently, the building was used as a fruitarian and vegetarian hotel. An advert in 1935 extols the virtues of the “Branksome Dene Hotel”, stating that it “excludes all animal foods from its menus, yet provides a dietary so varied and tasteful that it must be experienced to be appreciated”
