Recently we had even more of our rush matting replaced, this time in the State Withdrawing Room.
The New Matting
This room houses some of our finest pieces of carved wooden furniture, including the beautiful Sea Dog Table that visitors can walk all the way round. This does however cause extra wear on our floors, and the tape patches here have been getting more and more extensive.
The deconstructed Table
Before we could remove the old matting we had to move most of the furniture in the room, including said Sea Dog Table, which breaks down into 17 separate pieces. We moved the pieces into the Green Velvet Bedroom and lay them out on the floor there. Visitors were really interested in seeing it deconstructed so we have now put a photo out in the room.
One of the Sea Dogs
The same company who did the High Great Chamber for us came back for a (long) day with three rolls of brand new matting to install! Here is a link to the company we use: http://www.rushmatters.co.uk
Clearing the old matting
We removed the old matting in two pieces and had three rolls of brand new dancing to replace them. As well as the new matting in the center we decided to turn the piece of matting to the side of this, so that the least worn edge could be sewn to the new matting strips. This meant moving an awful lot of furniture but will hopefully be worth it in the long run.
Sewing the new matting
Turning the rush matting is something we can do to try to help a piece last as long as possible, moving worn pieces from the areas that get the most wear. Now our beautiful Sea Dog Table is framed by nice new matting that will hopefully last for many more feet to come!
The room renewed
View from my attic 
Thanks for information on matting. In the 70s my family and I lived in a section of Leith Hall in Scotland. There was rush matting in the dining room. I asked how it was cleaned and they said they hosed it down. I was puzzled but perhaps it was taken outside for this treatment? I didn’t ask again and was just glad I didn’t have to do it. What kind of needle is the person on the floor using to sew rush matting together?
Hi. We use large leather needles to sew the matting, either straight with a flick at the end or curved needles. Hope that answers your question ok!