Scope and Content
"I am typing these few lines to go in with my Christmas card. The latter show the castle as it was in 1750 when it had just been rebuilt out of the ancient ruins by Henry Fox, the first Lord Holland. Later on, another storey was added on all around, and one can see now quite clearly which was the lower, and older, part. Well, I have been here now over a year, and it seems to suit me very well. I think I told you the Castle is divided into 32 flats: all for sale freehold. Just over half of them have gone. Most of the people use them as weekend retreats and summer residences: sometimes my friend George Petrie, who has the flat next to mine, and I feel we are in possession of the whole place! I get up to London quite frequently, and stay at my Club for a night or two. I went to the Book Exhibition at the Royal Festival Hall last month, and happened to be there on the day Professor Richardson was giving his lecture on the 19th.century, so I stayed to hear it. What a national figure he has become now! I expect he will be knighted in the New Year Honours, and then Ampthill will have another SIR to take the place of Sir Anthony.
What a summer you had with all your family troubles! But you seem to have weathered it all very well. I am sorry to hear about your mother. She is fortunate to have you and Lil at home to look after her. And TV is such a wonderful boon nowadays to people who cannot get out. I bought a new one when I came here. The one Miss Eagles took to Richmond from Ampthill (I believe it was the very first TV to be installed in Ampthill after Pinny's) lasted without having to have the tube replaced right up to the time I left 113 Queens Road, when, of course, everything had to be sold that belonged to her along with the house. We do not get very good reception here, owing to the wireless interference from ships out at sea, the North Foreland lighthouse next door, and a radar station near by! The same applies to radio: though there are high frequency sets now which cut out all interference: but I bought my radio only just before leaving Richmond, and don't feel like throwing it away. My TV aerial was blown down in a terrific gale a few weeks ago, so now they have put so many stays round it, it looks like a ship in full sail. I have not been tempted to add an ITA aerial, as I don't use the TV a great deal. I prefer my books, and to practise the piano.
Yes, I am thankful to say my eye trouble is over. The operation (which cost me nearly £60. apart from private ward fees) was a great success. Apparently it was a very specialised job, but I had a good surgeon.
And Mr.A.T.Williams now lives in Millbrook Rectory! He has indeed come on. A curious man! He improved greatly after going into the army, I thought. Before that, I remember we made him a Schools Manager, but after a time he failed to appear at the meetings, or acknowledge the notices, and his attendance at church practically ceased. He was always sulky and peculiar when I met him. But after the war, he was quite a different man. I always thought Millbook Rectory rather a charming house. The view from the drawing room windows of the woods on the hillside opposite was quite enchanting. Did you ever go inside it? Miss Eagles knew it well when Mr.Pollard was the Rector, and she often talked about the days when she and Di used to walk over to Millbrook sometimes three times a day on Sundays. I think it was when Mr.Syme was Rector of Ampthill, and they found him too Low! What changes in the 8 years since I left! One does not realise that changes are going on all the time, from day to day. It seems to me that the years I spent in Ampthill were the last of the Victorian age there. I think poor Miss Florence is the last survivor of that generation of old ladies who were thick on the ground when I came in 1933. Do you remember them: the Miss Hopkins, the Miss Wingfields, the Miss Bartons, the Miss Fitts, Miss Crouch, Mrs.Wildman (in the school behind Turner's shop), and of course the Miss Russells! I see Miss Romola Russell still wears the same hats as ever. One simply could not imagine her in one of the little bits of nonsense women put on their heads now. She seems a good deal stouter than she used to be.
I am assisting my friend the Vicar of Walmer over Christmas. In fact, I am over there most Sundays. When I was staying in London in September, the Bishop of Kensington took me to see a church quite near S.Pancras' station, as he thought it would be a good job for me. You will remember the Bishop of K. He was the Reverend Cyril Eastaugh, chaplain of Cuddesdon. He came to preach once at Ampthill shortly after my arrival. When Bishop Howe Browne when to Bloemfontain, Cyril succeeded him as Vicar of S.John the Divine, Kennington, and he was there throughout the war. About 1948 he married Lady Laura Palmer, daughter of Lord Selborne, who is the most influential layman in the Church of England. So it was not long before he was wearing a mitre! However, I could not be persuaded to take the matter any further. The thought of another Rectory, domestic problems, and also the fact that I have got all my furniture installed here, I could think of lots of small reasons why I should not go ....
I am hoping to go off to Austria for my usual dose of skiiing in the New Year. If I do, I hope to go somewhere near Salzburg, so that I can explore this city which I have seen and always wanted to. It has close associations with Mozart, as you know. It was in the American occupied zone, and I avoided it until the occupation troops were withdrawn. A city full of Yanks with their loads of money was more than I could face. So last time I went to the Innsbruck side of Austria. It is a lovely country both in winter and summer. You ought to go and have a summer holiday there (when family circumstances permit, I expect you will add!).
I notice you have dropped the typewriter, after sending me one letter from it. Personally, I prefer to write letters other than business by hand: but I am thankful to have a typewriter at Christmas time. With best wishes to you and all the family. Andrew will tell you I wrote to him at Culham.
Yours sincerely"