Reference
AU10/102/1/68
Title
Handwritten letter
Date free text
21 February 1956
Production date
From: 1956 To: 1956
Scope and Content
"It seems to have taken me a week to reach your letter and card you so kindly sent me for my birthday. I began replying to my various greetings last Wednesday: then I had to put everything aside for the weekend: and now I am starting again. I went to Kitzbuhl in Austria on Jan.7th and moved from there to Salzburg a few days later: but after three days I went back up into the mountains with a party consisting of one American, one German, and one Norwegian to Badgastein, a small place off the beaten track: where we had wonderful skiing in brilliant sunshine. I got back to London on Jan.27th, and after staying the weekend at my Club, returned here on Jan.30th. The next day we started the present wintry weather, which has continued with only one short break ever since. Snow is right and proper in Austria and Switzerland, but here it brings frustration and dislocation in its train. And so we have had snow, snow and more snow (you probably saw that East Kent has had it very severely), and we have to dig ourselves out afresh every morning. Fortunately we are spared the horrors of frozen and burst pipes: one can put up with snow: and today we have brilliant sunshine and blue sky - quite like Austria but of course the sun has not the same power - and the Castle makes a very pretty picture. But I think we have had quite enough of winter for this year .... it will be a treat to see some green again! The roads round here are packed with several layers of snow and ice, and there is very little traffic. It seems to have been the same or even worse all over Europe: even the Riviera has had heavy falls of snow - much to their annoyance!
No one had told me about S.Joseph's (or the Red House, as it was called before Miss E. bought it: I think the people who came in 1947 went back to the old name. Miss E. called it S.Joseph's after the village of that name in Trinidad where they spent their childhood). I wonder who will go in this time. It is not an easy house to sell: that kitchen at the back is not everyone's choice: though I think you told me the Barton palings were taken down, and that should have made a great difference. I am not surprised that Mrs.Seabrook's old house remains empty. People don't want these rambling old Victorian houses now. BRINSMADE conveys nothing to me, I'm afraid! I have heard of BRINSMEAD pianos. Who has the job of naming the roads? I should have thought your Councillor brother-in-law - Underwood - would have had a say in it. And talking of brothers-in-law, I spotted in the "Telegraph" the other day something about three men boarding a moving train at Luton, when the accident occurred, and one of them was called Nightall: I just wondered for a moment if there was any connection. I expect you have heard from Andrew that we have exchanged one or two letters on historical odds and ends connected with the church. Valder keeps sending me the parish magazine every month: and Perton sends the Ampthill News (they pile up when I'm away, and I have a real session of Ampthill news going through them). Your family difficulties don't get any less. I can quite understand you don't want to be saddled with Aunt Eva for the rest of her life: but you are up against the problem which afflicts so many people today - how to cope with the elderly and failing relations. And it really is a problem today with Homes filled to overflowing, and fees going up and up. Miss Eagles has to pay 20 guineas a week: it started at 15 guineas when she went to the Priory in 1954: little by little the cost has gone up. Where will all this inflation end? Thank you for the snap of the car and the family group: but I just cannot recognise Aunt Eva in the lady in the back of the car! So the Professor's grandson is old enough now to go to a public school. I have a godson at Stowe - Adam Stavert - but I doubt if young Houfe will ever come in contact with him, as he is about 17, and will be one of the prefects. I have not seen Adam since I came here: he used to come to Richmond a lot, and I went to Stowe to see him occasionally. His parents are out in India.
In your earlier letter, you mentioned about the gardening you have to do, and I can quite sympathise with you. This is the first home I have had since 1933 (when I came to Ampthill) which has not had a garden to enslave me! The hours I used to have to spend keeping that garden at the Rectory under control: and oh! that endless drive, to be weeded constantly in the summer. Even with a jobbing gardener three days a week it was a constant grind. The garden at S.Joseph's was easier, but it was there. At Richmond, I was abroad so much that a man had to do it, and we were lucky to find a real gardener, until he collapsed with some disease or other, and then I had to share at it (and it was a very large garden) whenever I was at Richmond for days on end. No, no more gardening for me for the rest of my life! I still have my little villa at Villefranche, but the garden in quite tiny, and anyhow, it has been let to some Paris friends of mine for the past two years. I hang on to it, just in case I do decide to live permanently abroad. But so far, this castle and its surroundings have given me satisfaction: it remains to be seen if it will last!! Most of the flats are totally unoccupied during the winter. The only really permanent residents are a Col. and Mrs.Douglas, a Major Horley (who lives alone), an Mr. and Mrs.Fantle, who have two boys at Harrow, my friend Commander Petrie (retired) and myself. Fortunately it happens they are all delightful and friendly people: so we have each other in to meals and drinks, and so we feel we are a little community and not isolated individuals. The nearest church is some distance off: ditto the shops: ditto the buses to Margate (there is a little 'bus to Broadstairs once an hour: but I can walk there in 1/2 hour): but we are glad of this, as it keeps the crowds away in summer. There is no village of Kingsgate.
I am glad your mother is so much better. Remember me kindly to all the family.
Yours sincerely"
Level of description
item