A Farewell to Herts.....

To every thing there is a season.....

A time to get, and a time to lose; 

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

We are about to move on.  After seventeen and a half years in a cul de sac in Harpenden, we are about to be uprooted and transported to a village in Norfolk.

Retirement from local education establishments, the eventual death of my mother in a care home near St Albans, the slow descent of my wife, Amanda, into the disorientation of dementia, and the independence of our two daughters - all of this warp and weft of life has led to a realisation of impermanence and the decision to move on.

Of course the options were endless.  If I were solo, I might have followed my ancestry and moved to Western Ireland, seeking Irish citizenship and a breath of Atlantic air.  Or I could have retraced my steps to Italy, to end my days in sunshine and vineyards.....

Or I could have stayed put.

But this man is not an island, and I have, at least for the moment, some residual responsibilities for others, and so the intention was to find a home with space for assistance for Amanda, and a stimulating environment for all.

Although I grew up in Berkhamsted, I'm not actually a Hertfordshire boy; my birth took place quite quietly in Southsea, Hampshire, a stone's throw from the boating lake, and I spent the first five or so years of life in Portsmouth, inhaling sea air and exhaust fumes from her majesty's (and others') navies.  

In fact, not one of my immediate family was born in Hertfordshire, though between us we must have lived here for a cumulative couple of centuries, at least..... 

Dad's father started it. After the First World War he was a schoolmaster and in around 1925 he moved to Northchurch, now almost absorbed by Berkhamsted, where he took up the post of Headmaster of the local school (as well as choirmaster and organist at St Mary's). In the mists of my misspent youth, my elder brother and I used to drink in the Red Lion, across the A41 from the school and church, and the locals would regale us with tales of our grandad, such as the time he lined the entire school up in the playground and whacked the lot.... What larks!  No intervention from erstwhile Fireplace Salesmen posing as government ministers then!

Dad attended local school, went to Uni, then to War. After which, following a period in Portsmouth, where I happened, he returned to live out his life in Berkhamsted, as master at the School and then as secretary of the Old Boys' Association.

When he retired, I tried to persuade him to move away, to start anew, but he would have none of it, and his ashes rest in Kingshill Cemetery, where mum has now joined him.

All this, and this scattering of local photographs, is why I am feeling apprehensive.  Hertfordshire, or at least a slice of it from Berkhamsted to Harpenden, spilling over the Chiltern scarp and down the dip, encompassing villages and farms, pubs and chalk streams, is a part of me and I am a part of it.

In the past year, for instance, Amanda and I have walked some thousand miles of footpaths in the area.  Sometimes glorious in their flowers and hedgerow blossoms, sometimes Somme-like in the sludge and slurry.

In the past sixty years and more I have walked, and cycled, most every lane and bridleway across this part of the Shire, and stopped to rest or take refreshment in villages that until recently showed little change since the Domesday Book.

  

In the early seventies, my elder bro lived in Stevenage, and I was then temporarily back home with my parents in Berkhamsted, living in the house where Graham Greene had himself grown up (and to which I, oddly, refused him entry, but that is another story....)

On a number of occasions I walked between the two towns, a 28 mile road hike (passing through Harpenden), taking a footsore seven hours, but never thinking of the traffic. I  wouldn't risk it now......

There are wonderful stretches of land here, whether in broody summer:

Or in moody winter:

There are great houses, with beautiful grounds, like Ashridge, where Amanda posed so youthfully just a few years ago....

My grandparents lived and then died near here.  An aunt and uncle and their three children were Harpendenians (?). 

And our dear girls grew tall and came of age round here - this was taken on Sarah's 18th birthday above Tom's Hill, Aldbury....  Happy days!

Amanda and I were married in Hemel Hempstead, and to celebrate our silver wedding anniversary - some good few years ago now - we returned with the girls to commemorate the day....

But, there are times to weep, and times to laugh; times to mourn, and times to dance...

In 2003 we settled in Harpenden, where there is the old:

And there is the new:

The town is famous for its science:

But also for some of its famous residents.  Eric Morecambe, for example, is still fondly remembered by many, while Owen Farrell, George Ford and Maro Itoje, all attended St George's School.  Maro, in fact was one of my most delightful English pupils, and a model boarder:

Owen shook my hand one parents' evening when he was chaperoning his sister, effortlessly crushing my fingers while he smiled, charmingly .....

There were good days.....

And now it is time to turn, turn, turn....

To fly to pastures new, and to open a new chapter.....

Moving on will be hard.  There's never a good time.  We came here in a heat wave.  The first night we opened all the windows, and I couldn't sleep a wink for all the trains hurtling past the foot of my bed.

Now it is wet, and wintry, and we are getting old.  We will lose all familiarity, and have to carve out new habits.....

But there's no going back.  However much you turn, turn, turn, you cannot go back....

And so we leave. Thank you to all who have travelled with us thus far, and who have been friends and supporters through thick and thin. And, though our ways must part, I sincerely hope this is not, in any sense of the word, the end of the road.....

Ciao!

Splendid Isolation

Feinting in Coils

[To the tune of "We do like to be beside the seaside"]
Oh, we do like to be in isolation

We do like to be at our country seat

As we stroll about the park

With our lover on our arm

In Isolation.....

And fancy free....

I read a letter in The Guardian this morning (May 7th, 2020) which echoed a thought I had had..... 

The furore over Neil Ferguson being visited by his girlfriend, and Matt Hancock’s response, reek of hypocrisy. The Scottish chief medical officer had to resign after visiting a country home. Boris Johnson went to hospital from No 10. And when discharged he went off to his second home (Chequers). I suggest we need Ferguson more than Johnson.

Prof Adrian Renton

Emeritus professor of public health medicine, Institute for Health and Human Development, University of East London

Not far from where I live, in Hertfordshire, there are numerous manors and substantial houses, many of which would make ideal places for splendid isolation in these infectious times.  I have recently been making pictures of some of these, and share a few that I have feinted in coils....  All of these (except Chequers) are within seven miles of my home (as the Corvid flies) - though not all of these have been visited during lockdown.... 

{I include some history and details of these houses researched from the internet to give an idea of just how splendid being confined to these might be, even though occupancy of them all now varies....}

The nearest to us is Rothamsted Manor:

The first record of the Rothamsted estate was made in 1212 when it was owned by Henry Gubion. By 1292 the estate had passed to William Nowell who sold it to Ralph de Creci in 1355. The Bardolph family acquired it by the marriage of Edmund Bardolph to Elizabeth Cressy 1519, the heir of Edmund Cressy.

In 1623 the house was bought from the Bardolph family by Anne Wittewronge, the widow of Jacob Wittewronge, on behalf of her son John who was then 4 years old. John became Lord of The Manor of Rothamsted in 1639 and the estate continued to be passed through the family until John Bennet Lawes, the founder of Rothamsted Experimental Station, now Rothamsted Research, was born in the house on 28th December 1814.

Rothamsted Manor and Gardens were bought from the Lawes-Wittewronge family in the 1930s after public subscription raised the required £35,000 in seven weeks. The house was at first let, but during WWII it was requisitioned for the use of the military and became a listening post, recording and feeding messages to Bletchley Park for decoding. After the war it was converted into accommodation for staff and visitors to Rothamsted and is now being transitioned into an exclusive venue in Harpenden.

Not far from here is a very different estate -Childwickbury:

Childwickbury Manor is a manor house  between St Albans and Harpenden.

The Lomax family bought the house in 1666 and lived there until 1854 when Joshua Lomax sold it to Henry Hayman Toulmin, a wealthy ship owner, High Sheriff of Hertfordshire and mayor of St Albans. Toulmin left the property to Sir John Blundell Maple around 20 years later. Toulmin's granddaughter, the author Mary Carbery, was born at the house.

Sir John Blundell Maple, 1st Baronet, bred and raced thoroughbreds and built Childwickbury Stud into a very successful horse breeding operation. Another prominent racehorse owner, Jack Barnato Joel, bought the estate including the stud farm in 1906. On his death in 1940, his son Jim Joel took over the operation. He too became a successful racehorse owner and breeder and maintained the property until 1978 when the stud and the manor were sold separately.

It was advertised thus:

“The Manor House, mainly 18th century has 12 Reception Rooms, 18 Bed and Dressing Rooms, 11 Staff Bedrooms, and 10 Bathrooms. Immaculate Timbered Grounds. Walled Garden. Courtyard with Garaging and Flat. Estate Office. Victorian Dairy House with about 19 Acres [77,000 m2]. Two Coach House Cottages with Magnificent Stable Yard with Paddock and Woodland 16 Acres [65,000 m2]. Cheapside and Shafford Farms, 2 Well Equipped Corn and Stock Farms with about 724 Acres [2.9 km2]. 146 Acres [591,000 m2] of Timbered Parkland, 37 Acres [150,000 m2] of Railed Paddock and 104 Acres [421,000 m2] of valuable Commercial Timber”. In addition, there were “18 Attractive Houses and Cottages, some with Paddocks. Old Mill and other Buildings for conversion, Stud Buildings, 30 Loose Boxes, Potential Riding School, and fishing in River Ver and Mill Race. Total 1,100 Acres [4.5 km2]”

The stud was sold to the Marquesa de Moratalla. 

Film director Stanley Kubrick bought the manor in 1978. He used the estate as both a home and a nerve centre for his film productions. He lived there until his death in 1999 and is interred in its grounds together with his eldest daughter Anya Kubrick, who died in 2009. His widow, Christiane Kubrick, still lives in the Manor House and one of their grandchildren - Jack - runs a recording studio adjacent to it as a sound engineer.

Approximately four miles to the north-west of us is Ayot Manor (not Ayot House which is next door) at Ayot St Lawrence:

The Manor House: Late C17 remodelling of C16 timber frame. Red brick, old tile roof of 2 ridges. 4 wood mullioned and transomed leaded casements including stair light. 5-window, symmetrical garden elevation with rubbed brick dressings and floor band. Wood mullioned and transomed casements and door with scroll-bracketed hood. Interior with C17 panelling on SW ground floors. C17 doors. Central newel baluster staircase. Once owned by Sir William Parr, brother of Catherine Parr, last Queen of Henry VIII.

I wouldn't mention this last detail, except for the fact that somehow I have a connection with Catherine Parr, or perhaps her uncle?  One of my uncles went to school on a scholarship that stems from the family, and still, presumably exists (though I doubt whether it would cover the cost of a pair of garters these days....)

And the other side of the village is Bride Hall:

Large manor house. Late C16. Probably begun at time of Sir Philip Boteler. Altered later C17 and C18. Restored early C20. Red brick. Plain tile roof. E plan. 5-window elevation with projecting central porch bay and wings. Original brick mullioned windows preserved. These are between 2 and 4 lights, the lights having 4-centre arches. The ground floor windows have straight moulded brick hoods. C20 leaded casements throughout. Porch and W projection have tumbled brick gables. E wing has a C18 hipped roof. Dog tooth brick eaves. Tall axial chimney stack to left of porch with 3 square shafts. Arris on E face. Central door has 4-centre arched chamfered surround and a moulded brick hood. 2-light window above. Rear elevation has 2 projecting gable ends each side, the left ones of each pair original staircase turrets, the right ones early C20 additions. The W elevation has a late C17 external chimney stack with 3 square shafts. Internally the ground floor hall retains large fireplace. On E ground floor are original doorways to the cellar, pantry and buttery. W ground floor room has a good late C17 oak fireplace with moulded cornice and frame. Contemporary painted bands of black and white triangles within the hearth. The W wing has a good collar rafter roof. In the staircase towers are late C17 newel stairs with simple turned balusters.

To the west of us lie a couple of related houses.  This is Gaddesden Place:

Which is just over a mile from The Golden Parsonage:

The Golden Parsonage as it now stands is credited to Thomas Halsey (1655-1715), a Tory Member of Parliament for Hertfordshire, having been built in c.1705. Thomas was married [to] Anne, the daughter of noted alchemist, statesman and co-founder of the Royal Society, Thomas Henshaw. The avenue of Lime Trees was planted by Thomas's son, Henshaw Halsey, a monument for whom stands in St John the Baptist Church in Great Gaddesden, created by Flemish Sculptor John Michael Rysbrack.

In 1768, Thomas Halsey feeling that the Golden Parsonage was out of date, commissioned James Wyatt to design and build a new seat for the Halsey family in the style of a Palladian Villa. This would become Gaddesden Place. The family would live in Gaddesden Place until 1950, when Sir Thomas Halsey would return the family to the Golden Parsonage. Further alterations to the Parsonage would be made in 1869, when Frederick Halsey would build a Billiard room. With the Halsey family living at Gaddesden Place, the Golden Parsonage was used for other purposes. Most notably for sixty years starting in 1875, the house served as a boys' prep school, of which Thomas J. Bata was a notable student.

Since their return in 1950, the Golden Parsonage has remained as the home of the Halsey family, and is currently overseen by Nicholas, Viola and Guy Halsey. The present head of the family however, is Rev. Brother John Halsey who eschews his inherited title

An 18th century English country house in Hertfordshire, Gaddesden Place is used as a private house and also headquarters for Xara Ltd, software developers. The house has been used as a location for many TV dramas, commercials and films. Located near the M1 and M25 it is close to the north London film studios of Leavesden, Pinewood and Elstree. Set on a hill overlooking parkland and the Gade valley, it is said to have one of the finest views in Hertfordshire. Gaddesden Place, built in 1768, was the first work of the pre-eminent architect of his day, James Wyatt, later responsible for the famous Pantheon in London (since destroyed by fire) and the infamous, truly huge, Gothic pile that was Fonthill Abbey. Architect to King George III, Wyatt was killed in an early ‘traffic accident’ when his carriage was toppled. He is buried in Westminster Abbey. Xara Ltd, whose headquarters are here, develop high-performance graphic-design software as an alternative to Adobe’s products. Gaddesden Place is owned by Charles Moir, founder of Xara

And a couple of miles back towards Harpenden from there is Stags End:

Country house, now offices. Early C19 on ancient site (called Tags End on Tithe Map of 1838 and Gaddesden Bury in 1851), additions in late C19, interior alterations and staircase 1907 by William Bonnar Hopkins for Frederick Braund, kitchen wing 1920 by same architect. A 2-storeys double-pile Neo-classical house facing E with 2-storeys rear wing. Stucco, white brick rear wing, low-pitched hipped slate roofs. The main range has a wide oversailing eaves cornice with paired brackets to soffit. Symmetrical front 9 windows long, additional end-bays set back half the depth of the house, cornice at 1st floor level and corner pilasters. Panelled end elevations without windows. Pedimented shallow central projection of 3 bays fronted by wide porch with 4 unfluted Greek Doric columns, full entablature, and blocking course. Recessed sash windows, taller on ground floor with moulded surrounds rising from plinth. Small panes to sashes, infilling ends of porch. Triple sash windows to rear wing. Interior has oak staircase and Ionic screens to stair hall and landing over. Medieval name of site Taggeshende.

Near the village of Ayot St Peter, beautifully private, but within earshot of the A1, is Ayot Montfichet, once Ayot Place.  It is hidden behind walls and hedges:

But parts of the house are just visible from the public footpath which skirts the grounds:

Add caption

The earliest part of the house, an open hall, dates from around 1485 – the year of the Battle of Bosworth and the founding of the Tudor dynasty on the English throne. It was possibly built by John Fyshe, who enjoyed it for some few years before his murder in 1494. It is thought that his family would have lived upstairs, with their livestock driven into the lower hall at night.

Later important work was likely carried out by Sir George Perient in 1615, for the hall sports a minstrels’ gallery with a frieze bearing that date in the middle, before the house as settled by John Garrard of Lamer Park upon his son, also John, in 1618. Indeed, much of what we see today very likely dates from the 17th Century: William Hales, a later owner, very likely added the cross wing north of the hall, and he is recorded as having paid for new hearths too.

In 1832 a later William Hales of King’s Walden sold Ayot Place to Viscount Melbourne, and it became a tenant farm of the Brocket Estate.

In subsequent years, successive owners have provided great care and attention to the house, allowing it to adapt to the needs and desires of its occupiers. Further changes were made in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries to transform the property into a Tudor style mansion.

By the mid-1990s, the property needed modernising and it was remodelled under the supervision of the architect David Postins. Very extensive works were carried out and as it is a Grade II listed building; the greatest care had to be taken to ensure that the new works were complimentary and satisfied the heritage bodies. Indeed, it is now very difficult to distinguish the recent works from the original.

Today it is an unreservedly comfortable and gracious home, providing the perfect country retreat far away from the demands of the outside world. Each room has its own character, from the soaring great hall with its Tudor arched fireplace, linenfold panelling and minstrel’s gallery, the classicism of the 18th-century breakfast room with its wainscoting and marble fireplace, to the crisp modernity of the principal bedroom suite with its Edwardian style bathroom and Biedermeier dressing room. The kitchen/breakfast room and servery were remodelled in a traditional style featuring bespoke cabinets and a comprehensive range of integrated appliances, complemented by a large walk-in pantry.....

Which last detail really sells it to me - Isolation without a walk-in pantry would not really be splendid at all!

The last two houses I want to mention are in the parish of St Paul's Walden.  Though they are almost within sight of each other, their fortunes are quite separate.  The first is St Paul's Walden Bury: 

The mansion at St Paul's Walden Bury (early C18, additions by James Paine 1760s and Arthur Castings late C19, listed grade II*) stands on high ground at the southern end of the gardens and pleasure grounds, enclosed to the south and east by the park. The two-storey brick house falls into two main sections, the earlier, C18 wing standing to the north, overlooking the pleasure grounds beyond, with the larger, late C19 wing attached to the south. Flanking rococo pavilions designed by James Paine in 1767 project from the north front, each aligned on one of the two outer allées of the patte d'oie in the Walk Wood pleasure grounds to the north. A service yard lies adjacent to the west of the house, partly enclosed by several farm buildings, including a granary, brewhouse and the Bury Farmhouse (all listed grade II).

St Paul's Walden Bury also has a notable landscape garden, laid out in the early 18th-century, covering about 50 acres.

This was the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, [Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon]. Long avenues lead to temples, statues, lake and ponds. Flower gardens bloom in spring and summer, with beautiful displays of magnolias, rhododendrons, irises, lilies. Wild flowers are encouraged, especially cowslips, bluebells, spotted orchids.

The surrounding estate, with its arable and livestock farm and its ancient woodland, is a traditional country estate set in the heart of the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside.

The front of the house dates from 1720, notable for its charming architecture. There is also a substantial Victorian addition. Inside the beautiful Green Drawing Room and Red Drawing Room are decorated with very fine plasterwork.

This is currently the home of Sir Simon Alexander Bowes-Lyon KCVO (born 17 June 1932) who is a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and was Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire from 1986 to 2007. 

The house and garden can be visited by appointment and the house and gardens are available for hire [though not currently under lock down].

The second of these two houses is Stagenhoe:

Stagenhoe is a Grade II listed stately home and surrounding gardens located in the village of St Paul's Walden in Hertfordshire. It was the family seat of the Earl of Caithness. Socialite Lady Euphemia Sinclair spent her childhood there and became a friend Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, whose family were neighbours.

Records about the manor of Stagenhoe date back to before the Norman Conquest, when it was one 'hide' (approximately 120 acres).

The current manor was built in the 18th century, after a fire in about 1737. It has many 19th-century and later additions, including extensions to the rear and a porch on the west side. The main feature is the stuccoed south facade. The property was listed in 1968.

It was a boarding school from 1946 which continued until mid-1963, when the school closed. Amongst the more famous past pupils of the school is  actor Richard Marner, who may be best known as the German colonel in the TV series “Allo Allo”. 

Having passed out of private hands, the house is much altered internally. It is now used as a Sue Ryder specialist neurological care centre, caring for people aged 18 and over with a range of neurological conditions such as Dementia, Huntington’s Disease, Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis.

A very different kind of isolation.....

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I began this with a letter concerning double standards regarding the lockdown.  The drift of the pictures and information was inspired by the idea of spending isolation in a place like Chequers. I conclude with some extracts  from news media. Note also that Mr Johnson's partner, Carrie Symonds, was apparently in isolation at another address while he was at the flat in No. 11 Downing Street before his hospitalisation.  She then joined him at Chequers after his discharge, and then rejoined him at No. 11 having herself been in hospital for the birth of their son.

****

Nicola Sturgeon has disclosed she asked Scotland’s chief medical officer to resign after realising her breaches of lockdown regulations were damaging public confidence.

The first minister told reporters she reversed her earlier decision to publicly defend Catherine Calderwood after it became clear later on Sunday that the CMO’s position was untenable.

Calderwood apologised on Sunday after admitting that [she and her husband] had twice visited their holiday home in Earlsferry, Fife, during the lockdown and had taken their family and gone for an overnight stay, visiting the local beach.

****

Boris Johnson is beginning his journey of recovery at Chequers, where he is not working or receiving official papers in his red boxes, and has not had any telephone calls with the Queen.

Instead, the prime minister is understood to be enjoying walking in the 600-hectare (1,500-acre) grounds of the 16th-century manor house in Buckinghamshire, wrapped up against a cool spring wind, and with his pregnant fiancee,  Carrie Symonds, and jack russell-cross terrier, Dilyn, at his side.

He is expected to remain at Chequers, the official retreat of serving prime ministers since 1921, until his medical advisers believe he is well enough to return to Downing Street.

****

Boris Johnson has returned to Downing Street to take charge of the UK's response to the coronavirus outbreak.....

He arrived back at No 10 on Sunday evening amid mounting pressure from Tory MPs to begin lifting the lockdown.

****

The scientist whose advice prompted Boris Johnson to lock down Britain resigned from his Government advisory position on Tuesday night as The Telegraph can reveal he broke social distancing rules to meet his married lover.

Professor Neil Ferguson allowed the woman to visit him at home during the lockdown while lecturing the public on the need for strict social distancing in order to reduce the spread of coronavirus. The woman lives with her husband and their children in another house.

****

And, from the Torygraph:

Mapped: How coronavirus death toll has hit the poorest areas hardest

Fresh analysis of deaths in England and Wales paints a bleak picture for those living in the most deprived and built-up areas.....

For the first time, deaths from coronavirus in England and Wales have been mapped to deprivation areas by the Office for National Statistics, revealing those in the poorest and most densely populated areas  are most at risk.

Covid-19 deaths in the most deprived areas are more than double those in the most affluent.

And the death rate is six times higher among those living in major cities than in rural areas, the new data reveals.

****

It's the same the whole world over, 

It's the poor what gets the blame, [virus,]

It's the rich what gets the pleasure, [splendid isolation,]

Isn't it a blooming shame [proof of bias]?

[After] Billy Bennett

****


Foot note (May 11th)

It would seem that Mr Johnson has yet again been visiting his second home, as the broadcast he made on Sunday (yesterday) evening was not filmed in Downing Street.  
I am guessing, but perhaps he took his girlfriend and child to Chequers for another weekend?  Is there no end to his hypocritical double standards?