The Church of St. Mary the Virgin in the South Somerset village of Whitelackington.

A mile or so east of Ilminster in South Somerset is the village of Whitelackington, its Church of St. Mary the Virgin being separated from the village by the Old London Road and nestles, alongside the Manor House, on rising ground to the south.

Both the church and manor house are built of Hamstone.  St. Mary’s is in the Perpendicular style with windows suggesting its origins date from the early fourteenth century.  The manor house is gabled and probably built in the sixteenth or seventeenth century.

I took the photo below from the eastern slopes of Beacon Hill on the northern fringe of Ilminster.  At this time of year the winter sunshine was able to shine through the branches of leafless trees and highlight the wonderful golden tones of the Hamstone buildings.

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, and the adjacent Manor House, in the South Somerset village of Whitelackington.

Theodore Roosevelt in praise of the English blackbird.

We are in the bleak mid-winter, but on my daily wanderings along the byways and hedgerows of this corner of South Somerset I have noticed a goodly number of blackbirds.  They are obviously not singing yet, but the warmer months should see them break into their wonderful song.

I was reminded of Theodore Roosevelt’s delightful tribute to the English blackbird in his autobiography.  I quote from it below.

In 1910 the former American president, having spent several weeks in England, was due to sail home from Southampton on June 10.  Being a lover of birds and birdsong he managed to arrange a day of birdwatching in Hampshire the day before his departure.

Roosevelt travelled by train to Basingstoke accompanied by his friend Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary.  With Sir Edward acting as guide the two avid ornithologists drove to the valley of the River Itchen to view the birdlife of the area and listen to its birdsong.

Having walked for several hours in the area Roosevelt described the valley as follows: “It is very beautiful in every way, with a rich, civilised, fertile beauty – the rapid brook twisting among its reed beds, the rich green of trees and grass, the stately woods, the gardens and fields, the exceedingly picturesque cottages, the great handsome houses standing in their parks.  Birds were plentiful; I know but few places in America where one would see such an abundance of individuals . . . “.

The two men then drove to the New Forest where they had tea at an inn before tramping on through the forest to Brockenhurst.

Roosevelt wrote of his tramp: “The New Forest is a wild, uninhabited stretch of heath and woodland, many of the trees are gnarled and aged, and its very wildness, the lack of cultivation, the ruggedness, made it strongly attractive in my eyes, and suggested my own country”.

Roosevelt and Sir Edward reached Brockenhurst at nightfall and spent the night at an inn which was in Roosevelt’s words: “. . . as comfortable as possible, and the bath and supper very enjoyable after our tramp; and altogether I passed no pleasanter twenty-four hours during my entire European trip”.

The bird which impressed Roosevelt most during his walking tour was the blackbird.  “I did not know what beautiful singers they were”, he writes. He goes on to say: “I knew he was a singer, but I had no idea how fine a singer he was”.  Roosevelt concludes: “. . . it is far easier to recognise him as the master singer that he is.  It is a fine thing for England to have such an asset of the countryside, a bird so common, so much in evidence, so fearless, and such a beautiful singer”.

Morley Havelock Neale C.B.E. Trawler owner, naturalist and “guerrilla” of Chaffcombe, South Somerset.

In my last blogpost I wrote of Sgt Richard Morley Neale whose epitaph included a poignant verse which starts with the line saying “Now every bird he loved by wood and wave”. 

I could understand the meaning of “by wood”, but was intrigued by “and wave”.  Sgt Neale’s grave is close by that of his father, Morley Havelock Neale, and, following a little research into the Neale family the significance of “and wave “becomes clear.

The Neales were a family of prominent trawler owners based in South Wales.  Morley Neale was made 62nd President of The Cardiff Naturalists’ Society in 1934/35.  His father, Joshua John Neale had been the Society’s 28th and 45th president. 

J. J. Neale leased Grassholm and Skomer, islands off the south-west coast of Pembroke shire, for ten years in order to protect and conserve them as habitats for sea birds.  Grassholm is now known for its huge colony of northern gannets, while Skomer is home to Puffins, Manx Shearwaters, Razorbills, Gannets and Fulmars.  The two islands are now in the care of the R.S.P.B.

The words “by wood and wave” on Sgt Richard Neale’s grave are thus explained.

Morley Neale was made a C.B.E. in 1952 and is listed as Member, Scientific Fishery Research Committees of The Development Commission.  The Development Commission was a permanent Royal commission set-up under the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act 1909 to advise and administer the Development Fund voted annually by Parliament to benefit the rural economy of England.  The Development Commission and its successors are now part of Natural England.

He was also a member of the Marine Biological Association of the U.K.  Its council report for 1965/66 reported his death stating: “Morley Neale had been a member of the Council on a number of occasions, a Vice-President of the Association since 1951, and by a gift he made in 1958, founded the Morley Neale Fund for “the benefit of the Plymouth Laboratory staff and ship’s crews”.

Sometime before the start of the Second World War, Morley Neale moved with his family from South Wales to Chaffcombe House in the South Somerset village of Chaffcombe. 

In the late summer of 1940 it looked as if a German invasion of southern England was imminent with the British Army racing against time to reorganise and rebuild its forces.  Desperate measures were undertaken including the formation of local civilian Auxiliary Units whose task it would be to cause mayhem and destruction in the rear of German forces which had broken through British defences following an invasion.  The idea for these Auxiliary Units came from the great difficulty the British military had in dealing with Boer guerrilla units during the Boer War and Irish Republican Army methods in the years before the Irish Free State came into being.  In both cases armed civilians with local knowledge using guerrilla tactics proved hard to combat.

Wearing the uniform of the Home Guard, Auxiliary Units were made up of 6 or 8 man patrols based in an underground bunker usually concealed in woods.  The men would ideally be farm workers, gamekeepers, woodsmen or gardeners who knew their locality well and were comfortable in a rural environment.  They were expected to do as much damage to the Germans as possible, but their life expectancy was measured in days rather than weeks.

As a naturalist Morley Neale was an ideal candidate to be such a “guerrilla”, and so joined the 8 strong Chard Patrol of the Auxiliary Unit based on Snowdon Hill just west of the town.  He was a member of the patrol from September 1940, when the Auxiliary Units began forming, until 1944 when they were stood down.

Morley Havelock Neale died aged 82 on 28th May 1965 and is buried alongside others of his family in the churchyard of St. Michael and All Angels in Chaffcombe.

 

Sources:

Cardiff Naturalists’ Society.

British Resistance Archive.

A stroll through the Arlington Court Estate in the neighbouring County of Devonshire.

One from the archives!  Back in November 2011 my wife and I enjoyed an autumn stay in a National Trust holiday cottage at Loxhore in North Devonshire, a village on the edge of the Trust’s Arlington Court Estate.  The cottage, named Mortuary Cottage, is tucked away in a wooded valley through which ran the River Yeo.  The back door of the cottage was only a few yards from the riverbank. 

The cottage was given its rather sombre name due to it being designated the village mortuary in the Second World War.  Apparently every village had to have a building for use as a mortuary in case it was bombed by the Luftwaffe, but why the Germans would want to bomb an isolated village in North Devonshire is unfathomable. 

Mortuary Cottage at Loxhore in November 2011.  Cott Bridge over the River Yeo is behind the trees on the right of the picture.

 

Almost every day during our stay I went for a walk into the Arlington Court Estate. The house and estate belonged to the Chichester family for eleven generations.  I followed the footpaths along the slopes of the valley and down to the River Yeo and then on to where I eventually came upon the lake where the river is dammed.  The footpath continued across the dam and up through the wooded hillside to Arlington Court. 

Footpaths in Webber's Wood on the Arlington Court Estate.  Autumn 2011.

Autumn colours in Webber's Wood on the Arlington Court Estate in North Devonshire. November 2011.

I never went into the house - with boots muddied from the walk I doubt if I would have been welcome - nor the National Carriage Museum which is housed in the stable block.

The house dates from 1822 in its current form, but viewed from the outside it did not strike me as being one of the more attractive buildings in the Trust’s care.  However, the estate’s walks are difficult to better.

The Lake and its piers.

To quote from the National Trust information board:

“Sir John Chichester formed the lake in1850 by damming the River Yeo. 

Having built the lake, Sir John decided to impress his guests by building a long approach drive to his house which would be carried over the lake by a suspension bridge.  He died in 1851 before the project was complete.  The piers remain.”

The Lake and its piers on The National Trust's Arlington Court Estate in North Devonshire photographed in November 2011.

The National Trust discovers Britain had colonies and links to the African slave trade - who would have known such a thing?

The National Trust seems to have just discovered that Britain once had colonies – who would have known such a thing if they had not informed us!?  And – shock, horror, - Britain was once involved in the African slave trade.  I can’t imagine that this would be startling news to anyone who was given a half decent education.  I learnt about such things at junior school in the late 1950s.

Be that as it may, in order to keep up with the wokies in academia the National Trust’s historians have compiled a list of properties which have links with colonialism and the slave trade.  The fact that practically everything British has such links does not appear to have occurred to them, therefore the national list, not surprisingly, is a long one.

In Somerset there are four properties listed: Clevedon Court, Bath Assembly Rooms, Barrington Court and, amazingly, Glastonbury Tor.

Barrington Court’s presence on the National Trusts dossier is due to the fact that the house, acquired by the Trust in 1907, was leased in 1920 to Colonel Arthur Abram Lyle, the grandson of the founder of Abram Lyle & Sons, a sugar producing company.  The business was founded after the abolition of slavery so for some reason the Trust went to great lengths to find a connection to a supposedly morally dubious past.

Here is Barrington Court’s “crime sheet” from the Trust’s national report “Interim Report on the Connections between Colonialism and Properties now in the Care of the National Trust, Including Links with Historic Slavery.”:

The National Trust acquired Barrington Court in 1907, in a derelict condition. From 1920, Barrington was leased and restored by Colonel Abram Arthur Lyle (1880–1931), using architectural salvage collected from other houses. Lyle was the grandson of the founder of Abram Lyle & Sons, a sugar-producing company of which the colonel became director, and which merged to form Tate & Lyle in 1921. Both businesses were established after the abolition of slavery. The early nineteenth and early twentieth century British sugar industry was predominantly supplied by Caribbean plantations, founded under colonialism and supported by enslaved labour.

As for Glastonbury Tor being on the Trust’s dossier, words fail me!  It strikes me that those running the National Trust cannot be happy in their job if they think many of the properties in their care have dishonourable links.  Perhaps they should resign and let pragmatists take their place.

Puckington and its Church of St. Andrew. A South Somerset village having "an old world look".

The charmingly named South Somerset village of Puckington straddles the B3168, or The Curry Road, between Ilminster and Curry Rivel.  Puckington appears in the Domesday Book as Pochintone.  However it appears to be derived from puc and tun; puc being the Old English word for Hobgoblin and tun meaning enclosure, farm or smallholding.  One could say that Puckington was once The Hobgoblin’s farmstead!

The South Somerset village of Puckington viewed from the south. The tower of St. Andrew's Church can be seen above the treetops in the centre of the photo.

Kelly’s Directory of Somerset (1914) tells us:

“Puckington is a village and parish, on the River Ile and on the road from Langport to Chard, 3 miles north-east of Ilminster Station on the Chard branch of the Great Western railway and 7 miles south west from Langport.”

Today the railway to Ilminster and Chard is no more, a victim of the Beeching cuts, and the River Ile is more commonly spelt Isle.

Kelly’s also informs us that:

“Viscount Portman is Lord of the Manor and chief landowner.  The soil is partly sand and partly sand and clay, and the subsoil is limestone.  The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, beans and roots.  The acreage is 774; rateable value £1,001; the population in 1911 was 136.”

The Portman family also held estates around Durston and Hestercombe, including Hestercombe House, but by 1976 the family had disposed of their land in Somerset and the 9th Viscount Portman had moved to Portman Square in London.

Puckington, with its thatched cottages, farmhouses, and Church of St. Andrew is described by Arthur Mee in his The King’s England – Somerset (Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. 1968) as having “. . . an old world look, especially about its 15th century church, with a chancel 200 years older in which is still the original piscina and the triple sedilia added when the church was 100 years old.  In the sanctuary are two old carved chairs.  The font has the Norman mason’s cable moulding around it, and in the tower is still a bell which rang out before the Reformation.”

Church of St. Andrew in the village of Puckington, South Somerset. 

I came across this interesting tomb in the churchyard at Puckington in July 2015, but could not decipher the inscription.

The Church was restored in 1857 and again in 1910, when a new organ was provided.

A pleasant stroll around the South Somerset village of Cricket Malherbie and its Church of St. Mary Magdalene.

On the minor road which takes you south out of the Somerset market town of Ilminster, between the hamlets of Sea and Dowlish Ford, is a signpost directing the traveller to Cricket Malherbie.  Follow the sign up the narrow gently climbing lane, keeping an eye open for tractors and other vehicles, especially on the sharp bends, and you will find the road widens as you approach Cricket Malherbie’s parish church of St. Mary Magdalene.  This charmingly named village is not much bigger than a hamlet.  Its cottages, some thatched, are dotted around the church and Cricket Court – the manor house.  There is ample room to park beside the church, and it is well worth stopping to have a wander round to enjoy the quiet and the scenery.


My wife and I wandered up past the gates to Cricket Court to the next crossroads before retracing our steps.  We caught a glimpse of the manor house and its drive from the road, but as it is private property we obviously made no attempt at a closer look.  Just past Beaverbrook Barn we stopped at a gate to enjoy the wonderful views toward the Blackdown Hills and the more distant Quantocks.  All in all, a very pleasant stroll!

The view from Cricket Malerhbie toward Ilminster and Beacon Hill.

The view from Cricket Malherbie toward Herne Hill south of Ilminster.

The view from the South Somerset village of Cricket Malherbie toward the Blackdown Hills,

A view from Cricket Malherbie in South Somerset with the Quantock Hills on the horizon.

Some history.

Kelly’s Directory of Somerset (1914) informs us that Cricket Malherbie: “is a parish and village 2 miles south of Ilminster and 3 miles north-east of Chard.  Cricket Court, a mansion of stone, is prettily situated, and surrounded by well-timbered grounds: it is the property of Major Thomas Morton Stanhope Pitt, who is lord of the manor and chief landowner.  The soil is flint and gravel; the subsoil clay.  The crops are wheat barley and oats, and there is some pasture.  The area is 461 acres, rateable value £536; population in 1911, 38.”


Cricket Court has links to both world wars.  In the First World War Thomas Morton Stanhope Pitt, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and later Brigadier General, commanded the 5th (Yeomanry) Mounted Brigade and the 6th Mounted Brigade between 1 December 1915 and 28 September 1917.  He led them in the Sinai and Palestine Campaigns.


In the Second World War Cricket Court was owned by Lord Beaverbrook, one of Churchill’s ministers.  In 1944 Churchill and General Dwight D. Eisenhower met there, as guests of Beaverbrook, to discuss the D-Day landings.


Cricket Malherbie’s Church of St. Mary Magdalene was rebuilt in 1855 at a cost of about £4,500.  Arthur Mee in his The Kings England – Somerset (Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1968) writes of the church: “It is a handsome building with a little spire, fine gable crosses, and a beautiful pierced parapet of flowing design.”

 “Kelly’s Directory of Somerset (1914) tells us: “The living is a rectory, net yearly value £55, with residence and 25 acres of glebe, in the gift of Major T.M.S. Pitt.” 


Exploring the churchyard.

While exploring the churchyard we came across a charming railed memorial stone commemorating Geoffrey Fawsitt Taylor (1902 to 1982) who was born in Waverly, New South Wales, Australia.  The inscription reads: “INDIAN MEDICAL SERVICE ~ PROFFESSOR OF MEDICINE LAHORE UNIVERSITY ~ CONSULTANT PHYSICIAN 14th ARMY BURMA ~ ALL THAT COULD DIE OF HIM LIES HERE IN THE PLACE HE LIVED FOR 37 YEARS.

He stood in general elections, unsuccessfully, a number of times in the 1950s, 60s and 70s as candidate for the Liberal Party in the Yeovil Parliamentary Constituency.   


There is also the imposing grave of Captain Francis Philip Egerton RN. (b.23 September 1812  d.2.March 1893), an officer who served at sea in the early-Victorian era.    

He was aboard HMS VANGUARD (78guns) and HMS CALCUTTA (84 guns) in the Mediterranean before serving in the East Indies aboard HMS AGINCOURT (74guns).  After his time in HMS AGINCOURT he remained in the East Indies and was in command of HMS HAZARD, a 431 ton wooden sloop of 18 guns, between August 1844 and May 1847.

He retired from the Royal Navy on 1 July 1864.

The Church of St. Mary Magdalene in the South Somerset village of Cricket Malherbie.

The spire of St. Mary Magdalene in Cricket Malherbie, South Somerset.

Staple Common on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset. A fine view toward the Quantock Hills.

The short drive south from Staple Fitzpaine on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset takes you between the hedgerows up a narrow twisty minor road toward Castle Neroche and its environs.  With Neroche on your left you will come upon the entrance to the Forestry Commission’s Staple Common plantation on your right.  Pull in to the wide gateway and you can enjoy some fine views toward the Quantock Hills.

Earlier this week I did just that, and took some photos.

The first photo is a view over the tower of St. Peter's Church in the village of Staple Fitzpaine - it can be seen above the treetops in the centre of the picture.  Hestercombe House, on the slopes of the Quantocks, is just visible on the left of the picture.

A view from Staple Common on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset toward the Quantock Hills.

I panned to the west for the second photo.  Hestercombe House is now just visible on the right.

A view toward the Quantock Hills from Staple Common on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset. 

Admiral Sir James Somerville, commander of Force H, the squadron which crippled the Bismarck, at rest in a Somerset churchyard in the village of Dinder.

In the shadow of Somerset’s Mendip Hills, just north of the A371 between Wells and Shepton Mallet, is the little village of Dinder.  Within the village is Dinder House, formerly a manor house dating from the twelfth century, rebuilt by the Somervilles in 1801.  It remained their family home up until the death of Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Somerville on this day in 1949.   

Sir James Fownes Somerville was born in Weybridge, Surrey, on 17 July 1882, the second son of Arthur Fownes Somerville of Dinder and his wife Ellen, daughter of William Stanley Sharland, of North Norfolk, Tasmania.  The Somervilles were related to that great naval family, the Hoods.

Somerville joined the RN in 1897 and became a lieutenant in 1904. He qualified in the vital new field of wireless telegraphy in 1907.

He was fleet wireless officer during the Gallipoli campaign where his outstanding work in ship to shore communications brought him the award of the DSO.

In 1921 Somerville was promoted to captain and commanded the battleships HMS BENBOW, HMS BARHAM and HMS WARSPITE.  Following the mutiny by seamen in ships of the Atlantic Fleet at Invergordon on 15 and 16 September 1931, Somerville and Captain James Tovey, another future admiral, undertook an enquiry to establish its causes.   

During the Spanish Civil War Somerville spent two years as senior British naval officer off the Spanish Mediterranean Coast.  In 1937 he was promoted to vice-admiral and subsequently became Commander-in-Chief East Indies in October 1938.  However, in July 1939 he was forced to retire with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis, a diagnosis he contested.

The outbreak of World War Two soon saw Somerville back in the service of his country.  After overseeing the development of naval radar and its rapid installation aboard ships he gave valuable assistance to Admiral Ramsay who oversaw the Dunkirk Evacuation.

After the defeat of France Somerville took command of Force H, a squadron based at Gibraltar to act as gatekeeper to the Mediterranean and operate in the Central Atlantic as necessary.  He then commanded what was, in my opinion, one of the most inglorious and mistaken actions ever undertaken by the Royal Navy.   Somerville was tasked with arranging, either by negotiation or force, the demobilisation of major units of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir near Oran in French Algeria.  When talks failed Somerville, with the insistence of Churchill, ordered his ships to open fire on the anchored French warships.  The bombardment resulted in the deaths of 1,297 French servicemen, the sinking of one capital ship and heavy damage to another.  Somerville himself described it as a “filthy job”.

Many senior officers in the Royal Navy thought at the time, and after the war, that the order from Churchill and the War Cabinet to open fire on erstwhile allies was wrong.  Stephen Roskill in his Churchill and the Admirals (Pen & Sword Books Ltd. 2013) writes:  

“While working on my war history I had many interviews and much correspondence with Cunningham, Somerville and North, the three admirals concerned in the attack on Oran and related plans.  None of them ever budged from the view that, given more time for negotiation, the tragedy could have been averted.  On 9 January 1950 Cunningham wrote to Admiral Lord Fraser, then First Sea Lord, that 90 per cent of senior naval officers, including myself, thought Oran a ghastly error and still do.”

In May 1941 Force H was called on to help the Home Fleet in the hunt for the BISMARCK.  Somerville’s masterly handling of his squadron led to HMS ARK ROYAL’s Swordfish aircraft crippling the BISMARCK with torpedoes thus allowing Admiral Sir John Tovey’s battleships to catch and sink her.

In 1940 and 1941 Somerville’s ships regularly and successfully supported vital convoys to Malta, but after flying off reinforcements of aircraft to that besieged island HMS ARK ROYAL was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine  U81 on 13 November 1941.

Following Japan’s entry into the war Somerville was sent to the Far East in February 1942 to command a reformed Eastern Fleet.  Many of his ships were obsolete and his fleet was in no condition to confront the powerful Japanese carrier group which forayed into the Indian Ocean in the spring of 1942.  All Somerville could do was to retreat out of range of the Japanese until they withdrew to the Pacific for their next confrontation with the American Navy.

It was not until the spring of 1944 that Somerville was able to undertake offensive operations.  By this time his fleet had been reinforced by more modern units including the aircraft carrier HMS ILLUSTRIOUS and, operating alongside the American carrier USS SARATOGA, air strikes were launched against Japanese oil installations on Sumatra and Java.

In August 1944 Somerville left the Eastern Fleet to take up the post of Head of the British Admiralty delegation in Washington, a position he held from October 1944 to December 1945.  He made a great success of this mission and even became friends with the blunt and short-tempered Admiral Ernest J. King, the anglophobic American chief of naval operations.

On leaving the Royal Navy in 1946 he retired to Dinder House becoming Lord Lieutenant of Somerset.  He died in Dinder on 19 March 1949 of a coronary thrombosis and is buried there in the village churchyard of St. Michael and All Angels.   His wife Mary, whom he married in January 1913, predeceased him in August 1945.

Sources.

Churchill and the Admirals, Stephen Roskill (Pen & Sword Books Ltd. 2013)

Oxford Dictionary of National Biographies.

https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/36191

An autumn stroll around the gardens and orchards of Barrington Court, near Ilminster, in South Somerset.

A couple of days after the Autumnal Equinox, with the weather calm and warm, my wife and I visited the National Trust’s Barrington Court in South Somerset.  We have explored the Elizabethan mansion before so we decided to make the most of the sunshine and stroll around the grounds. 

Heading for the gate to the Rose and Iris Garden we passed the Herbaceous Border which was alive with bees busily working away, especially on the Michaelmas daisies.  It was quite a contrast to our own garden; we now see only an occasional bee whereas just a month ago our lavenders were bustling with them.

Bees among the Michaelmas daisies in the Herbaceous Border at Barrington Court in South Somerset.

In the Lily Garden I spent some time taking photos of Strode House and the pond.  Built of red brick in 1674 for William Strode II, Strode House was originally a massive stable block for 12 horses and 2 coaches.  It was converted into a home for the family of Colonel Arthur Lyle, a director of the famous Tate & Lyle sugar refining company, who took a 99 year lease on Barrington Court in 1920.  The Lily Garden was designed by Gertrude Jekyll and the architect J. E. Forbes, a friend of Colonel Lyle.

Strode House at Barrington Court in South Somerset.

The pond in the Lily Garden at Barrington Court.

Moving on across the South Lawn we noticed a huge lime tree standing by the entrance to the East Orchard was graced with an abundance of mistletoe.  Inside the East Orchard we sat in the shade for a while watching the acrobatic capers of a couple of squirrels, and then walked on through the arches in the neatly trimmed beech hedges either side of the Lime Walk. 

Mistletoe in a lime tree at Barrington Court.

We turned back toward the Elizabethan mansion house and arrived at the north front, the main entrance, of Barrington Court.  Taking the path around the east wing back to the south lawn I noticed the churchlike diagonal buttresses on the corners of the house – a pleasing feature.

After a couple of hours in South Somerset’s fresh autumn air it was time to head back to the car; while doing so my wife noticed some cyclamen growing in the shade beneath three oak trees.  Needless to say, we took photos.

Cyclamen, caught in a sunbeam, beneath oak trees at Barrington Court in South Somerset.

Wickerwork wild animals in the woods at Knightshayes Court in the neighbouring county of Devonshire.

Yesterday my wife and I visited one of our favourite National Trust estates, Knightshayes Court in the neighbouring county of Devonshire.  We arrived at 1pm and decided lunch was the first item on the agenda.  There was a queue in the well patronised restaurant, but we easily found a table and were speedily served a baked potato each and tea for two.  After our very enjoyable meal, having toured the house on a previous visit, we decided to explore the woods and gardens to the east. 

During a pleasant stroll in alternating sunshine and shade we came upon some intriguing wickerwork animals placed here and there alongside the footpaths.  Unfortunately I don’t know the names of the artists who created these remarkable works of art.

The deer, horse and foxes were life-size, but I have yet to encounter such an enormous badger!    

Wickerwork deer in the woods at Knightshayes Court in Devonshire.

Wickerwork horse in the woods east of the house at Knightshayes Court in Devonshire.

Wickerwork foxes play in the woods at Knightshayes Court in Devonshire.

A larger than life wickerwork badger emerges from the undergrowth at Knightshayes Court in Devonshire.

Tintinhull Garden, near Yeovil, in South Somerset.

The National Trust’s Tintinhull Garden is east of Yeovil and just a mile or so south of the A303 in Somerset.  Tintinhull is well signposted and the Garden is easy to find just off the centre of the village; its small, but adequate car park only a few yards beyond the Crown and Victoria pub.

The National Trust's Tintinhull House, near Yeovil, in South Somerset.

Cedar Court in Tintinhull Garden, South Somerset.

I visited on a very warm Monday lunchtime in June and found the gardens tranquil and uncrowded. As I explored, at any one time I found only two or three other people in each of the seven gardens – ideal for taking photos.

The 17th century house and garden was bought by Phyllis Reiss and Captain Reiss in 1933.  Over the years Phyllis designed and created the Arts and Craft style garden, and upon her death in 1961 left the house and its grounds to the National Trust.  The gardens were further developed by Penelope Hobhouse and her husband Professor Malins when they took over the tenancy twenty years after Phyllis Reiss’s death. 

The vegetable garden at Tintinhull.

The Pool Garden at Tintinhull.

The Pool Garden was designed by Phyllis Reiss as a poignant tribute to her nephew, Sub-Lieutenant (A) John Michael Lucas, (RNVR), a Fleet Air Arm fighter pilot.  At the age of 21 he was killed in action while flying from the aircraft carrier HMS INDOMITABLE on 12th August 1942 during operation Pedestal, the hard fought five day convoy battle which successfully relieved the siege of Malta. 

The memorial plaque in the Pool Garden at Tintinhull remembering John Michael Lucas, Sub-Lieutenant (A), (RNVR).

Before leaving Tintinhull, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book, I took an enjoyable stroll back to the centre of the village.  Paul Newman in his Somerset Villages (Robert Hale – London, 1986) describes it as: “. . . yet another bright star in the galaxy of Hamstone havens.  The quarried blocks have weathered so beautifully here that many of the buildings might have been composed of chunks of tarnished gold.”  Newman’s evocative word picture of Tintinhull has certainly stood the test of time.

"The Remains of the Day" film locations on the Mendip Hills in Somerset.

One of my favourite films is “The Remains of the Day” released in 1993 starring Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton, the housekeeper, and Anthony Hopkins as Mr Stevens, the butler.  The story is set in the stately home of an aristocrat during the 1930s when a significant group within the British political and aristocratic establishment thought it desirable to come to an “arrangement” with Hitler’s Germany. 

Many of the film’s locations are in Somerset. Two of them, Deer Leap near Priddy and The Old Bristol Road at Stockhill Wood, are on the Mendip Hills where I spent many a visit enjoying the views and walking my much missed dog, Rosie.

There are several other Somerset locations used in the film.  The characterful George Inn at Norton St. Phillip is where Mr Benn courts Miss Kenton.  Stevens drives along Kewstoke Road past Birnbeck Island into Weston-super-Mare, which plays the part of Clevedon.  The old Grand Pier, since destroyed by fire and rebuilt, is where Miss Kenton and Mr Stevens spend time before their tearful final farewell. 

A view from Deer Leap on the Mendip Hills in Somerset.  The location of a scene in the film "The Remains of the Day".

On his way to visit Miss Kenton in Clevedon Mr Stevens’ car runs out of petrol at Deer Leap as the sun is about to set.  Stevens finds his way to a pub for the night, the actual location being the Hop Pole Inn, Woods Hill, Lower Limpley Stoke.  The next morning Dr Carlisle, who met Stevens in the pub the previous night, gives Stevens a lift back to his car.  They travel north along the Old Bristol Road past the Forestry Commission’s Stockhill Wood and Waldegrave Pool, although in reality they are heading in the opposite direction to Deer Leap! 

The Old Bristol Road at Stockhill Wood on the Mendip Hills in Somerset.  The location for a scene in the film "The Remains of the Day".

A view near Waldegrave Pool from the Old Bristol Road on the Mendip Hills in Somerset.  It appears in the film "The Remains of the Day" as Dr. Carlisle drives Stevens back to his car.

  

St.Mary's Church in the Somerset village of West Harptree and its memorial to two RAF servicemen.

I recently had cause to travel along the A368, cutting across the Chew Valley from the A37 at Chelwood Bridge, to the A38 at Churchill.  It’s a very pleasant undulating drive through the picturesque villages of Compton Martin, West Harptree, Blagdon and Rickford with the Mendip Hills to the south and Chew Valley Lake and its smaller neighbour Blagdon Lake to the north.

At West Harptree I decided to stop and have a stroll around with my camera.  Situated in the centre of the village and flanked by yew trees, St. Mary’s Church is very photogenic; it is one of the minority of Somerset churches which have a spire.  Pevsner describes the church as standing: “. . . at a corner full of interest in all directions.”  Just west from St. Mary’s is a charming Jacobean manor house while across the road is Gournay Court, a large early seventeenth century house built of red sandstone.  The mid seventeenth century Tilly Manor Farm sits adjacent to Gournay Court.  To the north-east of the church is the Vicarage with a  façade dating from around 1700.  The village pub, The Crown, sits opposite the church to the east.

A view of West Harptree in Somerset looking east from St. Mary's Church. 

Looking inside the south porch of St. Mary’s I came upon a memorial plaque to two RAF men killed in the Second World War.  One of them, Sgt H.D. King is lying at rest in a Commonwealth War Grave near the western wall of the churchyard.  I took some photos and decided to do some research when back at home.

St. Mary's Church, with its memorial clock, in the village of West Harptree, Somerset.

I discovered that both these young RAF men were members of specialist units.  Sgt Herbert Donald King was an Air Bomber (Bomb Aimer) serving with 138 Special Duties Squadron equipped with the Halifax flying from RAF Tempsford, Bedfordshire, and was one of two Special Duties Squadrons.  The other was 161 Squadron.   The two squadrons flew in support of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) whose job it was to promote sabotage and subversive activities against the Germans.  Both squadrons flew all over Europe, from Norway in the north to Yugoslavia in the south and as far east as Poland.  Their missions were to parachute agents, arms and equipment into enemy occupied territory. 

On the night of 16/17 December 1943 Sgt King and seven others flew a mission to Carcassonne in the South of France to drop 12 containers and 5 packages to the resistance.  After a twelve hour flight they encountered severe weather conditions on their return to England and decided to land at Woodbridge in Suffolk.  Sadly their aircraft, Halifax Mk.5, LL115 NF-A, crashed into trees at Capel Green; three men survived, but Sgt King and four others of the crew were killed.  Aged 26 he was the son of Herbert Tyler King and Hilda Annie King of East Harptree.

LAC Alfred George Salvidge was serving with the RAF’s 5 Beach Unit in Italy.  Unfortunately he was killed in a road accident near Naples on 17 March 1944 and is buried in Naples War Cemetery.  Aged 24, he was the son of Alfred and Edith Salvidge of West Harptree.

I had never heard of RAF Beach Units but to quote Mike Fenton’s very informative website RAF Beach Units of the Second World War their role was: “To assist with the landing, assembly and onward despatch of RAF personnel, stores and equipment across the invasion beaches.” 

Both men are remembered.  The memorial plaque in St. Mary’s porch states:
“This memorial clock was erected in the tower of West Harptree Church by the parishioners to the glory of god and in perpetual memory of

Flt Sgt H.D. King RAFVR

LAC G.A. Salvidge RAF

who gave their lives for us in the cause of freedom during the Second World War 1939-1945 also in grateful recognition of those men and women who served from this parish in the armed and auxiliary services of the Crown.

Friend behold me here I stand, to tell the time at thy command, friend be wise and learn from me, to serve thy god as I serve thee.”*

*The CWG headstone in the churchyard is engraved with the rank of Sergeant.  In RAF records and on the CWG headstone in Naples LAC Salvidge’s initials are A.G. 

Otterhead Lakes on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset.

The Otterhead Lakes Estate is 233 acres in extent comprising a nature reserve and mixed woodland managed by the Otterhead Estate Trust and the Forestry Commission respectively.  Nestling in a valley in the centre of the Blackdown Hills in Somerset, its lakes are fed by the River Otter.

It is exactly 3.3 miles from the junction of the B3170 and A303 to the Otterhead Lakes car park.  Take the B3170 through the beautiful Blackdown Hills and cross the Devonshire border into Somerset.  Pass Robin Hood's Butts, a series of Bronze Age Barrows, on your left and then keep a lookout, still on your left, for the signpost to Otterford Church.  Take this narrow lane which eventually swings right and you will find the car park on your left tucked away behind the trees.  If you reach St. Leonard's Church at Otterford you will have gone too far!

On my visit there were only 3 other cars parked with room for a dozen or so more, but although it was a dry day it looked a little muddy in places - care might be needed in wet weather.

I walked down the gently sloping track, through the trees, past the remains of a walled garden and crossed a footbridge leading to the western bank.  I made my way to the right up rising ground where I found an information board - I had come across several handily placed ones already - which told me that just ahead was the site of Otterhead House.  I could find no remains except a few paving stones and a short flight of steps.  The House, built on the side of the valley, must have had a wonderfully peaceful outlook over House Lake.  I enjoyed the view for a while and then retraced my steps; the footpath down to the Cascades and Royston Lake will be explored on my next visit.

A pair of Swans winging their way across House Lake at Otterhead Lakes in Somerset's Blackdown Hills.

The Estate and Otterhead House originated in 1817 under the ownership of William Oliver of Kingston St. Mary.  It was expanded by William Beadon of Taunton who married into the family.  Beadon built lakes and water gardens inspired by Hestercombe House.

The Estate was sold in 1864, after Beadon's death, to Sir John Mellor.  The Mellor family enlarged the two lakes and added another five.  They also extended the house and created a series of terraced walks.

The Lewis Lloyd family were the next owners, having been forced to move from Nantgwyllt House because of the building of the Elan Valley dams and reservoirs in mid-Wales, a project which took from 1893 to 1906.  Under their ownership the Otterhead Estate reached its greatest extent in 1894 following the purchase of two more farms.

Following the death in 1917 of Robert Evans Lewis Lloyd, the grandson of Robert Lewis Lloyd, the Estate was managed by the Public Trustee.  Eventually, 1n 1939, the Estate was purchased by Taunton Corporation as a water catchment and is now owned by Wessex Water plc.

Sadly, since it was in such an idyllic location, Otterhead House was eventually demolished in 1951-1952 and of the lakes only House Lake and Royston Lake remain.

The view across House Lake to the valley slopes where Otterhead House once stood. 

For information and photographs of Otterhead House here is a link to The Otterhead Lakes Estate website.
http://e-voice.org.uk/otterheadestate/