Absolutely delightful piece. The connection between words and places is heartwarming. Thank you for introducing this writer, to think I had no idea while living in Cambridge! Just goes to show how much Secret Cambridge there really is, not part of the visitor 'rounds'....
Thanks for your kind words, Maria. I think it's easy not to be aware of Lucy Boston and her amazing house - I hadn't heard of it for ages, not having read the Green Knowe books as a child. I wish I had, but even without knowing the background, it's just an astonishing place.
Ann, you have captured so much in this piece, not only with your words but also with your beautiful photographs. I am inspired to reread The Children of Green Knowe and agree that the Manor at Hemingford Grey is a marvel
Thanks Maggie, it has been very good to discuss this with you, and I imagine the Music Room a great venue for ghost story sessions too. Listening to 'Abide with me' fill the room on that amazing gramophone was very moving.
Yes I really recommend the MR James ghost story evenings hosted on dark evenings in the historic, atmospheric music room. I came across them by chance, advertised on a poster on the path by the Manor House. Very memorable and absolutely timeless
I am thrilled to read this essay. It is so charged with delight and wonder that I’m as astonished as I would be to enter Alice’s looking-glass world. The article doesn’t seem researched (although, of course, it thoroughly and impeccably is) so much as it feels like being invited into the home of an intimate friend. Thank you for another stellar piece.
That is lovely to hear Mary - the Manor also seems to have that effect on people so I am glad! I wanted to write more about the house itself, but that will be for another time... it just felt right to talk about the childhood influences on Lucy Boston, how she learned from them but also asserted her difference from them. I loved your recent post about your mother's baking too.
This is amazing! Definitely hope to go to see the house and garden one day, and after loving the Green Knowe books for so many years, it’s so interesting to learn more about Lucy Boston (and her late blooming too!) Also very inspired by that gorgeous photo from the David Parr house - another place to add to my visiting list! Thanks so much for sharing it all.
Thanks Amy, much appreciated! I hope you do get to see both houses - very different in style, but both are works of art, preserved by people who cared hugely about them. The David Parr house is a tiny, but beautiful, terraced house. Yes, Lucy Boston did not let age prevent her from embarking on new creative adventures! An inspiration to us all.
Thank you very much for the mention! I haven't visited the house for many years, but your piece makes me long to do so again. The garden in early summer is magical: she chose the most beautiful old roses. An extraordinary woman in an extraordinary house.
Agreed, Deborah, about the magic of the house. The wonderful Diana Boston is still doing afternoon tours and she is also extraordinary - hugely knowledgeable and enthusiastic. My friend came from Oxford to see the Manor after reading my piece, and she loved it too.
I only recently registered that Lucy Boston only started writing at 60 ( perhaps because that figure is approaching this year for me...) What an extraordinary late blooming she had! I love " Memories" and "Foolish and Perverse" and think she would have been wonderful company. I love the Elisabeth Vellacott ( of the airmen?)A very enjoyable piece and thank you very much for the mention.
I love this and I didn't know Boston's work-- How have I missed it? Is it less known in the U.S. maybe? I'm writing my own house-and-gardens post today, by coincidence, and won't be nearly this comprehensive! :) (Also thank you for the h/t! I should have led with that!)
I will be very interested to read your piece, Victoria. I meant mine to be fairly short, but got carried away - so much to say about the wonderfully talented Lucy Boston. Very interested to find out her novels less well known in the US. They didn't make it over to my local library in N. Ireland either, or not where I grew up!
‘She had short silver curls and her face had so many wrinkles it looked as if someone had been trying to draw her for a very long time and every line put in had made the face more like her.’
To have discovered this gem of Boston's literary legacy is a gift!
Oh thanks Jill! Yes, I love this description too - it really shows her painterly eye, doesn't it - her memoirs are certainly a gift, so I feel honoured to be able to share a tiny bit of them here.
Thank you for taking me back to my childhood when I avidly waiting for the next 'Children of Knowe' to come out. I believe I only ever got 4 of them which I don't think is the whole set - maybe I should now read the other two.
You ask what places inspired us to write. I am not a writer but I do remember a blissful time at the end of my university dissertation when I took myself over to Paris to edit and proofread it in the small parks/squares of Paris, living off brioche and croissant! Made a dreary job most enjoyable.
What nice memories to have, Tamsin! To have been waiting for the next Green Knowe book to appear must have been so exciting - and what a treat to edit, proofread & eat croissants in a Paris café. Makes me want to book a trip over there straightaway (surely I need to visit the library again...) Many thanks.
Delightful. I remember entering Tolly’s world in childhood. How fascinating to meet its creator in this crucible of her imagination. Thanks for the shoutout, too.
Thanks Rona! I found the house so fascinating that I had to know more about the woman who took it on (never having read Green Knowe as a child, how did I miss it?). She’s such a good writer and her autobiography would make a great drama in its own right!
What an interesting piece this is, Ann. Living so close to Hemingford Grey, I had no idea about this manor house. I do believe your surroundings can influence creativity. I'm working on making my own little place be as conducive to my writing as possible.
It's funny, Yasmin, I didn't discover it for many years - meanwhile people had been coming from around the world to see it, and Boston's beautiful patchworks. Well worth making an appointment, I'd say - and I love your idea of making your own creative space at home.
Goodness, I'd forgotten how passionately I loved the Green Knowe books as a child. I only found out recently that Green Knowe was inspired by a real manor house. I'm making plans to visit soon. There was something about those books, frightening and magical but rooted in historical reality, which I think encouraged my ambition to be a writer.
Absolutely delightful piece. The connection between words and places is heartwarming. Thank you for introducing this writer, to think I had no idea while living in Cambridge! Just goes to show how much Secret Cambridge there really is, not part of the visitor 'rounds'....
Thanks for your kind words, Maria. I think it's easy not to be aware of Lucy Boston and her amazing house - I hadn't heard of it for ages, not having read the Green Knowe books as a child. I wish I had, but even without knowing the background, it's just an astonishing place.
Ann, you have captured so much in this piece, not only with your words but also with your beautiful photographs. I am inspired to reread The Children of Green Knowe and agree that the Manor at Hemingford Grey is a marvel
Thanks Maggie, it has been very good to discuss this with you, and I imagine the Music Room a great venue for ghost story sessions too. Listening to 'Abide with me' fill the room on that amazing gramophone was very moving.
Yes I really recommend the MR James ghost story evenings hosted on dark evenings in the historic, atmospheric music room. I came across them by chance, advertised on a poster on the path by the Manor House. Very memorable and absolutely timeless
I am thrilled to read this essay. It is so charged with delight and wonder that I’m as astonished as I would be to enter Alice’s looking-glass world. The article doesn’t seem researched (although, of course, it thoroughly and impeccably is) so much as it feels like being invited into the home of an intimate friend. Thank you for another stellar piece.
That is lovely to hear Mary - the Manor also seems to have that effect on people so I am glad! I wanted to write more about the house itself, but that will be for another time... it just felt right to talk about the childhood influences on Lucy Boston, how she learned from them but also asserted her difference from them. I loved your recent post about your mother's baking too.
This is amazing! Definitely hope to go to see the house and garden one day, and after loving the Green Knowe books for so many years, it’s so interesting to learn more about Lucy Boston (and her late blooming too!) Also very inspired by that gorgeous photo from the David Parr house - another place to add to my visiting list! Thanks so much for sharing it all.
Thanks Amy, much appreciated! I hope you do get to see both houses - very different in style, but both are works of art, preserved by people who cared hugely about them. The David Parr house is a tiny, but beautiful, terraced house. Yes, Lucy Boston did not let age prevent her from embarking on new creative adventures! An inspiration to us all.
Thank you very much for the mention! I haven't visited the house for many years, but your piece makes me long to do so again. The garden in early summer is magical: she chose the most beautiful old roses. An extraordinary woman in an extraordinary house.
Agreed, Deborah, about the magic of the house. The wonderful Diana Boston is still doing afternoon tours and she is also extraordinary - hugely knowledgeable and enthusiastic. My friend came from Oxford to see the Manor after reading my piece, and she loved it too.
I only recently registered that Lucy Boston only started writing at 60 ( perhaps because that figure is approaching this year for me...) What an extraordinary late blooming she had! I love " Memories" and "Foolish and Perverse" and think she would have been wonderful company. I love the Elisabeth Vellacott ( of the airmen?)A very enjoyable piece and thank you very much for the mention.
I love this and I didn't know Boston's work-- How have I missed it? Is it less known in the U.S. maybe? I'm writing my own house-and-gardens post today, by coincidence, and won't be nearly this comprehensive! :) (Also thank you for the h/t! I should have led with that!)
I will be very interested to read your piece, Victoria. I meant mine to be fairly short, but got carried away - so much to say about the wonderfully talented Lucy Boston. Very interested to find out her novels less well known in the US. They didn't make it over to my local library in N. Ireland either, or not where I grew up!
‘She had short silver curls and her face had so many wrinkles it looked as if someone had been trying to draw her for a very long time and every line put in had made the face more like her.’
To have discovered this gem of Boston's literary legacy is a gift!
Oh thanks Jill! Yes, I love this description too - it really shows her painterly eye, doesn't it - her memoirs are certainly a gift, so I feel honoured to be able to share a tiny bit of them here.
Thank you for taking me back to my childhood when I avidly waiting for the next 'Children of Knowe' to come out. I believe I only ever got 4 of them which I don't think is the whole set - maybe I should now read the other two.
You ask what places inspired us to write. I am not a writer but I do remember a blissful time at the end of my university dissertation when I took myself over to Paris to edit and proofread it in the small parks/squares of Paris, living off brioche and croissant! Made a dreary job most enjoyable.
What nice memories to have, Tamsin! To have been waiting for the next Green Knowe book to appear must have been so exciting - and what a treat to edit, proofread & eat croissants in a Paris café. Makes me want to book a trip over there straightaway (surely I need to visit the library again...) Many thanks.
Delightful. I remember entering Tolly’s world in childhood. How fascinating to meet its creator in this crucible of her imagination. Thanks for the shoutout, too.
Thanks Rona! I found the house so fascinating that I had to know more about the woman who took it on (never having read Green Knowe as a child, how did I miss it?). She’s such a good writer and her autobiography would make a great drama in its own right!
What an interesting piece this is, Ann. Living so close to Hemingford Grey, I had no idea about this manor house. I do believe your surroundings can influence creativity. I'm working on making my own little place be as conducive to my writing as possible.
It's funny, Yasmin, I didn't discover it for many years - meanwhile people had been coming from around the world to see it, and Boston's beautiful patchworks. Well worth making an appointment, I'd say - and I love your idea of making your own creative space at home.
Goodness, I'd forgotten how passionately I loved the Green Knowe books as a child. I only found out recently that Green Knowe was inspired by a real manor house. I'm making plans to visit soon. There was something about those books, frightening and magical but rooted in historical reality, which I think encouraged my ambition to be a writer.
I think to see it at this time of year, before the roses that she chose so well fade, is very special.