Lucy Hughes-Hallett - Peculiar Ground

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Dramatis Personae Map 1663 1961 Friday Saturday Sunday 1973 June July August 1989 September October November 1665 Author’s Note By the Same Author About the Author About the Publisher

4th Estate

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.4thEstate.co.uk

This eBook first published in Great Britain by 4th Estate in 2017

Copyright 2017 © Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Lucy Hughes-Hallett asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Cover images © plainpicture/Melanie Haberkorn

Cover design by Heike Schüssler

Map drawn by John Gilkes

‘Don’t Fence Me In’ (from Hollywood Canteen ), words and music by Cole Porter © 1944 (Renewed) WB MUSIC CORPS. All rights reserved. Used by Permission of ALFRED MUSIC.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008126544

Ebook Edition © May 2017 ISBN: 9780008126537

Version: 2018-01-16

For my brothers,

James and Thomas,

with love

We are a garden walled around,

Chosen and made peculiar ground;

A little spot enclosed by grace

Out of the world’s wide wilderness.

ISAAC WATTS

Cover

Title Page Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Dramatis Personae Map 1663 1961 Friday Saturday Sunday 1973 June July August 1989 September October November 1665 Author’s Note By the Same Author About the Author About the Publisher

Copyright Copyright Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Dramatis Personae Map 1663 1961 Friday Saturday Sunday 1973 June July August 1989 September October November 1665 Author’s Note By the Same Author About the Author About the Publisher 4th Estate An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.4thEstate.co.uk This eBook first published in Great Britain by 4th Estate in 2017 Copyright 2017 © Lucy Hughes-Hallett Lucy Hughes-Hallett asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work Cover images © plainpicture/Melanie Haberkorn Cover design by Heike Schüssler Map drawn by John Gilkes ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ (from Hollywood Canteen ), words and music by Cole Porter © 1944 (Renewed) WB MUSIC CORPS. All rights reserved. Used by Permission of ALFRED MUSIC. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780008126544 Ebook Edition © May 2017 ISBN: 9780008126537 Version: 2018-01-16

Dedication Dedication Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Dramatis Personae Map 1663 1961 Friday Saturday Sunday 1973 June July August 1989 September October November 1665 Author’s Note By the Same Author About the Author About the Publisher For my brothers, James and Thomas, with love

Epigraph Epigraph Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Dramatis Personae Map 1663 1961 Friday Saturday Sunday 1973 June July August 1989 September October November 1665 Author’s Note By the Same Author About the Author About the Publisher We are a garden walled around, Chosen and made peculiar ground; A little spot enclosed by grace Out of the world’s wide wilderness. ISAAC WATTS

Dramatis Personae

Map

1663

1961

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

1973

June

July

August

1989

September

October

November

1665

Author’s Note

By the Same Author

About the Author

About the Publisher

1663–1665

John Norris – landscape-maker

Arthur Fortescue, the Earl of Woldingham

The Countess of Woldingham, his wife

Their children – Charles Fortescue, Arthur Fortescue and a little girl

Sir Humphrey de Boinville, brother to Lady Woldingham

Lady Harriet Rivers, Lord Woldingham’s sister

Cecily Rivers, her daughter

Edward

Pastor Rivers – brother to Lady Harriet’s late husband

Another pastor

Robert Rose – architect and comptroller

Meg Leafield

George Goodyear – head forester

Armstrong – ranger

Green – head gardener

Slatter – farm overseer

Underhill – major-domo

Lane – steward

Richardson – apothecary

Lupin, a pug-dog

1961–1989

Living at Wood Manor

Hugo Lane – land agent

Chloe Lane – his wife

Nell – their daughter, aged eight in 1961

Dickie – their son, aged five in 1961

Heather – nanny

Mrs Ferry – cook

Wully, a yellow Labrador, and later his great-nephew, another Wully

Living at Wychwood

Christopher Rossiter – proprietor

Lil Rossiter – his wife

Fergus – their son

Flossie/Flora – Christopher’s niece, aged eighteen in 1961

Underhill – butler

Mrs Duggary – cook

Lupin, a pug-dog, and later another Lupin, also a pug-dog

Grampus, a black Labrador

Visitors

Antony Briggs – art-dealer

Nicholas Fletcher – journalist

Benjie Rose – restaurateur, interior designer, entrepreneur

Helen Rose – his wife, art-historian

Guy – Benjie’s nephew, aged thirteen in 1961

On the estate

John Armstrong – head keeper

Jack Armstrong – his son, aged seventeen in 1961

Doris, Dorabella, Dorian and Dorothy – all spaniels

Green – head gardener

Young Green, his son

Brian Goodyear – head forester

Rob Goodyear, his son

Slatter – farm manager

Meg Slatter – his wife

Bill Slatter – their son