A Book Review. Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols.

Many masses are familiar with the trilogy of ledger Beverley Nichols spell about his Tudor Cottage ; ‘ Allways ’ in Glatton , Huntingdonshire .

Allways . Glatton

The most celebrated is ‘ Down the Garden Path ‘ followed by the other two in the trilogy:‘AThatched cap ‘ and ‘ A Village in a Valley ‘ . The first is the most popular one and is mainly about Beverley find the joys of gardening , as a very young man . The books are beautifully illustrate with drawings by Rex Whistler .

Allways. Glatton

I have been under the weather condition this last week with a vicious chest infection which has kept me by the flame . I did stand for to go and see the baby seals on Horsey Beach in Norfolk and brand about it for December ’s Wildlife Wednesday host by Tina atMygardenersays . But that will have to hold off until another day . I also would have wish to join in with the End of The Month View with Helen at thePatientgardenerblog , but , no chance . In fact I have n’t embark into the garden at all , not even to see if myGalanthus‘Three Ships ’ is nearly out . I am also knifelike to see ifNarcissus‘Cedric Morris ’ is coming along , as both these treasures are often in bloom for Christmas Day . They will have to hold off . I have n’t even been keep up with what everyone else has been blogging about this workweek . My sole reading has been Beverley and very good company he has proved to be .

Many of you will be intimate with the Allways books , but I wonder if you have light upon the equally delicious Merry Hall trilogy . Beverley only stayed in his Tudor cottage for ten year . There was some unpleasantness in the village , particularly when the untried men who add up for weekend visit propositioned the local boys . There was talk of the law being affect and of class this was at a time when homosexuality was illegal .

Merry Hall in Ashtead , Surrey was something completely different . It was a Georgian mansion with five estate . He bought it in 1946 .

Allways. Glatton

Allways. Glatton

Beverley said : ‘ One grows out of Tudor cottages . Little by little , the charm of being stunnedand sent reeling tothe rampart , six metre a day , by the low beams on the ceiling , is apt to fatigue ; one no longer darts gaily to the bathroom for the stick poultice , chortling with entertainment at the overnice Tudore bumpe on one ’s forehead . Nor as season gives way to season , and as the bedroom floor sink more sharply , angle at an even acuter angle , does one take so much pleasure in emerge from bed , as it were , on skis , and sliding down a highly polished slope towards a latticework window … ’ He goes on to say that:‘lingering with the Tudors is merely a augury of artistic adolescence . ‘ Well , that puts me in my billet , as I am linger in a menage built in 1500 , with crushed ceilings which on a regular basis lash out the Pianist who is very tall . He does not chortle about the bumps on the head either . If you try him I do n’t think you would call it a chuckle . My adorable old oak bedroom floors are indeed ski slopes and the beds have to be on blocks to bar the great unwashed from roll out of their beds .

But I ’m afraid we ca n’t all aspire to growing up aesthetically and buying a Georgian hall with five bedrooms on the first floor , five on the 2nd floor , and I trust five more in the attic . It does seem a trifle large . But as Beverley told his doubting friend who view the house with him : ‘ just because one has scads of rooms one need n’t apply them’ . The mansion was decorated throughout in the most dismaying taste but Beverley fell in love with it . He ‘ mentally signed thecontract’when he snuff it into the garden and found that there were huge row of regale lily . Most of the Quran tells the narration of fix the garden with the supporter of the howling former gardener , Oldfield , who had dedicate all his life to the kitchen garden and greenhouse and grow the most terrific vegetables . All the ideas for improvement had to have the favorable reception of Oldfield .

Beverley Nichols with A.E. Newby . ( Oldfield )

I consider much of the garden has been sold off and build on now . But it is rather nice that the housing estate is called ‘ Oldfield Gardens ’ after the fictitious name for Mr. Newby . The garden was surround by a motley holly hedge which Beverley and his married person , Cyril got disembarrass of by set fire to it . This shiny theme came to them after drinking champagne . I wonder if I should taste it on myViburnum tinus . All round the dimension there were huge elms , which from today ’s view , now that these majestic trees have disappeared , audio wonderful . Beverley did n’t care them and they had to go . He say ; ‘ As soon as Constable had finished painting them they should have been rooted out of the British Isles’ . Well , now they have been , Dutch Elm Disease has seen them off and they are a sad going .

I have intercourse the description of the rock garden constellate with dotted concrete stone and the rank , stinking pool . He threw the concrete Oliver Stone into the pond where they protruded like ‘ heads of marine monsters with pebbly eyes ‘ . There are wonderful verbal description of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree buying and , more extravagantly , urn and dolphin buying , as his visual sensation of a beautiful garden encompassed more and more expensive schema . He was extremely extravagant all his life and I gather he was quite severely up in his old geezerhood and had to indite rather awful little whimsical preachment for a woman ’s magazine . He did ad for cat food too which must have been a bit of a come down .

All his fictitious character are superbly drawn . There is Oldfield , the gardener , Gaskin , the manservant who stayed with Beverley for the residue of his lifetime . Cyril , is there , of course , but kept discreetly in the background . cleaning lady are always present in his books and he always describes them with humor and affection , although mostly they incense him too . ‘Miss Emily’keeps popping in and as she was clear in making love with ‘ Stebbings ’ the former owner she is horrified at any of the improvement on the household . The dreadful Stebbings with his dire ideas of interior decoration frequent Beverley throughout . Apparently this philistine pedal on his pianola every morning and used Liszt to cause his bowel . The mentation of this incommode the very melodious Beverley , as much as the wallpapers like skin disease , the wort - like extension and the truly horrible stained looking glass .

‘ Our Rose ‘ the flower organiser is another character who Beverley took great enjoyment in identify . He was a great friend of Constance Spry and an admirer of her efflorescence arranging . I do n’t make out whether ‘ Our Rose ’ actually existed , perhaps she is Violet Stevenson , another flower arranger of the 50 ’s . What Beverley objected to was the terrible path she torture her efflorescence and her full lack of any aesthetic sensation . He always had flowers in the house and was a great enthusiast for wintertime bloom . Some of his estimate for flower arrangements seem rather dated but others are well deserving copy .

His very learned friend Marius wanders in now and then and is always a seed of entertainment . And then there are the ever present and adored cat : ‘ One ’ and ‘ Four ’ .

For a stale winter ’s day of recovery I can not think of a nice thing to do than to model by the fire and read my seed catalogues , and ‘ Merry Hall ‘ follow by ‘ laugh on the Stairs’which is all about the improvements inside the house as well as the garden . The grand Pianist made some fresh scones today and for once ‘ spirit - inside ’ seems very overnice indeed . I have put the Bryan Connon life ‘ Beverley Nichols ; A Life’,so that will be next on the leaning . Tomorrow I shall go and see what everyone else has been doing whilst I had my workweek off blogging .

42 Responses toA Book Review. Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols.

Get well soon Chloris . There is no better way to lie than with a book by the fire . Take tutelage x

I ’m sorry to hear you ’re under the conditions . I hope you ’re up and around shortly but , in the interim , it seems you ’re do the good of your down clock time . I have a Nichols ’ book ( somewhere ) and will front for it – his mood seems a dependable counterpoison for the stresses of the holiday time of year . Feel better !

Oh Chloris – you must indeed be really poorly if you have not ventured out to see your galanthus ‘ Three Ships ’ . Mine which is under screen is almost there so I ’m trusted that yours will be waiting patiently for you . I scan ‘ Down The Garden Path ’ many , many moons ago . Perhaps time to revisit and then essay out some of the titles you cite . Hope that you are presently on the mend . Take care xxx

Beverley Nichols with A.E. Newby. (Oldfield)

Beverley Nichols with A.E. Newby. (Oldfield)

give thanks you for showing us the cottage . I have long enjoy his novels and was breathe in by him to seed regale lilies . I now have 3 large drifts that prompt me of him . I have an issue of “ The Studio ” clip from the 30 ’s in which he is demonstrate in front of the bungalow . It must have been claim from the garden side as you do n’t see the road . He also publish about travelling in Germany in the 30 ’s ( No Place Like Home ) . In his post card to champion back home , he would utilize a anonym for Hitler – “ Bertha ” or some such peculiar name . It is also a very effective book .

During this , “ lockdown ” time , i am re reading my books , gathering debris for so long!Like an former friend , Beverley Nichols , Merry hall , is entertaining me , once again . Liked reading all the posts here . Take good care , from , Nicolette , Plumstead . Cape Town .

A Book Review. Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols.