NOVELIST ON HOLIDAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 61, 9 September 1937, Page 19

NOVELIST ON HOLIDAY

THE NEW FOREST

A VISIT TO BOURNEMOUTH

(By Nellc M. Scan Jan.) : LONDON, August 13. ; It's grand to be out or London this sweltering weather, and I am writing this sitting in a garden,-which is still wet with last night's rain— the first rain we have had for nearly three weeks. London had become unbearable; it was stuffy 'and hot; the grass in the parks was trampled and dry,-and the trees were becoming summer-worn and shabby. All social life was at an end for the season, and people were flocking away for the holidays. I have taken a cottage in the New Forest and gone rustic; the summer days drowse away under a--blazing sun, and the peace is refreshing after the rush of town. The cottage is so small that it looks comic from the outside, and yet there is more space than an ordinary modern London flat' affords. Its thick old walls keep out the heat, 'and its thatched- roof is the home of many birds, which come chirping about the eaves at sunset. Its windows look out towards the sun and across' a Common, where, on Saturday afternoon, the village plays cricket. An apple tree stands in the middle of a small lawn, with a few rows of vegetables along the side, cut off'by a hedge of flowering rambler- -roses, and a patch of garden is gay with late flowers—vivid marigolds, nasturtiums, carnations, and< • others—and after the rain,, they are-,very sweet and fragrant. At the back is a stretch of sloping meadow, for the cottage is high on the Common, and from this meadow there is a wonderful view across the valley of the Avon, which- follows such a winding course below that it takes eight small bridges to link the road from here with the main road to Salisbury, a few miles away. . This little old cottage was, I gather, let for 2s a week a few «ears ago, until the present owner bought it and without spoiling its ancient charm, brought it up to date. It now has electric light, electric heaters in the two bedrooms upstairs, an electric griller and iron, and a fine hot .water, service and modern bathroom. You work a semi-circular pump indoors to fill your water tanks, each day, but I see the village people with their buckets out on the Common, with a very primi-tive-appliance, dipping their water out of the common well. With the Avon so-near, there is an inexhaustible supply of water even in the driest season. All around are the trees of the New Forest, > though much "Of the forest has. now-gone. ,V> RETIRED PEOPLE'S HOMES;, The New-Forest covers 65,000 acres of woods and heath; some'still dense, with .trees, others open moorland now purple with' heather, with other tracts which have been cleared for farming and cultivation. It is Crown property,' an,d its'.-.creation goes back-'to-.the. time qf William the Conqueror. At one timp the timber was used for building ships' for' the :Navy, and during the' Great War there was extensive felling of trees. About seventy-five years ago the King's deer were removed from, the Forest, ■ but a proposal- to clear'the forest <was rejected, and it slill remains the most delightful area of natural woodland in England. Many of. the forest dwellers, or Commoners, possess interesting rights iii the form of wood-gathering, turf Suiting, pig pasturing, etc. originally granted as a compensation, for the stringent laws and: the damage done fey * deer. The. ,New' r Forest.v: j>onies.'. are- --] tipw more in evidence than 'deer,, and i oiten when, I look out in the morning ; I see groups of them, with their foals, i grazing just, outside my door. And ] quite recently ; a warning was broad- ] cast over the wireless urging' motorists , to drive with care in the forest, as , these ponies have an older right to ' the road than they, and, day and night. , they wander freely where they will. :f. This cottage is the first as you . reach the Common, and belongs to , a retired colonel who lives in a larger ' { thatched house next door. All around . the Common, are beautiful, hprnes, ' mostly ■thatched, with lawns-and; garr j dens and-patches of natural" wood- ! lands, where retired colonels and Admirals live out their days.' ;You ,find 1 these colonies in many parts of' England, but thef.Navy men like to keep ! wilhirv easy reach of the sea and their. ' oid ports. , Down. one slope of the Common'are a number of, smaller 1 thatched houses and cottages,-with,the ' gayest,gardens: This is th#sOld,Maids' i quarter, "as I was* told. Here these 1 English maiden ladies with .small' -iiy- l comes live in quiet dignity, a relic j of a bygone age, potter among their < fiowers. and make an annual trip to ' London. ... ( ' Below, in the hollow by the; Avon, ; is the village—the'pub, the butcher's j shop under its thatched roof, but with , its refrigerator, the village Post Office -\ fa centre of gossip), the store. And j around this is clustered $c village ] workmen's tiny thatched cottages. /The retired admirals and colonels i lake their daily walk in Panama hats , and lirien 'suits, and their wives wear s|out!i shoes, cotton frocks, and shady t Itpts, and their faces are like leather. "" EVery one. of them ■ has a. car, a•'■ few dogs, and the young of the family : ride about in breeches and.blouse on ' forest ponies. ,■' ; t The other morning, I saw one young girl going down to the village to shop, ' and she made a delightful picture. She was in a home-made donkey cart, a i glorified basket chair on two motor wheels, with the dearest. wee donkey drawing it. The girl wore.a pale bluo t frock and held a pink sunshade over i her head, and a black and white dog J sat in the cart beside her. The'whole 1 absurd thing fitted most beautifully > iiito the'scene.' ■--. -,!. t ■]■[ Every dayT motor somewhere. One -i Cioy I spent in.the thickest part of. the c Forest near Lyndhurst, and on a by- ( r&nd I saw the Rufus Stone, marking f Lhe spot where Rufus was slain. ' ! TIIK SALISBURY PLAINS. c Salisbury Plains I love, and it has j boon fun driving across this vast, undu- , lntiiig • space, dodging the military J manoeuvres that are now being car- c ned on. out- there; You- never know j when' you will drive.into a long line c of tanks or- mounted troops, or see thj tanics careering up and down the ti'.jwn;slopes with amazing:agility. ■ , Xn Bournemouth I ran into, a carnival \ procession; and I have never seen a ! beach so packed with brown bodies, j Youxouldn't fit a peg between them E as they lay or sprawled on the, sand— 'at and lean, pink arid white, lobster . n- il, but mostly nut-brown. Motor-cars ; -£,-iy, riot' travel at more than eight. } ...iiles an hour along the parade, and there is a constant stream of men, ' women, and children, mostly in the . scantiest of bathing togs, crossing the j road between the cars. On the landwaVd side'of the parade are rows of J small one-roomed cubicles, about Off: ' square. People on holiday, whether ' staying at hotels or boarding-houses, rent one of these, and each morning they come down to the seafront and spend the day between the beach and •h-3 cubicle. These contain a small •:-'ole, a bunk or several chairs, and c ihere is* space outside for cushions or. I chairs. Mere they have a-picnic lunch, 1 read, sew, dress, and undress. At in- i tervals there are taps of fresh water t for: washing sandoff feet. And the t fearoqhis; supplying "trays of tea," 1 which are: called for and carried to r the. cubicles' or on,to the beach, do a c roaring trade. ,«, c Yesterday I went to Dorchester, i

motoring through the "Hardy" country, and saw the statue of Thomas : Hardy recently erected in the town. Nearby I had a look at the new excavation's where enthusiasts- have just unearthed one of the finest Roman villas'that has been found in England. Workmen do the first of the digging to clear the surface earth away, but | when they get down to the Roman remains, the excavation is done mostly by young university men, working with-a tiny trowel. I watched one turning over the earth gently and sifting it for any precious remains of that old civilisation—a coin, a ring, a piece | of pottery. They had uncovered the floor of one room, and the mosaic was in perfect condition. One man was engaged in painting a copy of ths design—a Roman beauty .with yellow flowers in her ':hair. You $»uld also see the furnace room and" trenches for heating the .Turkish bath, and 30fV down in the'well they Had found six Roman pillars, the most perfect yet discovered in this country. An elderly , woman, who is in charge of this work, was almost speechless with excitement at the richness '■ of their recent finds, and .she.showed it to us with great pride, telling us about it in such blazing heat that even the threat of sunstroke did not check her fluency. L have: found The Wallops, a name that has long fascinated me. These three villages, one of them among the loveliest in England; are on the edge of the Salisbury plains—Over Wallop, Middle Wallop, and Nether Wallopbut of the three Nether Wallop is the loveliest.' Besides the Wallops, I have recently motored through Mockbeggar, Tolpuddle, ' Puddletown, Piddlehinton, and Lover.-;- .-. ■-..:..-.