Blogreader Philippa tells me that she was able to find a copy of Elizabeth West's 'A Patch in the Forest' for £4
in Hay on Wye! Lucky her!
She also shared some information on the location of the house Elizabeth and Alan lived in:
I think that the house Elizabeth
describes was in the Parkend area - the drawing of the church in the
final chapter is unmistakeably St Paul's at Parkend, it is one of three
churches in the Forest that are old enough to match her description -
and the only one that has no stained glass and is surrounded by trees.
She mentions the local silver band being formed in 1893, and while
Parkend Silver Band folded in the mid 20th century, it was then
restarted a few years later and would have been active while she was
writing the book. I'm not aware of any other Silver Band in the Forest
that started at the right time and was still active when the book was
published. Also, the tourist attractions she mentions in her book -
Clearwell, Puzzle Wood, Mallards Pike, Soudley etc. form a circle with
Parkend at the centre. Of course, it is not possible to narrow down the
house any further, but I thought you might be interested at least to
know the name of the church. I certainly was!
Drawing of the church
Photo of the church
I haven't been to Hay in ages, now look what I missed!! That said, some years back I got a copy of Monica Edwards' The Valley and the Farm there, for £3 or so. That's a part of the Forest of Dean I don't know at all. Nearest we got to it was when house-hunting down in Lydney.
ReplyDeleteAnother one for my list!
DeleteOh it's worth it. They did love it so there.
DeleteP.S. I do wonder who bought her house - they must have got it dirt cheap because of all the Japanese Knotweed they planted there!!
ReplyDeleteLovely to hear a bit more about their home in the Forest of Dean - thank you for sharing
ReplyDelete