Letter from Frances Hodgkins to Rachel Hodgkins
Date
22 Jun 1916
See full details
See transcription
Object Detail
Date
22 Jun 1916
Transcript
Noel Arms Hotel Chipping Campden Glos 22-6-16
My Dearest Mother
I am trying to think if I wrote from Evesham where I went from London. If I did you must forgive me repeating myself. I fell in with an awfully nice family there where I was paying guest. A war widow & young family bravely putting both shoulders to the wheel if such a thing is possible. She cooked & sang quite divinely & looked pretty all in the same breath. Evesham was too big & noisy – it is a great market gardens centre. I made a pig of myself absolutely over the asparagus of which we got generous dishes. I wish I could have stayed on in such pleasant pastures. But it was not the place for a Class – so I hired a bicycle & straffed round the country looking for a suitable village & Inn. The first day I threaded thro’ 3 villages, all very pretty but nothing to rave over & the next day did the same in another direction finally fixing on the Queen’s Head Inn at Elmly Castle wh looked old fashioned & roomy & clean, so I moved over with sinkings as I drove the 6 miles over a bumpy road & wished the landscape was not so infernally green. On further acquaintance with the Queen’s Head I found it decidedly uncomfortable & the cooking vile – if they passed on with her “trayne before & behynde” after borrowing £200 from the village wh they say she never returned. I wondered if they gave Her stale yellow cheese & onions for supper. So again I took to the road & after a hot climb up the Cotswolds I found this place as dear a little gray town as you could wish to see & such a nice Inn & landlady who understands our temperament & feeds us well & simply. It is on the very top of the Cotswolds (not so very high – but they think it is quite a mountain) & you see great views over 12 counties when it is not too hazy. I am so well, feeling happy & pacified & cheerful about the Class wh I hope is going to be a good one. I have one pupil, a nice elderly man, not unacquainted with wealth, a friend of Mr Garstin, rather blind but keen for work. I gather he escapes from his family for a few weeks & pursues his hobby – then is pounced on & brought back to the fold after a little gentle coasting on the extreme edge of Bohemia. Weather not too good. Have more to tell – but will write an other sheet when I get back this evening. Am now off with a sandwich for a farm further up the hill. Much love Dearest Your loving Frances P.S. Have had no papers lately – but soon will have.
My Dearest Mother
I am trying to think if I wrote from Evesham where I went from London. If I did you must forgive me repeating myself. I fell in with an awfully nice family there where I was paying guest. A war widow & young family bravely putting both shoulders to the wheel if such a thing is possible. She cooked & sang quite divinely & looked pretty all in the same breath. Evesham was too big & noisy – it is a great market gardens centre. I made a pig of myself absolutely over the asparagus of which we got generous dishes. I wish I could have stayed on in such pleasant pastures. But it was not the place for a Class – so I hired a bicycle & straffed round the country looking for a suitable village & Inn. The first day I threaded thro’ 3 villages, all very pretty but nothing to rave over & the next day did the same in another direction finally fixing on the Queen’s Head Inn at Elmly Castle wh looked old fashioned & roomy & clean, so I moved over with sinkings as I drove the 6 miles over a bumpy road & wished the landscape was not so infernally green. On further acquaintance with the Queen’s Head I found it decidedly uncomfortable & the cooking vile – if they passed on with her “trayne before & behynde” after borrowing £200 from the village wh they say she never returned. I wondered if they gave Her stale yellow cheese & onions for supper. So again I took to the road & after a hot climb up the Cotswolds I found this place as dear a little gray town as you could wish to see & such a nice Inn & landlady who understands our temperament & feeds us well & simply. It is on the very top of the Cotswolds (not so very high – but they think it is quite a mountain) & you see great views over 12 counties when it is not too hazy. I am so well, feeling happy & pacified & cheerful about the Class wh I hope is going to be a good one. I have one pupil, a nice elderly man, not unacquainted with wealth, a friend of Mr Garstin, rather blind but keen for work. I gather he escapes from his family for a few weeks & pursues his hobby – then is pounced on & brought back to the fold after a little gentle coasting on the extreme edge of Bohemia. Weather not too good. Have more to tell – but will write an other sheet when I get back this evening. Am now off with a sandwich for a farm further up the hill. Much love Dearest Your loving Frances P.S. Have had no papers lately – but soon will have.
Pages
2 pages
Sender's address
Noel Arms Hotel - Chipping Campden - Gloucestershire
Institutional No.
MS-Papers-0085-31
Credit Line
Letters
from
Frances
Hodgkins.
Field,
Isabel
Jane,
1867-1950
:
Correspondence
of
Frances
Hodgkins
and
family
/
collected
by
Isabel
Field.
Ref:
MS-Papers-0085-31.
Alexander
Turnbull
Library,
Wellington,
New
Zealand.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22702722
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22702722