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1 August 1891 — Motcombe House, nr. Shaftesbury, Dorset | |
Saturday. 1st August [1891]. Painted in the morning. After lunch Merthyr drove us all over the Fort Hall the place left by Lord Westr for his daughter Lady Octavia. It was first left to Lady Westr for her life but she gave it up to her daughter. It is worth £11000 a year. The place belonged to the famous Bickford but of the Gothic House which he built, only a couple of rooms remain. It was so badly built that in his lifetime the great tower fell in & crushed the house. Lord Westr built another small & unpretentious house in another spot. The woods are beautiful & the trees magnificent—mostly planted by Bickford. There are 8 miles of drives & walks round about. The house contains a few good pictures—a small Cima wh Henry says is & a Luini wh he takes to be Dossi Dossi. We took a walk in the woods to see the site of Bickford’s House & we went up to the top of the small remaining tower—then I & Merthyr walked to the kitchen garden & he took me further to see some fine fir trees—& it was 6 o’cl before we returned to the house & got some tea which Theo had had prepared for us & then we drove back to Motcombe. Henry, Theo, Merthyr, Goodie & I in time for dinner. Henry has been feeling more & more stiff from his fall & less & less inclined to carry out our plan of going to Ireland to pay a visit to Mr Mitchell Henry so we have settled to give it up & start for Baveno on 22nd instead paying visits to Mr Clark, the Rates & Ld Selborne in the meanwhile. We played Cribbage & Halma in the evening as yesterday & went early to bed. Canon Smith dined. | |
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