(Continued)
The Old Park was a relic of a late medieval Deer Park ­ hence Hart Wood and the Tuft (a deer hunting expression). This was an area to the right of the road beyond Temple End. Between the wars it was grassland with a good number of blackthorn bushes. Quite a few horses were kept on it as well as highland cattle. The Island, an isolated moated house site (the house long since gone) was also part of the Old Park, which was ploughed up early in the war for production of wheat and other crops. Before the war we all took for granted the relatively small fields, the plentiful hedges, wild flowers and elm trees. The sound of cocks and hens was never far away, since many households kept poultry.

The Soames house was originally an early Jacobean mansion (no part remains of it). I believe it fell into disrepair and was replaced by the present house. The Soames created the "Walks", which I believe was a way for horsed vehicles used particularly by the Misses Soames in the latter part of the last century. You can still see a fringe of trees surrounding the park and house and gardens at Little Thurlow Hall. In that fringe there was a pathway or track called the Walks. The hunt kennels and the stables were lodged close to the present house. My father's head groom was Bamby (Ambrose) Williams, a real character, who had been injured in a riding accident and who did not usually ride, but made sure that the horses had plenty of oats to eat, which made them more lively, particularly on hunting days.

Bamby's son, Albert Williams, who was also a groom, would accompany my father in his later years, when he rode round the estate and out hunting. I recall riding round with my father on many occasions. He farmed some of the farms in hand, partly because no one would rent them. Times were that bad for farmers in the thirties, particularly on the heavy land of East Anglia. Those who now live in the countryside can hardly believe that there were farms that went out of cultivation and went down to couch grass in those days. Brickwall Farm at Hundon was one. There was therefore considerable rural unemployment. But my father was very considerate to his farming tenants and he also made sure that all able-bodied men on his land in hand had a job.