Chichester “Indeed Repentance oft I swore”! groaned the Elephant, as he struggled to raise a very pink bald head from the pillow. Geoffrey had no one to talk to. – so on the whole was lucky! We bade each other a somewhat bleak au revoir and wished each other a Happy and Sober New Year!… Read more “In Search of Christmas in England”: 28th December
And the day after! It was not so hard after all to lift the head from the pillow, – for in the words of the wise Elephant “If the wine is good – there is no evil aftermath”! and the wine was certainly good. I had been promised a day seeing as much as possible… Read more “In Search of Christmas in England”: 27th December
Boxing Day was misty and inclined to a fine drizzle. We pottered round Corfe Castle for a short time and then decided we would seek pastures new at all costs. “I can’t stand another damp meal” said Jumbo, “and “Bridget” nearly wept all over me again early this morning when she brought tea”! So we… Read more “In Search of Christmas in England”: 26th December
The Main Street We walked around the old town and peered into the small country shop windows and bought – at least Mouse bought some more Christmas Cards, – feeling they were a sheer necessity at this eleventh hour, if only to put inside her own woolly boots! I shall never know why we didn’t… Read more “In Search of Christmas in England”: 25th December
On the following morning we bought snow boots. – for said the mouse, – ‘If I’m to freeze for three hours on the road again, – at least I’ll have warm feet.’ — Mr Lillywhite of Piccadilly produced the finest pair of woolly lined boots you ever saw and we started once more on our… Read more “In Search of Christmas in England”: 24th December
December 23rd 1935. All the Christmas parcels were in the post, so what was there to stop us from making merry in the really old fashioned way in England – at the expense of some one else’s labour! Nice to think we could get up Christmas morning in leisurely mood, pry into “stockings” and eat… Read more “In Search of Christmas in England”: 23rd December
In 1935 an anonymous author penned a journey through Dorset and Hampshire, a journey undertaken between the 23rd and 28th December 1935. We have transcribed this account and we will be publishing an extract each day during this period, 85 years later. Part one of this journey will be published later this morning, and then… Read more “In Search of Christmas in England”: An introduction
We’ve come across these very seasonal photographs of Dame Elisabeth Frink’s Dorset studio grounds whilst cataloguing the collection. They date back to the 1980s and feature some of her most famous sculptures at Woolland blanketed in snow. These snow-covered sculptures are a way of dipping into the Frink archive and discovering some of her most… Read more Walking in a Woolland Wonderland
We are sharing a monthly look at the farm diary of John Foss, written from his dairy farm in Kingston Russell in 1851. December 1851 We’ve reached the last month of 1851, and the final in our series of blogs! This month, the weather is a truly English mixed bag – hard frost, mild rain,… Read more The Diary of John Foss: December 1851
In the local studies library at the Dorset History Centre you can find a large collection of journals. These journals are packed with fascinating articles and are often an underused resource. In this new series of blogs we will be highlighting some of the interesting articles within them! This is the third in our series… Read more The Journals of DHC: 1930s
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