End of an era

Shrubland Park was my homa for 50 years all barring a few months. That is as long as the present owner has lived there. Another private Estate has hit the dust having to give in to the tax laws of this country.

Having to sell the the home that had been in the family for over 200 years must have been a very daunting decision for Eric ( Lord de Saumarez ) to have to make. I remember him and his twin brpther being born. When his father died at the beginning of the 1990's, Eric being the first of the two to put in an appearance in this world meant that he inherited the title from his father. I watched him grow up, he was well liked by everyone on the Estate. After his father's death he became my landlord as I was renting the old walled garden where my wife and I had established a chrysanthemum nursery.

When the time came for us to retire, we had to make the decision that we had to leave the place that we loved after half a century, where we had led a peaceful but busy life, doing our own thing, no traffic roaring past the door.   The house that we lived in lead into the walled garden and although it didn't belong to us, it felt as if it did.

When the day came for us to leave it was quite a wrench and I can well understand how Eric must be feeling at this time. To record those happy 50 years I wrote a book about them. Lord de Saumarez wrote the foreword for me. One review said it is an easy book to read with one or two amusing confrontations with those that like to weild their power, i.e. health and safety inspectors, V A T inspectors and tax inspectors. Why not buy a copy and read for yourself.

The title of the book is " Cats and Chrysanthemums " by George Forsdike, available from all GOOD bookshops on the print on demand system, or from myself at Flat 4, Rosemount, Hamilton Gardens, Felixstowe