Monk's House

From Corfe Castle we followed very busy roads to near Lewes where we turned off to Rodwell, following very narrow lanes to Monk's House, the NT property which had been the home of Virginia ans Leonard Woolf. I loved the paintings by her sister Vanessa Bell, and tapestry chair backs from designs by Duncan Grant. The lampshade wasn't made during the period, but was made in 1950 by Angelica Bell. It was a powerful feeling to see the desk Leonard Woolf would work at (he wrote some of the UN charter as well as novel). Virginia's room was a very tranquil spot overlooking the lovely garden looked after by Leonard, and on towards the church. We had a walk towards the river but I couldn't bring myself to go right down - Virginia filled her coat pockets with stones, stepped into the icy water and waited to drown.

We got the early evening boat from Newhaven to Dieppe, a calm crossing, then had a 2.5 hour drive via Caen and Bayeaux to our holiday house. Our daughter was still up at 1.am to open the electronic gates to let us in.

The house is lovely and we can go through our garden to the grounds of the hotel and the pool.