Ashburnham Place

For the last few days I've been staying at Ashburnham Place in East Sussex.  It was a stately home landscaped by Capability Brown.  But World War One killed off most of the men of the family, and it dwindled to one old lady living in a grand house that was crumbling round her.  Now it has a new lease of life as a retreat, conference and holiday centre.  A beautiful place and just right for a gathering of writers.  In theory I call myself a writer.  In  practice I need regular prods to make me write: and this was one of them.