Cotswold Diary, Note 12: Roman Soldiers, British Spies, a Bush Proposal, and a Whopping War Tale

Lovedays House is taking shape. Hanging pictures and one enormous whatwasIthinking mirror, but I kinda love it, and the botanicals I could not live without, and finally discovering a use for all those Staffordshire dogs… Do scroll  past the pictures, there’s more 🙂

As I was saying, here I am in a so-I-thought sleepy village where I knew not even a mouse, but life is humming. Everyone has been so welcoming, inviting me to their houses and what-all. Friends passing through sometimes stop by, too. Never a dull moment, srsly.

A reporter asked me recently how the Cotswolds compares to the Hamptons, where I also once had a house called Bee Cottage. Part of my answer is how friendly and open people are here, but of course the village is tiny. The Hamptons are bigger and more bustling. Also the western bit of Gloucestershire where I am is not the posh Cotswolds further north, where Boris, Becks, Ellen and Portia roam. It is more low key here, though not to say we are without our share of notables, celebrities and characters. That article, by the way, was in the online Business Insider travel section and you may find it here, following an earlier one in The Times here.

Then comes artist Sarah Middleton to deliver a painting I bought.  A fellow house-lover, she asked had I been up to Hilles House. Who what? I asked. Detmar Blow, Lord of the Manor. You mean the late (amazing eccentric brilliant) Isabella Blow’s husband? Yes, she said. I had no idea they were here. Or that one could hire the house for private events. (Because roof repairs do not pay for themselves.) Happy to give them a shout-out 🙂 Image from the Hilles House website.

Later I learned that Detmar also makes jams and spreads for local farmers’ markets, including our small-but-mighty one at the Painswick Center. On one visit I introduced myself and mentioned the mutual acquaintances I’d since discovered. He asked if I wanted to taste what the Roman soldiers ate for breakfast. I said heck yes. One of his signature pastes of garlic, herbs, cheese, and olive oil, it was delicious, and my breath would have knocked out a horse. No wonder the Romans conquered the world. But the spread was tasty and I took some home.

Back at my desk and knock at the door… my neighbor John delivering the monthly Painswick Beacon. And how about this: Painswick is voted Gloucestershire Village of the Year. In a county where you can’t throw a rock without hitting a picture postcard village, that is saying something.

The following wasn’t in the Beacon because it is Top Secret (sort of), but a delightful young American family has recently settled here, and the husband works for GCHQ. If that sounds James Bond-ish, it is: General Communications Headquarters, in nearby Cheltenham, is the equivalent of the US National Security Agency. My glamorous neighbor Julia had them to dinner one night and told us that years ago the former head of GCHQ also lived in Painswick and was transported to and from by helicopter, which must have been terribly exciting. Our one just drives a car.

Another night at neighbors Ishbel and Philip’s, Philip told the story of when he proposed to Ishbel, the proposal she finally accepted that is. There were numerous attempts, apparently. For this one they were on safari in Botswana. (I mean, if she’d said no after that…wtf) He had gone ring shopping earlier, before they left for the bush. Having decided on an impressive sapphire and diamond setting, and having charmed the three ladies assisting him in the shop, he was assured by them that if his intended turned him down, any of them were ready to take her place. So he had back-up, said Ishbel. And they were pretty easy on the eye, said Philip.

Later, conversation turned to Ishbel’s formidable father, a World War II hero, whom she revealed was recently on a Royal Mail postage stamp. WELL LET’S SEE IT, I said. Commemorating the 80^th anniversary of VE Day, here it is via the Strathspey & Badenoch Herald:

Then Ishbel told a tale, here in her words, a weentsy bit edited by me: