Heywood Sumner in South Gorley Find!

I've just been re-reading the most beautiful and delightful book - Heywood Sumner's "Cuckoo Hill - the Book of Gorley".

Heywood Sumner (1853 - 1940) was a major figure in the Arts and Crafts movement in the 1880's and 90's, producing wallpaper and textile designs, stained glass and sgraffito decoration forchurches, as well as writing and illustrating books. In later life he became a keen field archaeologist and topographer.

During the early 1900's he bought some land in South Gorley, at the edge of the New Forest, and converted a tumbledown cottage into his ideal family home - Cuckoo Hill.

His book is illustrated throughout with exquisite, muted, watercolour images of the Forest  and chronicles his life there, from buying the land and building the house to gossip about his neighbours and observations about nature and places. His love of the Forest shines through on every page. I suspect it is now out of print but it's well worth tracking down.

29 October 2009 from Penny

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