This is Walnut Tree Cottage, 350 years old, in the village of Thorpe, Surrey, England, where my husband, children, and I lived for fourteen of the eighteen years we lived in England. At that time, this was the Headmaster's residence (my husband was the Headmaster) for the TASIS school, I taught upper school English there, and our two children attended the school.
The second-story middle window opens into the room in which I wrote Walk Two Moons, The Wanderer, Absolutely Normal Chaos, Pleasing the Ghost, Chasing Redbird, Fishing in the Air, and Bloomability.
Nearly everyone who entered this cottage said, "How quaint! How cute!", and it was that, but quaint and cute do not necessarily mean easy-to-live-in. The plumbing was dodgy, the heating sporadic, the kitchen wee, the spiders a-plenty, and each spring plants grew up between the dining-room floorboards and around the windows.
But it was home and we were happy there.
Walk Two Moons is my favorite of your books, one of my most favorite books from childhood, and one of my favorite books altogether! I loved it so much, that I volunteered to write a book report with visuals in elementary school. I made a shoebox diorama of the bus, and maybe I cried a little when I was making it... :)
ReplyDeleteHi, Sharon. I love all of your books, but "Walk Two Moons" and "Chasing Redbird" are my favorites! This is fascinating to see where you wrote some of your novels. Thanks for sharing! Hope you have a great week. :)
ReplyDeleteI especially loved that plants grew up between the dining room floorboards. And that you were happy there. I do think that happiness breeds literature as readily as (if not more so than) romantic misery and self-destruction.
ReplyDeleteThe true joys of an old house!! But, I will still say that it looks lovely from the outside.
ReplyDeleteCharacter! That's what this cottage has. It must have inspired you. What a great experience it had to be...living there all those years.
ReplyDeleteEveryone should have such an experience of living in a "quaint, cute" 350-year-old house. I hope you were able to learn about the house's history and of the other families who were hopefully happy there as well.
ReplyDeleteI could go live in an English cottage any old time! Thanks for visiting my blog!
ReplyDeleteMargaret
Thank you for visiting my Santa Fe blog, altho I'm now back in St. Paul. Love the cottage you posted. Your narrative reminds me of my former professional life before I retired when words like "headmaster" were commonplace. I taught English for 28 years at St. Paul Academy in St. Paul, MN...a private independent school. I loved the students, miss them still, but am thoroughly enjoying retirement!! Travel to both México and Santa Fe, NM frequently. A good life!!
ReplyDeleteLooks can be deceiving! And it does look cute and "English" and cozy and all of that. Yet, in spite of its shortcomings you made it a home! That's a wonderful thing.
ReplyDeleteI'll be on hiatus for a few weeks so won't be posting or commenting after today. Nothing's wrong...just need to spend time on some other projects!
Yes, As Lori Skoog wrote, the house has 'character'.
ReplyDelete;-D
«Louis» thanks you for visiting San Francisco Bay Daily Photo.
Bloomability will always be my favorite book of yours - I went to Spain in 9th grade for one year at a small international school and it completely changed my life. I had to come back to the US when it was over and it took me a year to adjust back. During that year, I found Bloomability and it helped me put things into perspective and recall all the beauty of that year. That book is so wonderful and it described exactly how I felt. Thank you so much for writing! I read all of your books and they are all wonderful, but this one has a special place in my heart. :) I'm so happy to see the place where you wrote it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for replying to my comment! The encouragement is much appreciate. :) Can't wait to read your next book!
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful! I have a sad love-affair with old houses and will never, ever be able to bring myself to admit that their failings can even compare to their wonderful-ness. :) But they do say love is blind...
ReplyDeleteOf course here in the states, "old" is a relative term...
Hey, free plants! Not to mention spiders, etc! It looks like a lovely residence tho.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by. . . come again.
Isn't the cottage with the walnut tree the cottage where Bompie lived in The Wanderer?
ReplyDeleteIt's so interesting to see where you wrote books!
Molly: Yes! Brilliant of you to remember that. Even *I* had nearly forgotten!
ReplyDelete"The spiders-a plenty"?!! OMG! :o)
ReplyDeleteThank you for yours visits on my blog and your nice comments!
To answer to your question, the Black and white pictures showed a small medieval village called Luceram, located in south of France, near the french Riviera, behind Nice.
Nice is where I'm blogging from .
Have a nice day!
Quaint, cute, estate agent speak for too tiny to swing a cat
ReplyDeleteBeautiful house! And you mean plumbing and heating isn't supposed to be dodgy? I've obviously lived in England far too long. We have doors in our house so warped you can walk through them when they're closed. Oh, and the cooling breeze through closed windows.....
ReplyDeleteLOVE this photo.
ReplyDeleteWe lived in England for a short stint several years ago, on the top 2 floors of a doctor's 'surgery.' It was an old, 3 story home converted to a 2 flat - each of the rooms had a (boarded up) fireplace and creaky wood floors. Our English friends called it "massive!" My biggest challenge was learning to cook on what I lovingly called my "easy bake oven."
Charming and fun!
I kept a blog of our adventures, which were many. All 4 of my children still keep in close contact with the friends they made there and several have visited us here in the states. Such a great experience.
Thanks for sharing yours!
Even with its failings, Walnut Tree Cottage had personality and character! And of course, a delightful name! Giving a sweet name to my condo probably won't change its character, though!
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