Property

Acclaimed writer’s peaceful retreat

By MIRANDA ROBERTSON

A peaceful cottage haven in Frome Vauchurch once home to a famous writer who declared: “Noise is a pollution” has gone on the market. Riverside Cottage, a stone’s throw from Maiden Newton, was built around the 1850s, possibly on the site of a mill. From 1937 it was the home of acclaimed poet and author Sylvia Townsend Warner and her partner, the poet Valentine Ackland. “I understand they were Communists on the edge of the Bloomsbury Set,” says the current owner. Warner died in 1978, aged 84. She is still remembered fondly by many older residents. Norman House, whose family ran Maiden Newton’s village bakery from 1938 to 2005 and who still lives in Maiden Newton, said: “She was very nice. They were Communists, but Communists from the best motives. At Christmas she would come up to my mother in the bakery and she used to pay something off people’s bills. “Colin House, my cousin, used to do gardening for her and she was very generous to him. She used to have little soirees in the church and give generous donations to the church, despite not being religious.” Warner’s Marxist leanings were sparked by the growing fascist movement at the time, and this activism informed many of her works, as did her sexuality. She is famed for many novels including The Flint Anchor, The Salutation and Winter in the Air and she wrote many of her works at Riverside Cottage. She often wrote books and poems that would criticise the church, promote the empowerment of women and works inspired by her relationship with Ackland. Her ashes are buried with Ackland in Chaldon

WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE: Old photographs of Riverside Cottage and, left and below, Sylvia Townsend Warner in the garden

on banks of River Frome up for sale

UP FOR SALE: Riverside Cottage in Frome Vauchurch. Below: The kitchen, bathroom, fireside and piano room SYLVIA Townsend Warner is also well known for her many acerbic quotes – here are some of her finest:

lWhen I die, I hope to think I have annoyed a great many people

lOne cannot overestimate the power of a good rancorous hatred on the part of the stupid. The stupid have so much more industry and energy to expend on hating. They build it up like coral insects

lHappiness is an immunity

lAnticipation of pleasure is a pleasure in itself

lTo think of losing is to lose already

lThe fatal flaw of gravity; when you are down, everything falls down on you

lTruth has beauty, power, and necessity

Herring. Dorset Museum in Dorchester has a collection dedicated to her, and is hosting an online talk dedicated to both Sylvia and Valentine tomorrow at 6pm (see Events page). The cottage was once called Riversdale. Domesday records are thought to show an old mill on that site, however those records were destroyed in a fire long ago. It is thought to have been built as a ‘squatter’s cottage’, where homes would be built seemingly overnight in woodland. People who built these squatters’ cottages believed that by law, if they had a fire going by morning they had the right to live there. It’s not entirely clear if that was the case… Riverside Cottage has a long, tree-lined driveway, with space for several vehicles. The garden has colour all year round and has several distinct sections including a wildlife pond, a patio area and a vegetable patch. A wooden veranda allows you to enjoy watching the River Frome bubble by on its way to Wareham. The three-bedroom property, which is not listed, is also not subject to a chain.

n Jackson-Stops, Bridport 01308 423133