Daphne Makes a Discovery

It was still dark when I got to Wakefield, South Yorkshire, this morning, heading to a place I'd never been to or even heard of - and only twenty miles from my house.

It was Walton Hall. It's on an island in the middle of rather a large lake, with a modern bridge:

I was working there and, as we crossed the bridge, we were discussing who might have built it.

Obviously someone rich, we decided - someone who didn't have to give a moment's thought to the fact that everything for the house would always have to be carried over the bridge.

"Probably someone who travelled a lot, and just came here occasionally," said my colleague, "because it's in the middle of nowhere, even now."

Then I found a blue plaque, and learned that the house was built in the eighteenth century, by Charles Waterton.

I've never heard of him, I admit - - though it turns out that he was indeed a traveller and naturalist who created the world's first nature reserve in the grounds of this very house. Amazing!

Now the house is a hotel and the grounds are a golf course. It was all very civilised and a most enjoyable place to work.

England is, of course, full of these old stately homes, so I suppose it wasn't surprising that I've never heard of this one. Or perhaps it's just my ignorance.

Anyway, I'm back there tomorrow, again working with lots of young doctors. If anyone falls ill in that house tomorrow, I'm certain that they'll be safer than they were in the eighteenth century. "Is there a doctor in the house?" - - Well, about thirty of them, actually.

It all made me think of Noel Coward, singing about the Stately Homes of England, years ago. Very witty words and worth another listen, I think.