Hello again,

Just to clarify a small point and give more interesting reading, No.21 Lovelace Gardens used to form part of No.8 which is now "Hursley Court". The whole property was known as "Hursley" and one can imagine how large it was.

The garden immediately to the rear of the house had brick terraces at the rear and raised brick flower beds. A path ran all around and enclosed a sculptured terraced lawn in the middle of which was a raised pond, about thirty feet in diameter, surrounded by lavender bushes and with a fountain in the middle which in turn was set in a raised bowel supported by three storks.

These storks, which may have been flamingoes, were a main feature of the house which had stained glass in the upper part of the main ground floor windows and which depicted more of the birds in tropical swamp settings. Set in the centre of the house was a huge stained glass window with similar scenes and allowing light from the northerly aspect to penetrate the main split level staircase area in the hall which had a sculpured ceiling some twenty feet in height.

The west end of the house had a huge conservatory with tiled floor on to which was tacked an aviary. Roses grew everywhere and in particular a small, pink, and very fragrant variety covered a long rose arch which led to a summer house at the bottom of the garden.This was round and covered in ivy with two little windows. Inside there was a tapestry with a kind of old Dutch scene.

To the west of the rose arch were two more lawns divided by a raised terrace with fruit trees and with a roundle at each end, in the middle of which a certain kind of tree had been trained to grow downwards around the sides, totally enclosing one in a pleasant shaded area in which to sit.

The southerly lawn was the tennis lawn and the northerly lawn down a bank from the terrace was the croquet lawn. In spring that bank was bathed in daffodils.
To the north of the croquet lawn was another raised fruit tree terrace bordering Lovelace Gardens. In spring and summer it was like being in a flower shop and in autumn the whole garden smelt of ripe fruit. There was simply too much to bottle and I used to eat my way around the place. The pears were particularly nice and the wasps thought so too.

To the west again was No. 21, The Lodge or "Old Coach House" with two greenhouses and the kitchen garden where goosberries, blackcurrants, and blackberries grew. This was the first part to be sold off by my parents in about 1950 to help clear some of the cost of buying the whole property for £5000!

I have tried to paint a scene of what it was like in these two roads back then. These huge and prestigious residences stretched from the railway line, south and up towards Langley Avenue. Many of the better off and well known business people of 1950s Surbiton chose them as their private residences. It pleases me to know that a halt was brought to their further destruction beyond Lovelace Road and that some remain, even if they are divided into flats.Only the most wealthy of people could afford to keep them as wholly private residences today.

Perhaps if there had not been two world wars and the intervening depression we may have seen them continuing as such, but then life in England generally would have been very different to what it is now.I would very much like to know who originally owned "Hursley" which I believe was built around 1902. Perhaps a visit to the local records office will supply the answers unless somebody can tell me on Surbiton.com .By the looks of things I may have to wait a while. :lol: