with Mark Davison
Leith Hill Place, Coldharbour, Dorking, RH5 6LY (parking RH5 6LU)
B EAUTIFUL summer sunshine streamed down over Surrey as the heatwave continued. The woods, chalk downs and sandy ridges were all bathed in the hot July sun. It was time to venture out and enjoy the countryside on our doorsteps.
I was almost mesmerised by the soporific and dreamy summer scenes around Ockley, where fields of hay had turned golden in the scorching sun.
My destination was to be Leith Hill where, according to a leaflet I had picked up, teas were being served at a large Georgian mansion which was the childhood home of the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams in the 1870s.
Leith Hill Place was given to the National Trust by Vaughan Williams in 1944 and it has not been open to the public since the 1960s. But now, after being used as a boarding school and holiday visitor centre for groups, the Trust has decided it is time to open the doors to the public once more.
It is open on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 5pm.
Volunteers have been hard at work preparing for the opening and setting up historical displays. The Trust said it is a "trial opening". Furnishings in the house were minimal and it was very much a "work in progress".
I was intrigued so motored up the steep hill through pine woods to find out more. This was the first open day.
At the top of the lane, a sign said there was no parking at the property, except for disabled drivers, and the Rhododendron Wood car park should be used, although there would be a walk of about 400 yards. The walk from the car park is over a field.
"The ground is uneven and can be muddy, so bring suitable shoes or boots." I hadn't.
I discovered the path to the house was through a field of grass, trees and bushes and had been used recently by grazing cattle. The hot weather had made the cow-pats crispy.
I marvelled at the stunning views between the trees. The vista spread out towards the distant South Downs.
While walking purposefully along a path through a sylvan glade, I halted for a while and found myself engaged in conversation with a couple walking in the other direction.
It turned out that the well-spoken man was Simon Coombs, the vice-chairman of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society. He was certainly a most charismatic chap and was happy to tell me more about the house which, he said, had been empty for "quite a while".
I said I looked forward to seeing the house. Soon, it came into view.
People from the National Trust were at the doorway, greeting visitors and handing out pamphlets giving the history of the house.
"The composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), although born in Gloucestershire, had strong connections throughout his long life, and these associations have particular relevance in the area in and around Dorking.
"From 1874 he lived at the family home of Leith Hill Place, attended Charterhouse School at Godalming (1887-90) and thereafter as a student and young composer in London, was a frequent visitor at the family home. His sister, Margaret Vaughan Williams, was one of the founders of the Leith Hill Musical Festival, in 1904 and Ralph was appointed the first conductor from the opening concert in 1905."
After wandering around the large airy rooms and pausing to enjoy some piano-playing by a young man, it was time to seek out the teas and a guide pointed me towards the kitchen.
It was a charmingly informal arrangement. Some volunteers were literally working around a kitchen sink handing out cups of tea and telling people to help themselves to chocolate brownies, shortbreads and lemon drizzle cakes.
The atmosphere was most convivial. Instead of fixed prices, donations were requested so I placed a couple of pound coins in the box (not an Irish sixpence as the poet Philip Larkin did on an awkward visit to a place of worship in Church Going).
"You can sit in the dining room or in the garden," a chirpy lady told me. I chose the garden, where a couple of retired ladies were chatting in the sunshine.
"You can't call it a beautiful house," said one. "And they'd need to level the path from the car park. Well, they couldn't do it at the moment because the ground's too hard."
A couple from Warnham also sat quietly in the courtyard garden. The ladies struck up conversation with them as I munched on my shortbreads and sipped tea.
"This time yesterday I was stuck in traffic at the Dartford Tunnel," remarked one of the ladies. "Or should I say, the Dartford bridge. I do not like to go the Heathrow way round – you get into the wrong lanes and people travel too fast."
The Warnham lady replied: "It's best to go the way you know."
The visitors remarked on how nice the lemon drizzle cake was. I felt obliged to return to the kitchen to make a purchase.
The lemon drizzle was divine – so gooey and zesty.
Later, I revisited the rooms and learnt that the forefathers of the Vaughan Williams family were the Wedgewoods, of pottery fame and a branch of the family had lived at the house. And Ralph's great uncle was Charles Darwin.
He, too, had often visited.
