'Deltenham, the country town to which colonels and admirals retire on their pensions, stands in a bowl whose sides are green hills. When a visitor gets out of the train at Deltenham he notices at once the difference in the air: it is fresh and cold, and so it should be, blowing down as it does from those flat summits padded with ancient turf.
The town cannot be said to have fallen asleep in 1760, when most of it was built, because, even then, it was not fully awake. To-day , its life flows tranquilly through wide streets, past pale square Anne and Georgian houses, and pastry-cooks' shops, where the ageing daughters of very old generals sit eating eclairs from silver forks, quietly dying into the background of England's history.' Stella Gibbons Golden Vanity in Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm
silver forks |
We didn't see any ageing daughters of very old generals but did have a lovely tea and cake to revive us.
I think Deltenham is Cheltenham rather than Bath, especially as the racecourse is so prominently mentioned.
ReplyDeleteMichelle Ann - Thst's just what I thought but the chances of a quote on Bath were very slim. How do you think Stella Gibbons would describe Bath as Dath maybe?
DeleteI feel sad for those ageing daughters - but the eclairs sound delicious!
ReplyDeleteAnbolyn - Yes, I agree with you on that.
Delete