WCP36

[1]

Parkstone, Dorset.

Nov^r. 28th. 1901

My dear Will¹

I will now answer all your questions. (1) Water will be laid on, but I shall have to pay part of the cost of extending the mains. (2) There is no gas at Broadstone,² yet, & I hope Electric light ^{& heat} will come first & render gas unnecessary. In the mean time we must put up with "-ile". (3) The road is thus wise. There being no road, I asked for a right of way. This of course was given, and I had to choose it myself. Going over the ground with an intelligent workman (road-maker fence-maker &c.) he said — "It will cost a lot to make a road here, why not take the old road." And then he showed me the old road to the orchard & cottage the entrance to which had been stopped up only 2-3 years ago.. This was fairly level [2] and though in some places overgrown with clumps of heath &c. was still passable & in many places had a good firm gravel surface. Although it looks round about, it is really the quickest way to walk now, and it is the shortest road to keep in repair; so I adopted it at once. The reason it is temporary is, that as soon as there is a demand for more of the land near mine Lord Wimborne³ will have to make roads to give access to the land, and then I am to give up my road, & use his if required to do so. In case I did not do so before I send a tracing showing the old road to the cottage which I have adopted & have had to put up 2 gates one at the Poole road the other on my boundary. The only defect of this road is, that the last 30 or 40 yards up to our house will be a steep pull but that will not matter much, & the cost of putting this in decent order for [3] carrying materials &c will not be a quarter of what it would be on any other route. As the water mains must be laid along a road so as to serve future houses, Mr. Barnes who is Engineer to the Water works, & Surveyor to Lord Wimborne, has chosen & marked out the new road I have shewn with a branch to my land. The ground is very rough & soft in places & this will cost a good deal to make & will be up hill all the way. Whether it will be made at once or merely cleared to lay the mains I do not know, but I have asked to have the water laid on by early in January if possible. My wish would be, if I have luck with my new "W. Century Reader" &c., to buy the whole piece of land from a few yards above my temporary road up to the Poole road and the continuation of my south fence about 2 acre & 1/2. — of very picturesque woodland, sure to be valuable, and making my temporary road permanent. I could probably [4] get it now if I could offer £.400 for it.

I also enclose you hasty pencil tracings of Mr. Donkin’s new plans. They are certainly far more picturesque than any of mine and the pretty central Hall with handsome stairs & skylight above by giving access to all the rooms both below & above really economises space by saving passages. He is coming on Saturday afternoon to settle any alterations required, & details, so if you wish for any special modification you must give an hour to it as soon as you receive this and write at once by Friday nights post so that I may get it by second post on Saturday. After our interview I will ask him to get the plans and elevations if possible ready by ‘Xmas so that you & Violet⁴ may see them. He is a a [sic] very old friend of Carter’s & has often had Mr. Curtis (Carter’s head builder) build for him, so I think there will be no difficulty on that score & it will probably save time. Mr.⁵ Swinton has sent me the plans &c. of his house by a crack Architect and I think ours will be quite as pretty & comfortable at about half the cost.

Your affectionate Pa | A. R. Wallace [signature]