WCP50

[1]

Parkstone, Dorset.

May 4th. 1902

My dear Will

There is not much news this week. The weather has been mostly fine & I have been to Broadstone every day. The house looks much the same the drapes being chiefly on the inner walls while the carpenter has been putting in the joists. The Bridgewater bricks are now all on the ground, about 12,000 in all costing with a few sills, & ornamental string course about — £32 — perhaps £12 — or £15 extra over common bricks. Most of the orchard trees are now in leaf or flower — except one or two which are nearly or quite dead. Almost all our trees & shrubs are coming into leaf & looking well. So far as we can see not one has died. Almost 150- 200 roses are coming [2] on & seem all well except one or two of the large climbing roses planted at trees in orchard which may be dead. The pond is now stocked fairly with water lilies of 5 different kinds, & I shall have more. The greenhouse is at length nearly finished and painted, & I shall soon be planting some of our good plants & climbers in it, & a few others, & my blue water lilies in the inside tank. We have made a hole at the top of garden just inside the wood and have put into it about 2-3 cartloads of dead leaves to make leaf mould for next spring. I have also beeng getting Ma’s fernery at bottom of orchard into shape, & putting in some stones, to be finished with the next cartload. Pennington & Rerley carried these all from the bottom of the woods in sacks.¹ [3] The men have killed another Viper this week. (Two of three before) In clearing out the ground for pound on site of old house among a lot of brickbats & stones, I found one with an "eye" & found it to be of burnt clay. It is some animals head but much broken. I thought at first prehistoric, but it is so well finished that I fear it is modern. I enclose a very rough sketch, & shall keep it till you come. It is nearly solid & heavy, and I do not remember seeing any modern things like it. I find our total expenditure up to yesterday is a little under £500 — of which the garden, fencing etc. etc. has taken perhaps £100. Almost all the brickwork is done & paid for, & a good bit of the wood work, & [4] on a rough guess I should think £600 more should finish it, as we first estimated, but we shall know more when the brickwork is really finished & the roof on.

We have had lots of people to see this house, but almost all come under the impression that it is, as it looks, a mere small cottage, & so we have no real bite yet — but there is time.

I think Ma told you that the sideboard recess is 5.6 wide & 1.7 deep in the brick work. Violet wants a "dresser," in it — the modern idea being to imitate old farmhouse building & furniture.

Your affectionate Pa | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]