GERAINT'S STAY AT LOWER FARM DAGNALL HERTFORDSHIRE PART 5
Joan How's visit Part 5
In recent months I have accessed a website (www.edlesborough.gov.uk/tour/dagnall) which features amongst other interesting information about Dagnall the following: In 1935 electricity came to the village, gradually the houses and farms had electric lights installed. One age old custom at ‘The Golden Rule’ (where, Doris Munn informed me Geraint could be found most Friday evenings making everyone laugh with his stories of London characters) also came to an end. It was usual at the end of an evening of Darts for each player to have 5 darts with which to attempt to extinguish the candle that lit the Dart Board…..I would like to think that Geraint took part in this custom as I feel sure a good laugh would have been had by all. During Geraint's time in Dagnall the village boasted two hostelries, ‘’The Golden Rule'' and ‘’The Red Lion''. On a very recent visit to the village I sadly found that ‘’The Golden Rule'' was now closed, but ‘’The Red Lion'' still remains open. Interestingly a ‘’Red Lion'' features in ‘’The Heyday in the Blood'' with the following description. ‘’No one knows how old was the house……it spread itself out in a warm coloured brick amongst the trees, with no beginning and no end…..one could wander about all day long and there was always something fresh….Nowhere in all Wales were there such ham and egg teas…..there was no ham like it………..'' There has been much speculation as to which ‘’Red Lion'' is features in Geraint's book, I shall have to investigate ‘’The Red Lion'' in Dagnall and see if they are serving ham and eggs!
I will end my account here with one final reference to the well mentioned at the beginning of my description of Lower Farm cottage. Just as I was about to leave Doris took me to the side of the cottage to show the site of the well. While the Goodwin family were renting the cottage there was a drought and the villagers frequently came to access the only water supply available from the deep well. Their fondness and liking of the young writer, who had made them laugh so much, caused Geraint a lot of distraction as they wanted to continually talk to him. Unable to cope with the interruptions, the family eventually left to return to Wales. Sadly the well is no more, it has long since been filled in and concreted over. I often drive near Dagnall, along the lower Whipsnade Road, and each time I remember the Goodwin family that had stayed in the village. It is pleasurable to think that I live not so far away from Lower Farm. My sources for the above article were: Myfanwy Lumsden Doris Munn ‘’The Geraint Goodwin-Edward Garnett letters'' compiled by Rhoda Goodwin published by The Anglo-Welsh Review Spring 1973 Volume 22 Number 49 ‘’Geraint Goodwin'' Writers of Wales series by Sam Adams published by University of Wales Press ‘’The Heyday In The Blood'' written by Geraint Goodwin published by Jonathan Cape 1936 and republished by Parthian University of Wales 2009 Retyped 2026 for re-established website.
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