Last century when I was nought but a pimply teenager I read Memoirs Of A Fox Hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon. At that time in the mid 1970's I had grandiose thoughts of being an acclaimed wit, writer and raconteur and along with Oscar Wilde and others Sassoon for me epitomised chic literates. Over the years I've discovered other writers of course but a core remain in the foreground. And so it was today when I made a pilgrimage to Sassoon's grave in Mells in Somerset. It's a wonderful rural location to be put to rest alongside many of his aquantance including Ronald Knox his mentor and friend and whom he wished to be buried close to.
I discovered while planning today's trip that Mells, at the end of the Victorian and into the Edwardian age, was a centre for arts, crafts, philosophy and social thinkers. Sassoon was a frequent visitor to the village along with Lutyens, Munnings, Burne Jones, Nicholson and Morris. Near to Sassoon's grave is that of Knox and next to that of Lady Violet Bonham-Carter and her husband. Today my visit was short, the biting wind made searching for other items of interest in the village less than pleasant. I shall return in warmer weather and take it all in properly, there's a lot to learn about this most English of villages.
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