H.E. Bates Companion

A brief account of the long search for a home in Kent, ending in the discovery of a granary in February 1931 that became Bates's home for the remainder of his life. Bates describes the initial inspection, during the rainy season when the building "was like a derelict ship standing in a sea of mud," the planning process, and the completion in about six months of "a beautiful, neat, snug place that looked as though it had never been a farm-building." The article reflects Bates's pride in combining the rural and literary worlds, and his delight in his garden: "what was once the farmyard is a blaze of purple and white and lavender and rose and gold." In The Countryman (July 1933, 7:2, pp. 357-60), reprinted in Flowers and Faces in 1935, reprinted in slightly edited form in The Countryman Book (London, 1948, pp. 121-123 under the heading "Concerning Authors' Cottages").