Gertrude Bentley Cooke's home at Dingley Dell, Marlow Bottom

Gertrude Bentley COOKE

at Dingley Dell, Marlow

[Ref. Q.25]

Sydney and Vera bought a three acre plot in White Hill at Marlow Bottom, Buckinghamshire in 1941. The plot comprised a field located along a small and quiet lane and set in woodland. The site sloped up away from the road and the chalet and house were to be built at the top thus giving a nice view down across the field and over to the wooded hills.

There was nothing except a dutch barn on the site when they arrived so they lived in their caravan, whilst they became established. Sydney designed and built a wooden chalet first of all so that they had somewhere reasonably comfortable to live whilst the house was constructed. The chalet was properly fitted out with services and, once they moved into their house, they let the chalet in summer for holiday makers. It was also useful for visiting family.

Sydney called he called the house he built Dingley Dell, the name being taken from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickins. He bought a large box of Spear & Jackson carpentry tools to start with then purchased other specialised equipment as the work progressed. He was not daunted by anything and happily constructed a tile-creased arch in the garden and also dressed leadwork. The main room was deliberately Dickensian as it had an inglenook fireplace with wooden pews each side. There was one large bedroom on the ground floor but a spare bedroom with a verandah was constructed in the roof although access was via a drop-down ladder.

The couple's intention of becoming self-sufficient was largely realised, although Sydney continued to work in his showrooms in London. About two acres were used to harvest lucerne and hay which was stored in a Dutch barn at the bottom of the field then sold off. There was a vegetable plot in front of the house which Sydney tilled with a petrol cultivator. There were beehives for which Sydney had all the correct paraphanalia, and at the rear were kept chickens, ducks and three pedigree goats, one billy called Billy, and two maiden milkers called Ariadne and Venus. There were also fruit bushes. They stored fruit and vegetables and also made jam and preserves as well as wine and beer which was kept in a small cellar, rather like a manhole, under the bathroom floor.

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