33-517: The Camomile Lawn is a 1984 novel by Mary Wesley beginning with a family holiday in Cornwall in the last summer of peace before the Second World War . When the family is reunited for a funeral nearly fifty years later, it brings home to them how much the war acted as a catalyst for their emotional liberation. The title refers to a fragrant camomile lawn stretching down to the cliffs in
66-569: A feature in the magazine Country Living , but the idea was politely declined. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1995. Due to her association with the town Wesley was chosen in 2007 to appear on the 1 Totnes pound note. Wesley died from cancer on 30 December 2002, aged 90, at her home in Totnes , Devon and was buried beside her second husband in
99-485: A huge elm tree in its grounds. The church is decorated with a collection of carved angels and nightmarish animal heads. There is a memorial to William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury , who spent his holidays in the village from 1933 to 1944. Although it is closer to the neighbouring village of Halsway , Halsway Manor falls within the parish of Bicknoller. It is a manor house, now used as England's National Centre for Traditional Music, Dance and Song. The eastern end of
132-508: A lifelong complicated relationship with her family and especially with her mother, who had a sharp tongue. Following the death of her father in 1961, her mother said: "I'm not going to let that lingering death happen to me. When the time comes I'm going to crawl to the Solent and swim out." Wesley replied with feeling: "I'll help you". Her family did not approve of her books. Her brother called what she wrote "filth" and her sister, with whom she
165-452: A woman who was liberated before her time Mary Wesley challenged social assumptions about the old, confessed to bad behaviour and recommended sex. In doing so she smashed the stereotype of the disapproving, judgmental, past-it, old person. This delighted the old and intrigued the young. In Wesley's books there are some references to her own life, although she denied that her novels were autobiographical. Her books usually take place in or around
198-535: A young woman, when she had many lovers. The biography holds nothing back. As Wesley stated: "It was a flighty generation.... [W]e had been brought up so repressed. War freed us. We felt if we didn't do it now, we might never get another chance." "It got to the state where one woke up in the morning, reached across the pillow and thought, 'Let's see. Who is it this time?'" But Wesley finally did get tired of her wartime lifestyle, realizing that her way of life had become too excessive: "too many lovers, too much to drink...I
231-406: A young woman. After a coast guard fell to his death near Boskenna, Wesley suspected foul play and created a fictional version for her novel. Like Polly, Wesley worked for military intelligence during the war. The character of Oliver was based on her former boyfriend Lewis Clive while Max was based on Paul Ziegler (brother of Heinz Otto Ziegler ), one of her friends whose parents were murdered in
264-638: Is a village and civil parish on the western slopes of the Quantock Hills in the English county of Somerset . Administratively, the civil parish falls within the Somerset West and Taunton local government district within the Somerset shire county , with administrative tasks shared between county, district and parish councils. In 2011, the parish had a population of 371. The village
297-664: Is on the routes of the Coleridge Way and the Macmillan Way West . Above the village lies Trendle Ring , an Iron Age settlement. The parish of Bicknoller was part of the Williton and Freemanners Hundred . The village was known in 1291 as Bykenalre which means Bica's alder tree . From 1430 to 1857 the manor was held by Wells Cathedral . The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover
330-676: Is responsible for running the largest and most expensive local services such as education , social services , libraries , main roads, public transport , policing and fire services , trading standards , waste disposal and strategic planning. It is also part of the Tiverton and Minehead county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by
363-629: The Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall , was turned into a television series , and is an account of the intertwining lives of three families in rural England during World War II . After The Camomile Lawn (1984) came Harnessing Peacocks (1985 and as a TV film in 1992), The Vacillations of Poppy Carew (1986 and filmed in 1995), Not That Sort of Girl (1987), Second Fiddle (1988), A Sensible Life (1990), A Dubious Legacy (1992), An Imaginative Experience (1994) and Part of
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#1732797564615396-654: The War Office . It is implied that she is working for Military intelligence . Her brother Walter joins the Navy . In 1992 the novel was adapted for television, independently produced by Glenn Wilhide and Sophie Balhetchet at ZED Ltd for Channel 4 and directed by Peter Hall . It was adapted by Ken Taylor and had a notable cast, including Felicity Kendal as Aunt Helena, Paul Eddington as Uncle Richard, Jennifer Ehle as young Calypso, Rosemary Harris as Calypso in old age; Tara Fitzgerald and Virginia McKenna played
429-714: The first past the post system of election, and was part of the South West England constituency of the European Parliament prior to Britain leaving the European Union in January 2020, which elected seven MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation . Part of the Church of St George , a Grade I listed building , dates from the 12th century and is dominated by
462-764: The Furniture (1997). A book about the West Country with photographer Kim Sayer, Part of the Scenery , was published in 2001. Asked why she had stopped writing fiction at the age of 84, she replied: "If you haven't got anything to say, don't say it." In March 2024, it was announced Wesley's literary estate had been acquired by the London -headquartered company, International Literary Properties (ILP), for an undisclosed sum. Novels for Children Novels for Adults Autobiographical Bicknoller Bicknoller
495-508: The Holocaust . Mary Wesley's sister quarrelled with her over the depiction of Helena and Richard Cuthbertson in the book, as she believed that they were based on their parents. In August 1939, Oliver, Calypso, Polly and Walter are visiting their aunt Helena, uncle Richard Cuthbertson and their 10-year-old cousin Sophy who has been taken in by Helena and Uncle Richard. They are often visited by
528-469: The building dates from the fifteenth century; the western end is a nineteenth-century addition. The manor, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book , was built by Cardinal Beaufort as a hunting lodge. At one point it was occupied by insurrectionist Jack Cade . Thereafter it was a family home until the mid-1960s, when it became the folk music centre. It has been designated by English Heritage as
561-456: The character Oliver Ansty is a fictionalised version of Clive. Wesley's first husband was Charles Swinfen Eady, 2nd Baron Swinfen , with whom she had a son, Roger Swinfen Eady, 3rd Baron Swinfen ; although her son Toby Eady , born in 1941, was initially known as the son of Lord Swinfen, Wesley subsequently admitted his father to be the Czech political scientist Heinz Otto Ziegler . Toby Eady
594-462: The condition that nothing would be published before her death. She provided her reminiscences from her sick bed, and commented: "Have you any idea of the pleasure of lying in bed for six months, talking about yourself to a very intelligent man? My deepest regret was that I was too old and ill to take him into bed with me." The authorised biography (published in 2006) is entitled Wild Mary , a reference both to her childhood nickname and to her sex life as
627-414: The council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with
660-399: The district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council. The village falls within the non-metropolitan district of Somerset West and Taunton , which was established on 1 April 2019. It
693-464: The everlasting house, the idyllic refuge, recalling her time with Siepmann, living in a remote cottage in the West Country . Other recurring themes such as the dysfunctional family , the uncertain paternity, the affirmation of illegitimacy, can also be linked to her own life. In addition, thanks to her flighty youth, sex would become her trademark in her books though she wrote about what went on in
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#1732797564615726-461: The garden of their aunt's house. Mary Wesley began writing The Camomile Lawn after the death of her second husband left her destitute. She finished writing the book in 1983 and was persuaded to publish it by her editor James Hale. Parts of the book were based on Mary Wesley's early life; the house in Cornwall was based on Boskenna , the seat of the Paynter family, where Wesley spent much time as
759-406: The graveyard of Buckfast Abbey . Her take on life reveals a sharp and critical eye which neatly dissects the idiosyncrasies of genteel England with humour, compassion and irony, detailing in particular sexual and emotional values. Her style has been described as "arsenic without the old lace". Others have described it as " Jane Austen plus sex", a description Wesley herself thought ridiculous. As
792-409: The head rather than a user's manual. Incest also plays a part in several of her novels, but Wesley never mentioned this as a feature of her own life. She may however have gained her insight from her years working as a Samaritan . She wrote three children's books, Speaking Terms and The Sixth Seal (both 1969) and Haphazard House (1983), before publishing adult fiction. Since her first adult novel
825-466: The local coastguard exposes himself to her. Returning from fighting in the Spanish Civil War , a depressed and disenchanted Oliver has a changed outlook on life. He retains his crush on Calypso, who, knowing that she is not what Oliver is truly seeking, is determined to make the most of her beauty and marry a rich man. Sensible, intelligent, practical Polly is observant and eventually joins
858-423: The twin sons of the local rector and by Max and Monika, a Jewish refugee couple from Austria , whose only son, Pauli, is in a concentration camp and who have been taken in by the rector. Young Sophy is delighted with the arrival of her cousins, especially Oliver. She is determined to run 'The Terror Run', a cliff path that the cousins race along at full moon, along with the grown ups. During a daylight practice run,
891-401: The younger and older Polly. Mary Wesley Mary Aline Siepmann CBE (24 June 1912 – 30 December 2002), known by the pen name Mary Wesley , was an English novelist. During her career, she was one of Britain's most successful novelists, selling three million copies of her books, including ten bestsellers in the last twenty years of her life. Mary Aline Mynors Farmar
924-495: Was born in Englefield Green , Surrey, the third child of Colonel Harold Mynors Farmar, CMG , DSO , of Orchards, Bicknoller , Somerset, and his wife Violet Hyacinth, nÊe Dalby, granddaughter of Sir William Bartlett Dalby . As a child, she had a succession of 16 foreign governesses. When she asked her mother why they kept on leaving, her mother reportedly told her: "Because none of them like you, darling." Wesley had
957-446: Was eventually the literary agent of her biographer Patrick Marnham . She next married Eric Siepmann and with him had a third son, William Siepmann. In 1970 Wesley was left impoverished by the death of Siepmann, and it was only then that she became an author, turning to writing as a way to restore her finances. Only in the last year of her life did she agree to have her biography written. She cooperated fully with Patrick Marnham , on
990-479: Was no longer on speaking terms, strongly objected to The Camomile Lawn , claiming that some of the characters were based on their parents. Wesley identified the appalling grandparents in Harnessing Peacocks , who bully the pregnant Hebe, as the nearest she came to a portrait of her own parents in old age. Lewis Clive fell in love with Wesley and asked her to marry him. In The Camomile Lawn ,
1023-435: Was on my way to become a very nasty person". When her son Toby Eady read the book, he was so amazed at how much he did not know about his mother that he did not speak to anyone for a week. Late in life Wesley ordered her own coffin from a local craftswoman and asked it be finished in red Chinese lacquer. She kept it as a coffee table for some time in her sitting room. She suggested that she be photographed sitting up in it for
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1056-538: Was previously in the district of West Somerset , which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 , and part of Williton Rural District before that. The district council is responsible for local planning and building control , local roads, council housing , environmental health , markets and fairs, refuse collection and recycling , cemeteries and crematoria , leisure services, parks, and tourism . Somerset County Council
1089-567: Was published only in 1983, when she was 71, she may be regarded as a late bloomer . The publication of Jumping the Queue in 1983 was the beginning of an intensely creative period of Wesley's life. From 1982 to 1991, she wrote and delivered seven novels. While she aged from 70 to 79 she still showed the focus and drive of a young person. Her best-known book, The Camomile Lawn , set in the West Penwith area near St Buryan, although filmed on
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