JULY 261 



I forgot to say that the hall at Woodton which was pulled 

 down is reported to have been practically a replica of that in this 

 parish, having been built by the same architect. I do not refer 

 to the old Ditchingham Hall, where lived the early Bedingfelds 

 and, I suppose, the Bozards before them, but to the new house 

 built about one hundred and eighty years ago. 



To me it is a perfect mystery whence came all the wealth that 

 enabled so many families which had never been remarkable for 

 riches to build or re-build large houses in and about the Georgian 

 era. In this district alone there exist a number of them which, 

 even when labour and materials were cheaper than they are 

 to-day, must still have cost great sums, to say nothing of the 

 considerable income required to keep them up. In times when so 

 many horses were necessary and so much wine and other liquor 

 was consumed housekeeping cannot have been cheap in a large 

 establishment, whatever may have been the price of meat and milk. 



Yesterday we were carting hay from the new pasture, No. 5 ; 

 it is an excellent crop and of good quality ; but to-day the weather 

 is so threatening that we are afraid to open the cocks. We have 

 finished cutting the three-acre, No. u. This was the first pasture 

 that I laid down, the land being about the worst I have on the 

 farm. So lately as last year, indeed, doubts were expressed as to 

 whether the grasses would stand, and therefore I am the more 

 delighted to see it throw up so splendid a crop of hay. The grass 

 is so thick and fine that the machine can scarcely toss it, as the 

 hay winds up ' like a cart-rope,' or rather like the bonds that are 

 used in thatching stacks. All of this I attribute to the sheep, 

 which were penned here at the beginning of the year. Indeed, 

 their beneficent effect upon the pasture is proved by one little 

 circumstance. I think that on an earlier page I mentioned 

 that for some cause, which I forget, a certain corner of this field 

 was left unfolded. Also, it happened that in one small fold the 

 sheep lay for two full nights. I have remembered these spots and 

 watched the results. They are that on the double fold the crop 

 is even heavier than elsewhere, whereas in the corner which was 



