ao VILLAGE ENGLAND 



small fortune was spent in the erection of cottages, out 

 buildings, and a fuller equipment for the farmhouse. The 

 excellence and cost are announced by the present solidity 

 of the buildings. These farms (and many others near 

 them) suffered severely in the depression of the early 

 eighties, and the returns began to reach vanishing point. 

 The revival was slow, and the better part of the land, with 

 its cottages and buildings included, was sold in 1915 for 

 no more than 12 an acre. This amount, as the pur 

 chaser recognised, would not pay for the money spent 

 on buildings alone erected during the developments 

 begun in 1777. He felt sure that this price would rise, 

 but the opposite happened ; and some years later the 

 land and buildings were again sold at a loss, this time at 

 the rate of 4 los. an acre. It would be a generous esti 

 mate to conclude that the money represents half the 

 value of the buildings. 



Let no one imagine that the land is poor in itself. It 

 is good land. People once boasted that you could not 

 want better &quot; bean and wheat land.&quot; The grass is good 

 and rich. Heavy crops are still grown on the few arable 

 acres left. The oak trees of one side of the old avenue 

 are fine and large. Even fruit trees flourish. The railway 

 is remote, six miles away ; but the roads are good. The 

 Great North Road itself is only three miles away. Elec 

 tric cables cross the slope, and the total distance from 

 London, by far the greatest market in the world, is sixty- 

 five miles. The fields can produce in excellent quality 

 and without undue labour or cost the foods that come 

 to London from 12,000 miles away, as well as from nearer 

 Europe ; it is good dairy country, good poultry country, 

 good wheat and bean country, and moderately good fruit 

 country. 



The village where the Ferrars flourished is called Little, 



