**‘Is there anybody there?’ said the dog

Barking at the sunlit gate;**

Molly and I took an an afternoon stroll around Marble Hill and made a detour to investigate Montpelier Row, an elegant street of Georgian houses adjacent to Marble Hill, dating to 1724. At the end of The Georgian cul de sac is the gated Southend House, that was home of the poet Walter de la Mare, perhaps best known for his poem ‘The Listeners’ . I have misquoted (massacred?) the opening lines above.

Number 15, Chapel House, also has artistic associations, having been home to Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Pete Townsend.