I was rather interested to see Hogarth House, where VW lived in Richmond whilst writing the first volume of this diary, and I was also very interested to find out how long it would take her to walk from Richmond to Kingston. We parked a mile or so out of Kingston - at Teddington Lock on the Ham side, and we walked at a fair pace along the tow-path to Richmond, stopping at Ham House to explore the cellars and shelter from a shower. We went to find Hogarth House, which is in a quietish road not at all far from the shopping streets. The house is rather grand-looking and I think that in the Woolfs' time it was cut in two, and they had only half of it.. There is practically no garden and you can walk down the path at the side (peeking over the wall at the lack of garden) to cut through to the shops. I tried to imagine the town as it was in the first world war: which buildings were there then (most of them) and why VW was so nasty about poor Richmond?! She thought it very vulgar and her favourite thing was the train to London. Then we went to the green (such a gorgeous town) where the Attenboroughs used to live, and then back to the river where we had an excellent beer, and walked back mainly along the tow-path. There must be a shorter way, I think, as it was quite tiring, even though very attractive, and I also wondered what VW wore on her feet. She never complained, in her diary, that her feet hurt; she must have had a great pair of boots but so far (and I am well into 1918) she has been very reticent about her footwear.
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| the path to Kingston from Richmond |
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| Hogarth House in Richmond |
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