A weekend in Belstone - May 2023
A pilgrimage to Belstone - 'Laughing in the sun'
Between 12th-14th May 2023 members of the extended Clarke family gathered in Belstone in Devon.
Background
After a summer holiday in Lydford in 1934, Violent Clarke (Lally) and her sister Ivy McCrum (Aunt(ie)) took a long term lease on a house in Belstone, ‘Greenvale’, for £50 a year. Starting in 1935 their children would descend upon Belstone every school holiday, while their fathers were abroad.
The seven children were (in descending order of age) Tony McCrum, Richard Clarke, Rosamond Clarke, Michael McCrum, Chris Clarke, Margaret Clarke and Bobby McCrum.
Tony McCrum recounts that they used to spend their time climbing, walking, swimming, playing games and riding.
Belstone was a world apart from events in the rest of the country and round the world in 1935. King George V was celebrating his Silver Jubilee, the country was in the grip of a deep economic depression with huge numbers unemployed and the clouds of war were once again gathering over Europe. Television had yet to be invented, there was no such thing as a personal computer or mobile phone, never mind a smart phone. There could have been a landline. The only forms or public entertainment were the cinema in Okehampton (the children often had to walk there) and the radio which in those days had just two stations - the Home Service (now Radio 4) and the Light programme (now Radio 2).
One fine summer day in 1935, possibly Margaret’s birthday (28th August), the seven children were photographed in their swimwear at the Faery Pool in the river Lyd near Lydford. The photographer was Auntie Madge (Madeline Foote), Tony’s godmother and Lally’s first cousin. That summer the children, aka The Famous Seven, were still very young. In the photo from left to right they are (with their ages):
Michael (11), Bobby (7), Richard (14), Tony (16), Margaret (8), Ros (12) and Chris (10).
50 years later the 'seven' gathered in the same spot. They are from left to right:
Bobby, Margaret, Chris, Richard, Michael, Ros and Tony
2023
2023
The original purpose of the Pilgrimage to Belstone in May 2023 was to reenact the photograph taken in 1935 - some 88 years later.
Participants
All 15 who joined the pilgrimage are related to The Famous Seven.
Edda Clarke - married to Richard Clarke
Belinda Schicht (accompanied by her husband Johnnie) - daughter of Rosamund Clarke (Evetts)
Mark, William and John Allbrook - sons of Margaret Clarke (Allbrook)
Andrew McCrum (accompanied by Ulrika) - son of Tony McCrum
Philip Clarke - son of Chris Clarke
Bernie, Mona, Ginny, Becky, Tina, Rosy, Peter and Nick Clarke - children of Richard and Edda Clarke.
Sadly missed:
Alison, Julia, Debbie and Joanna Clarke - children of Chris Clarke
David McCrum - son of Tony McCrum
Sarah and Catherine McCrum - daughters of Bobby McCrum
Robert, Elizabeth and Stephen McCrum - children of Michael McCrum
The Pilgrimage
In the week following the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla we descended upon Belstone from Scotland, Paarl (SA), Norfolk, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Nottingham, Surrey, Birmingham and Droitwich, following an off the cuff suggestion by Will on a now very well used WhatsApp group. ‘Anybody fancy joining me in a pilgrimage to Dartmoor this summer?’ Tina, ‘Yes, please, William.’ Ginny, ‘Me too, please.’ Phil, ‘Just name the day.’ Bandat, ‘I’m up for it too’. Becky, ‘I’m keen too.’ Will, ‘Ooh, looks like a party. In the words of Captain Mainwaring, ‘You stupid boy!’ And so it began.
It was at this point that our tech guru cousin from California, Toby Evetts, stepped in and ran the original black and white photo through some imaging software which turned it into colour. And what a brilliant result. He had already done the same to the famous ‘Basket of Hanford Rubbish’ which features grandmother, Lally, and her friends.
Before the group gathered Mark, Will and John wanted to catch up with two of the Famous Seven generation. After negotiating some of the narrowest and busiest roads in Britain in Will’s new ‘electronical’ car, the Allbrooks arrived at Bridget McCrum’s house in Dittisham, overlooking the River Dart not far from Dartmouth. Bridget’s land slopes steeply down to the river and is covered with a mass of botanical specimens planted by her late husband Bobby, one of the Famous Seven. Bobby died 2005; so Bridget has lived there alone for the last 18 years. However, she has given vent to her artistic talents, which are considerable; she is now a renowned sculptor and her works can be seen all over the house and garden. She explained that she had taken much of her inspiration from Middle Eastern art. Approaching 89 she is about to embark upon her final exhibition, which Will hopes to attend later in the summer. It is extraordinary that Bridget has only ever been able to see with one of her eyes; hence she can only see in two dimensions; and yet her lifelong skill has been sculpting in three!
One of her most famous works was commissioned by Rolls Royce; it is a four metre high solid stainless steel sculpture entitled ‘Merlin’, which sits outside their factory in Bristol; it is a tribute to the famous RR Merlin engine which powered both the Spitfire and the Lancaster aircraft in World War 2. It actually looks very like a Spitfire. Bridget has the maquette of Merlin, the small original sculpture on which the final work was based; it sits proudly in her yew hedged garden along with many other wonderful works. Over the river, clearly visible, is a large white Georgian mansion, where Agatha Christie used to live and write, now a National Trust property. Bobby and Bridget often used to visit Christie’s family there. One of the reasons for our visit is that Bridget is actually John’s godmother; she had forgotten this! She guided us round her garden, chatting away all the while, fully fluent mentally if a little slow physically. It was great to see her again after such a long time and all three of us loved chatting with her.
Over the years we have got to know Tony McCrum very well; his wife, Angela, died in 1993. So Tony has lived on his own in Broomhill House, Chagford for 30 years. In March he turned 104 and he is the eldest and sole surviving of the Famous Seven. It is hardly surprising that his short term memory often fails him, but when he talks about the more distant past he is totally lucid; we stayed with Tony for about 40 minutes. During this time he spoke at some length about his father, about our parents and Phil’s father, Chris. He also fondly recalled the happy times the Famous Seven had spent at Belstone in the school holidays. He has always loved Dartmoor and walked the Tors until he was physically incapable of continuing. His French windows look out onto the moor.
Before arriving at Dartmoor House, Mark, Will and John visited the spot where they scattered their mother’s (Margaret) ashes in 2015 and their father’s (Jim) in 2019 as well as their Jack Russell’s (Tom) in 2022. This area is called ‘Belstone Common’ and to get to it you have to climb up the hill to the west of the village. There is a patch of flat ground at the top where Margaret, Jim and Tom now reside together for eternity. The Allbrook boys were quite emotional.
That afternoon Ginny, Bandat, Tina, Rosy and Becky slipped into Okehampton on a mission to procure two costumes from the local charity shops. Their father, Richard, had often told them stories about Belstone; he described a local resident, Lady Trollope, who lived in a house with newspaper on the floor and was something of a recluse, shooing away all visitors. Ginny was determined recreate Lady Trollope as her alter ego. She had even heard that the vicar of St.James, Okehampton, the Rev’d Stephen Cook, had written about Lady Trollope’s grave. So she phoned him up from outside the church. But sadly it was a dead end and the vicar denied all knowledge. What you may not know is that our grandfather’s (Percy Scamander) eldest sister, Aunt Ethel, had married the vicar of Okehampton in 1903! His name was Rev’d Arthur Dobson. However, Lady Trollope’s attire was only one part of the second hand clothes purchase. During the WhatsApp chat in the lead up the the Belstone weekend, it so happened that Johnny earned himself the nickname ‘John-Boy’. Actually it was imposed upon him by Ginny (probably egged on by various others!). He had chosen ‘pig’ from the Tors menu for supper on Saturday and Ginny replied, “What else would John-Boy go for? (That’s your new name by the way! Hope you like it!). John-Boy was one of the sons in the family called “‘The Waltons”, a popular American soap set in the rural midwest. Remember? Anyway Ginny and her siblings were looking for something appropriate for John-Boy to wear at Belstone. What a stitch up!
Richard Clarke’s family were the first to arrive, minus Pete. All the rooms on the lower floors of Dartmoor House were immediately occupied. Late in the afternoon the Allbrooks pitched up. And bringing up the rear were Phil and Pete. Andy and Ulrike appeared as if by magic to take the total resident count for Friday night to 15. The sight of multiple bottles of Gin drew the 15 to the kitchen, where large G&Ts were poured and the fun began! We all had to introduce ourselves and the first mention of the name Scamander took us back the the birth of our great grandfather, Edward Henry Scamander Clarke. He was born on 21st May 1856 aboard a ship called the SS Scamander sailing back from India, where so many of the later Clarkes were to be born.
Pete’s middle name, like Richard his father, is Scamander. Bernie explained that she had been known as ‘Bandat’ because some of her siblings had been unable to pronounce Bernadette, which makes perfect sense. But when asked what her husband, Mark, called her, she coyly replied, “Gorgeous”! As we went round the kitchen table introducing ourselves we found out that Rosy was actually Rosemary, that Ginny was spelt with a ‘g’ rather than a ‘j’, that Nick’s middle name was Walther after his grandfather, that Will’s middle name was Reginald, that Mark’s was Edward - there are many Edward’s among both Clarkes and Allbrooks. John-Boy kept his own counsel.
It soon became very clear that something special, not to say unique, was starting to happen. It is very difficult to put your finger on it, but the initial excitement and nervousness soon gave way to something far deeper and more binding. It was as though the genes we all have in common were forming some sort of collective bubble around us - an enormous family hug, if you like. The warmth of the embrace grew stronger as time went on and more G&Ts were consumed!
The Clarkes had made an enormous and very tasty Lasagne for supper and soon we were all sitting round the kitchen table chatting away as if we were one familiar family rather than a group of disparate relatives, some of whom had not met for years and did not know each other well at all. Still, all that began to change, and very quickly too. The overriding sound emanating from that Dartmoor House’s kitchen was laughter - loud, long and frequent. Bottles of wine were opened and any inhibitions that there were soon evaporated into camaraderie and familiarity.
After supper we withdrew to the drawing room, as the Famous Seven would most certainly have called it, and Ginny asked Mark to open proceedings with an explanation of what exactly had brought us all together. Over the last few years Mark has been constructing a family tree using the genealogical software ‘Ancestry’. He explained that our origins go back as far as the East India Company and after that to the Raj in India. Edward Henry ‘Scamander’ Clark was probably our most famous ancestor and had given all his children, even the girls, the middle name Scamander, which is so unusual that it makes tracking them down for the family tree a lot easier than just the surname Clarke! What you may not know is that the name Scamander goes back even further than the East India Company; in fact it goes back as far as the Trojan War, brought to life by the Greek epic poet Homer in his poem, The Iliad. The river that flowed past the city of Troy was called Scamander after the god who lived in it. The Trojan War traditionally took place in about 1250BCE. However, there is no suggestion that the Pilgrimage to Belstone has any connection to the war waged by the Greeks to retrieve Helen from the clutches of the Trojans. On the other hand……. ! We all appear in Mark’s family tree because we are all the ‘fruit of the loins’ of the Famous Seven. Most of us are first cousins, apart from Andy, who is our second cousin. His father, Tony, the eldest of the Famous Seven, is not the only one of his generation still alive today. Richard’s wife Edda, mother of the eight of the nine Clarkes present, was also part of our number on the Pilgrimage. She was to be a key figure over the next two days and it was an absolute delight to have her with us. She knows Belstone of old because husband Richard brought her here.
Phil dropped a bombshell in our after dinner chat when he revealed that the had stayed at Dartmoor House some years before. I guess there aren’t too many houses in the village so the chances are relatively high; nonetheless one had the feeling that other powers may have been at work…….
The Clarke girls had been dropping hints about Lady Trollope all evening since we gathered and it was soon time for us to meet her. Did we know about Lady Trollope? Did we know she used to live in Belstone? Did we know that she had three small dogs called Yip, Yap and Yop? Ginny disappeared and suddenly this old crone went on the rampage through the ground floor of the house. She gave ‘what-for’ to all and sundry and her siblings were in hysterics. In fact, one of them said, “I’m going to wet myself if I laugh any more!” Her ladyship was dressed in a period navy blue frock, with little old lady shoes and a broad brimmed black raffia hat; in the shop Rosy had asked, “Do you have any hats so battered that you can’t put them out to sell?” Yip,Yap and Yop were in her handbag. She was bad tempered, cantankerous and quite a character. She seemed to be quite taken with John-Boy. I don’t think the rest of us could quite believe what we had just seen! That is until 11.30pm when little Johnny Allbrook was transformed into John-Boy! The trip to the second-hand charity shops of Okehampton had paid off and suitable midwest hick American clothes procured. To the tune of the Waltons, Johnny first bared his torso and put on a becoming checked shirt; then right in front of Edda he dropped his trousers and was squeezed by Mona into an appalling pair of blue denim dungarees! In the charity shop Mona had asked, “Have you got any men’s dungarees?” “No, but we have a pair for a pregnant lady.” And the finishing touch a large pair of circular John Lennon glasses. And John-Boy Walton was among us! Time for bed - and not a moment too soon! “Goodnight, John-Boy.”
'The Big Day - Saturday 13th May'
On Saturday morning the Allbrook boys were up with the lark, having received orders from she who must be obeyed that they were on breakfast duty. And what a sumptuous breakfast it turned out to be. Fruit juice, cereals, scrambled eggs, sausages, baked beans, mushrooms - the works; topped off with toast, marmalade, tea and coffee. The excitement was palpable as Ginny and her sibling assistants prepared a picnic lunch in double quick time. But before we set off the first of the group photos was taken on the green outside Dartmoor House; Pete deployed his photographic drone which captured all of us from on high. Then travelling in a small convey of some four vehicles we made the relatively short journey to Lydford. Our destination was the ‘Fairy Pool’ which Will and Andy’s brother, David, had scouted out a few weeks earlier. Tony McCrum was quite clear that the Fairy Pool was the place where the photo of the Famous Seven was taken in 1935. But the genes of the Famous Seven had already kicked in and a walk/climb was deemed to be a suitable preparation for immersion in the freezing cold River Lyd. The river was a relatively short walk from the car park and, leaving Edda behind at ‘base-camp’, the intrepid, some would say foolhardy, first cousins plus Andy and Ulrike set off. In bright sunshine, with barely a cloud in the sky and the temperature warming up nicely (‘other powers may have been at work’) we skipped across a series of stepping stones over the river, finely tuned athletes all; ahead Brat Tor loomed.
We negotiated the comfortable gradient of the first few hundred yards, making fast progress, chatting and laughing all the while, getting to know each other. However, soon the Tor put a stop to all that as the slope rose much more steeply - no more chatter, just a lot of huffing and puffing, till we reached the base of Widgery Cross, known now as - Clarke Step. We scrambled up the step from various directions and gathered at the Cross. Even Yip, Yap and Yop had made it to the top in Bandat’s back-pack. The views back down towards the Lyd were spectacular and south up to another ridge, wild Dartmoor ponies roamed. Pete got the drone to fly round the Cross filming as it went. The climb had definitely been worth it, another shared experience. Will and Andy were all for heading up another distant Tor, but were soon dissuaded. As a compromise we descended a wide col to a mounded arete, Doe Tor, with fire warning flagpole and some beautiful layered Dartmoor rock formations. The sounds of spring were all around us; there was a constant chorus of tuneful Skylarks, one of the few birds that sings in the air, and the first Cuckoo of the season. You can understand why the Famous Seven were so attracted to Dartmoor and why they kept on coming back throughout their lives, something we were now perpetuating. It is such a special place; it can be very dangerous with snow and fog often combining lethally, but on a day like today you can lose yourself in the sublime natural beauty of the big skies, the rolling Tors and the magnificent views all around. Got quite lyrical there - it is after all a rural idyll.
Now down we go. The descent to the river Lyd and our ultimate destination was quite boggy in places and we had to leap from rock to rock to cross small brooks. It was nice for Mark to chat to Nick on the way down. Andy led the way, his impatience often getting the better of him as the Lyd hove into view; we trailed in his wake. Suddenly a scream, as Rosy lost her footing on a particularly steep section near the bottom. No harm done though. We traversed the south bank making our way upstream and suddenly there it was, the Fairy Pool in all its serene glory.
Quite a sight. We had to get across to the north bank by clambering over large boulders in the middle of the river. Mark decided that, as the senior swimmer, he’d better set the example. But as he disappeared behind the changing room rock, Ginny, Bandat and Mona made their way back to the car park (base camp) to collect Edda and bring her to the picnic site. Ginny remembers, ‘Ensuring that mother didn’t miss out on the ‘Fairy Pool’ experience. Bandat, Mona and I marched along with her, singing songs from the past, hoicking her up by her trousers along the final rugged path, until she was safely sitting on the stone bench overlooking the pool.’ By now Mark had slipped sylph-like into his rash vest and bermudas; his entry into the pool recalled the river god Scamander - my goodness it was cold. Undercarriage retracted. But at least the others had no choice but to join him - not that they could have resisted anyway. One by one we immersed ourselves in the sweet Dartmoor waters, some diving, some flopping, some stumbling, others slithering, until the pool was full of fairies! Fun was had with Pete taking under water pics on his Go-Pro, having a jacuzzi in the top end of the pool and eventually posing for the reenactment photo. But who was going to take it? A lovely fellow swimmer, who could not have imagined that her peaceful dip would be so rudely disturbed by thirteen others cavorting and ‘laughing in the sun’, volunteered to be photographer. We thirteen, almost double the number from 1935 (and had all the cousins been present it would have been 23!) arranged ourselves on the warm rocks and the deed was done. What would the Famous Seven have thought? More splashing, basking and remembering our parents. What a treat! Soon one or two other swimmers appeared and our moment was done. As we were thinking of getting out, Min and Johnnie appeared just in time for the picnic. Great to see them again. They would be with us for the rest of the day. We towelled off and dried ourselves in the spring sunshine - another shared experience. The Clarke girls’ picnic was just what the doctor ordered. The walk and the invigoration of the cold waters of the Lyd had made us all hungry and the picnic site could not have been improved. Sitting in groups on the grassy slopes, we exchanged stories of the day thus far and grew more and more comfortable in each other’s company. Time seemed to fly and all too soon it was time to wend our way back to the cars. But not before a couple of lovely photo opportunities. Great pictures of the whole group with the Lyd behind and some family groups on the stepped stile. Job done! Sadly, at this point Andy and Ulrike had to leave us for a trip to Avignon in France.
But the day was less than half way through. We flopped down for a rest in Dartmoor House, but soon it was time for a true celebration. It was Edda’s 85th birthday in a few days time and she was soon surprised with a cake with a roaring firework on top. Will and Mark then set off to scout a suitable site for a game of ‘Winnipeg’, long a Clarke favourite version of hide-and-seek and sometimes known as ‘Rescue’. On the way they stopped at ‘Greenvale’, Belstone HQ of the Famous Seven. Then they went down the steep bank to the River Taw and chose a suitable ‘base’ for a game of Winnipeg. The Winnipegers were: Mark, Will, John, Bernie, Mona, Ginny, Becky, Tina, Rosy and Phil, with Pete filming! ‘Base’ was a collection rocks on the far side of the Taw over the wooden bridge. Will volunteered to be ‘he’. As he was counting, we all disappeared into the bundu, a mixture of scrub, gorse, bracken and brambles. Everyone soon got the hang of it and Will was made to work very hard to try and ‘see’ us all to get us into base. Some daring rescues followed with both Ginny (from under the bridge) and Bandat (wading across the river) frustrating Will. Becky came away with bruises and scratches; in fact at one moment Will caught sight of Becky lying in the bracken and shouted, “OMG, there’s a dead body!” Rosy was rather taken with the game, having not played before. She’ll be back! Will did a great job trying to catch us for about an hour, by which time we were all exhausted. We walked back up the slope to the village reminiscing about great escapes and nearly rescues.
Back at Dartmoor House the fizz was cracked open to celebrate Edda’s upcoming birthday. Around the kitchen table, the Prosecco seemed to give everyone a second wind and soon things kicked off again. Mark played Bruce Hornsby’s The Way It Is on the hi-fi and soon we played a game whereby several of us held hands and wrists and then tried to disentangle ourselves; this would never have have happened 24 hours earlier! Nick then did his party piece which was to play the theme tune to Dad’s Army on his nose flute - a passable imitation of Hannibal Lector! We marched around the kitchen conga-style reciting the Dad’s Army catchphrases: “Don’t tell him, Pike.” “We’re doomed.” “They don’t like it up ‘em.” “I think your’e drifting into the realms of fantasy, Jones.” “Do you think that’s wise, sir?” and, of course, “You stupid boy.” Lots more favourite songs played and then some quiet time. Edda had brought some old family photo albums and Mark had brought his mother, Margaret’s, early one with Belstone photos. Lovely pics of the children in the 1930/40s; Phil was especially taken with one which showed his mother’s birthday gathering in 1941. Rosamonde was 12. Also in the photo were: her future husband Chris, Phil’s father, Bobby McCrum, Margaret, Lally and Auntie. Phil had never seen a photo of his mother as a girl. The album also had lovely photos of a very handsome Richard Clarke, which Edda loved, plus Rosamond’s wedding to Desmond Evetts in Belstone church in 1942. It was at about this time that Mark asked Edda if she thought the Famous Seven would be proud of what we were doing. An unequivocal, “Yes, of course, you stupid boy!” (she didn’t actually call him a stupid boy, but it was implied, quite rightly). We all felt we were having just the sort of holiday the Famous Seven would have understood only too well and they would certainly have joined in.
A small herd of wild Dartmoor ponies appeared on the green in front of the house; Rosy videoing them asked, “I wonder if they’re tame?” She turned her back and one of them nipped her! Not much sympathy, just schadenfreude all round!
Soon it was time for the pub. Ginny had booked and taken food orders for supper at The Tors, Belstone’s famous pub. But on the way to The Tors, there was another Clarke conspiracy. Johnny had again been dressed as John-Boy, this time sporting a distinctly dodgy grey moustache that made him look like an ageing member of The Village People. The mind boggles. We were carefully directed to an almost derelict and certainly unoccupied house just up the road, possibly Klondyke House. Ignoring the ’Sold’ sign we invaded the property, which we were told was where Lady Trollope used to live. “Let’s have a look through the windows and see if there’s any newspaper on the floor.” At the back of the house is an old barn; Mark and Will, also sporting a Village People ‘tache, were standing at its door, when suddenly an apparition flew out like a whirlwind, screaming like a throttled crow and assaulted us with a rake, telling all of us in no uncertain terms to “Get off my property.” Yes, you guessed it, it was Lady Trollope again, except this time on home turf, determined to remove the trespassers. Fortunately for us, she was distracted by the grey moustache and made a bee-line for John-Boy with lascivious intent. John-Boy meekly capitulated to the inevitable and escorted her Ladyship to The Tors without further ado. The entry into the bar at The Tors in procession led by Lady Trollope and John-Boy caused something of a stir; it was one of Nick’s most memorable moments; all the occupants of the bar went silent as the pair regally made their way through to the back room. Her Ladyship announced that the drinks were on her! Wine was ordered, beers drunk and the evening was under way. Togetherness is powerful and another meal together only served to build on foundations laid over the previous 24 hours. At last replete and mildly inebriated, another Clarke tradition, the 'Mannequin Challenge,' took centre stage. This was by way of a rehearsal in the pub for what was to come thereafter at Dartmoor House. The basic idea is that everyone has to adopt a pose and hold it while a mobile camera goes around filming the whole tableau. The more outrageous the poses, the funnier the end result. Somehow Mark ended up wearing John-Boy’s circular glasses and Lady T’s hat - an entirely appropriate combination - not!
Bills settled at The Tors, we stumbled back to Dartmoor House. The much anticipated Eurovision Song Contest was on the TV, but this was really only a background distraction, especially as GB’s entry came second to last; for the record, the winner was Loreen from Sweden. A magnum of red wine disappeared in twenty minutes. The Mannequin Challenges then started in earnest, faithfully recorded by Pete. The highlights were: bloody murder by stabbing on the kitchen floor, two of our number smoking spliffs by the front door, Mark throttling himself, Will throttling John-Boy, John-Boy stabbing himself causing Tina to say, ”He won’t even blink when I wave my hand!”, a Lesbian kiss on the front door step, Phil sitting on the loo after Mona said, “Take your trousers down, Phil!”, Mona in the bathroom wearing just towels. The list goes on! “Time for bed” said Zebedee. From downstairs, “Good night, John-Boy.” Reply from the attic, “Good night, Mary- Ellen.”
Sunday 14th March
Another gorgeous day with the mist rolling around the distant Tors gradually being burned off by the ever strengthening sun. Very sleepily everyone surfaced to be greeted by another fantastic ‘full English’ breakfast in the kitchen. This time the Clarke girls were the chefs. Mark turned on the Ancestry App on his laptop and managed to fill in a lot of family details. After breakfast on the green outside the house Pete, taking one more group aerial photo, managed to fly his drone into a nearby tree. It nestled about 15 feet off the ground. Undaunted Ginny shinned up this very prickly Hawthorn and managed to dislodge the drone with a stick. Pete deftly managed to catch it before it hit the ground, which might have been terminal. The Allbrooks were due to depart in mid morning. So we walked up the hill to Belstone Common with Belstone Tor behind. We stopped at the place where Margaret, Jim and Tom’s ashes had been scattered. Another special moment linking us all to our family past. Traipsing back down to the village, the drone police finally caught up with Pete and he found himself in the stocks on the edge of the green!
The Allbrooks had loaded up Will’s new EV; fond farewells all round. Lots of hugs. The last was a farewell from Lady Trollope who entwined herself around Mark; after extricating himself, Mark was heard to say, “She IS a trollop!”
Edda, Ginny, Nick, Rosy, Mona, Tina and Bandat popped in to Chagford and saw Tony. He was pleased to see them all and asked what Pete did for a living, but nobody knew!
Our group departed in dribs and drabs till only Nick, Edda and Ginny remained. For Mona Dartmoor House was stunning, with its seven bedrooms and ponies on the green.
Monday 15th May
Exeunt omnes pursued by a Dartmoor pony. (with apologies to William Shakespeare!)
Final thoughts
How do you sum up such an unusual and unique experience. In early June Edda asked, “Was that all a dream?” It certainly has dream like quality now, but at the time it was totally real. In fact, an overload of reality. Some recollections:
’Spending time with lovely cousins and family.’ - Becky.’
‘Family; feeling the love of a united family: madness, fun, laughter and harmony.’ - Ginny.’
‘Feeling instantly at home.’ - Phil.
‘Being all together; wonderful bond and knowing that the dearly departed would be PROUD.’ - Rosy.’
‘Edda’s smile.’ - John-Boy.
‘Revisiting Greenvale; time standing still in beautiful Belstone. Viva Belstone for ever.’ - Edda
‘Everyone gathering round the kitchen table.’ - Tina ‘Brilliant food everyone brought.’ Edda
‘Cousinly warmth.’ - Andy
‘Meeting eight cousins I hardly knew; talented, amusing. Well done, Edda!’ - Min
Travelling home a line from a David Crosby song summed it all up for Mark - ‘Laughing in the sun.’ And when he asked if others agreed, the answer was a resounding ‘YES’. But Becky spotted another four word phrase from the same song, which also encapsulates our time together: ‘At last to know.’ It has taken us a very long time but at last we have got to know each other better and not before time!
Mark reckons that the Edward Henry Scamander’s house in Simla, ‘Grasmere’, was the cradle of the Clarkes. Our grandfather and most of his siblings were born in that house in India. But Will mentioned the magic of Belstone and that a spell had been cast on that special place. He later added that Belstone was the ‘spiritual home of the Clarkes’. Who would have thought that two special houses half a world apart would both have such a marked influence on one family. The author Lawrence Durrell often refers to ‘spirit of place’. It cannot be defined, only sensed. It is not something which can be controlled, applied for or created by human hand, it is just there. There can be no doubt after our very special weekend that Belstone has ‘spirit of place’. There is something about this little Dartmoor village which has affected the Clarkes and McCrums for nearly a hundred years. It is not something you can quantify, however hard you try. It’s some sort of je ne sais quoi. Sadly the name of the Belstone family house, Greenvale, has been changed. But spirit of place cannot be changed. Perhaps it has something to do with being young or young at heart at least because:
For three days we were children again, laughing in the sun.
We made a memory!
And finally, we cannot finish this epic narrative without saying one big ‘thank you’ to Ginny. Her initiative, hard work and organisational skills laid the foundations for a visit free from worry or angst. Moreover, her positivity, kindness and commitment rubbed off on all of us and we shall be for ever grateful.
Future plans
Though it will be impossible to replicate our Pilgrimage to Belstone, the fact is that 2025 will be the 90th anniversary of the Famous Seven’s photo and 2035 will be the 100th - so who knows!
Postscript
On 26th July, just a few short months after our visit to Belstone, Tony McCrum passed away. David and Andrew tell us that his departure was peaceful. He had long and stubbornly resisted the onset of old age with a resilience that was the trademark of his long life and which we all admired so much.