The Jollyman Letters: project progress July 2017

Well, it’s ready.

No, not the first Jollyman Letters book, I’m afraid, but the house. All the sorting and mending and cleaning and packing and painting is finished, and our home is now ready to go on the market so we can move to the Isle of Wight. And so now I have free time to work on the Jollyman Letters Project again.

I’ve found my perfect new home on the Island, but it’s a bit small!

We treated ourselves to a trip down to the Isle of Wight to celebrate, and I couldn’t resist a visit to the model village at Godshill, a wonderful place that my sisters and I adored as children. What I love about it is that it’s not just a collection of little houses, but includes an actual scale model of Godshill itself… with a model of the model village, containing an even smaller model village.

At the moment, I’m concentrating on The Hansford Letters, The Millman Letters and The Jollyman Letters, covering the main family history from Victorian times to World War I.

Sadly, my Victorian ancestors never saw Godshill Model Village, as it didn’t open until 1952. However, I’m sure it will feature in The Story of Ashley: a Billericay House, which will give an account of our Paice family childhood (including holidays) as well as more background about the Jollyman family home.

But first – time to buckle down to some serious writing!