Hazlegrove House Park, Somerset

(The Hazlegrove Dolphin, Summer 1958)

Bottom row, 3rd from left

Yesterday  a group of us had a most enjoyable tour of Hazlegrove House park and school; I was comparing the buildings and landscape I remember from the 1950s and the environment and impressive developments since that period. Of course I went back regularly in the 1980s, when the second generation of the family was equally fortunate to be able to enjoy such an environment and outstanding facilities, which seem to get bigger and better with every passing year.

It was difficult (impossible?) to retrace the path through the park from the Sparkford Inn which I used to take every morning.

The playing fields and the main house brought back the most vivid memories, but this wasn't just a nostalgia trip.

My grandson, now in America, really liked the look of the school when we drove into the grounds a few months ago.

Here's an interesting Cultural Heritage Survey  of the park, produced by the Highways Agency in August 2006.

The King John Oak (which was over 1000 years old) finally died, alas, about eight years ago.

The King John Oak (above, the dead trunk, now; below, still thriving in the 1950s)

Looking to the present and the future, here's the school's website.

Tatler's Schools Guides report.

Two poems from The Hazlegrove Dolphin, Summer 1958:

My son loved it there in his day.

Unsure about going to school (at Brooklands, West Bay):

 Alex at Grandmother's Home, Brooklands (top right room)

Hazlegrove portraits.

My daughter's school, Knighton House, Dorset