Hilaire Belloc bought King's Land (in Shipley, Sussex), 5 acres and a working windmill for £1000 in 1907 and it was his home for the rest of his life. Belloc loved Sussex as few other writers have loved her: he lived there for most of his 83 years, he tramped the length and breadth of the county, slept under her hedgerows, drank in her inns, sailed her coast and her rivers and wrote several incomparable books about her. "He does not die that can bequeath Some influence to the land he knows, Or dares, persistent, interwreath Love permanent with the wild hedgerows; He does not die, but still remains Substantiate with his darling plains."

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Tuesday, 16 August 2022

The Duck Pond Sailors in Slindon...




On Thursday 16th June 2022 – The Duck Pond Sailors gave a ‘moving concert’ around the little streets and woodlands of Slindon. In this video, they sing the ‘Sussex Song’, written by Chris Hare, as a sort of national anthem for the county, including all it’s great moments in history and folklore. The other song is G.K.Chesterton’s poem ‘The Rolling English Road’ put to the tune of ‘The Farmer’s Boy.’ Chesterton was a lifelong friend of Belloc, and the two men frequently met for walks in the South Downs. Belloc spent his boyhood in Slindon and wrote many essays about the village and its hinterland.
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