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Grace Family at Battle Abbey

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                                                Dita about to embark on a road trip 1904           

 There were a lot of exciting things to do and see. If we weren't accompanying Nanny pushing Michael's pram through the lanes, we were allowed to play in the gardens. They weren't ordinary gardens -- somewhere in the shrubbery there was the opening to a tunnel that led from the Abbey to Hastings-on-the-Sea, six miles away. A monk in peril could escape to the seashore by this tunnel and set sail for France. Along with terraces, there were places made of a different stone from the rest of the walls. This was where the monks or nuns who disobeyed were walled up and left to die.

There were several phantoms on the place. A white swan sometimes visited one of the spare rooms, and on moonlit nights the ghosts of the monks murdered by Cromwell were seen slowly walking up and down the yew walk that led to the rose garden.

We were in the habit of carrying salt in our pockets to ward off any spirit. If one threw salt and made the sign of the cross, any evil spirit would have to vanish! (The rose gardens and the ghost walk have been duplicated in the Old Westbury Gardens.)