I have just returned from a delightful stay at Goddards, a large Arts & Crafts house near Dorking in Surrey, built by Edwin Lutyens. It was an informal writing retreat for six friends. It was our first chance to meet up since pre-Covid.

The house was originally built as a philanthropic act by a Mr Mirrilies-Muir, the owner of a big department store in St Petersburg. Goddards was intended to provide a place for short recreational breaks to “ladies of small means” – nurses, maids, ladies’ companions and the like. Goddards offered these women an escape from their working lives – to spend a few precious days of recreation and exercise in beautiful surroundings. The perfect choice for a writing retreat for us!

The house even has a skittle alley – open to the local villagers as well as the ladies of small means. The gardens were designed and planted by the celebrated Gertrude Jekyll. As expected with a Lutyens designed house, it is full of beautiful architectural details, such as ornate bell-pulls, door furniture and chimneys.

In 1910 the house became the family home of Mirrilies’ son and the ladies of straitened circumstances were rehoused nearby. The family brought Lutyens back to extend the two side wings and create a master bedroom at the end of one wing and the nursery on the other. I was in one of these.

There are eight bedrooms, several bathrooms and numerous other rooms so we six had plenty of room to spread ourselves around the house to work. And what an excellent location. The grounds are beautiful and we were blessed by perfect autumn sunshine (apart from on the morning I chose to take my photos!). Goddards is in the midst of excellent walking country with narrow country lanes, gentle hills and picturesque villages to offer further inspiration.

All my fellow writers made massive progress, with several breakthroughs happening and a couple of completely new ideas begun. I was the exception! I had arrived with two possible new book ideas but had no inclination to work on either. I suspect it was because neither felt appropriate to my location. I succumbed to the inspiring surroundings in the end and started work on a new project, inspired by the house – on my last afternoon there. At this stage I don’t know whether it is a short story, a novella or a full-length novel. I suspect the latter. All I am going to say is that it is set in the early years of the twentieth century and involves the Arts & Craft movement. Watch this space!

We even had a ghost! One of us (not me) had a sleepless first night, then at around 2am on the second night decamped from her bedroom into one of the two spares. She was driven there by loud knocking – wood on wood coming from inside the wall cupboards, one of which was locked and the others empty – and from under the floor under her bed. She was wearing noise cancelling headphones and listening to music to help her sleep but heard all this despite them. At the same time there was a hostile feeling – although no drop in temperature and nothing visible. Later we worked out her room was directly above the skittle alley. There was only one reference to this in the enormous visitor book – someone who also referred to noises from under the floor in one bedroom. Later the room’s occupant discovered a blog post from an American ghost hunter who evidently had a similar experience – but claimed also to see a woman and other visible manifestations. No one else among us saw or heard anything untoward or felt at all nervous. Lorna, who was the unfortunate one, continued to work in the haunted room during the day without any problem – but slept in another bedroom.

I am not a believer in ghosts but I do recognise that others may be more sensitised to such things – or indeed may be attractive to spirits. There is I am sure a lot of history associated with the house – including the accidental shooting of one owner – possibly by his own hand. Who knows? What is certainly true is that we all had a great time, enjoyed each other’s company, drank far too much wine, and loved dining in style at the long table in what was originally the common room for the ladies of small means.

Since returning home I have invested in two fabulous and inspiring books to aid my research and am really enjoying learning about something that is completely new to me. I won’t say more now but will do soon.