Finally, for these posts about my trip down to eastern England last week just a few pictures and doggie-connections!

Billy in the snow

Billy, lives with his master and mistress at the B&B in Norwich where I stay. He is very quiet and very much behind the scenes but it’s always a joy to see him when he pops into the breakfast room or has a little toddle round the garden in the summer. I think Billy is quite old now and he’s a bit shaky on his pins so on each visit I’m pleased to see him again and renew acquaintance.

Of course, the whole idea behind the very existence of Keeper’s Cottage is that it was home not only to the gamekeeper but also, and very importantly, to his dogs. They lived in separate accommodation a few yards down from the house.

“A short distance down the slope was a four-stalled kennel block, where the head keeper kept his dogs for retrieving the game. One of the stalls had a hearth and copper boiler for the keeper to boil up scraps and bones for the dogs’ mash.”

The pictures on the walls of Landmarks usually have some connection with the property. In the case of Keeper’s there are a number of dog pictures and most notably to me the one in the bathroom :

For some reason he reminded me of Billy.

Alfie dislikes the snow and won’t keep still to be photographed!

We did, of course, have our own pug dog with us at Old Warden. Alfie is fast becoming a seasoned Landmarker. He already accompanied us to La Maison des Amis, the Windsor’s place near Paris, earlier in the year. And now he’s been to Keeper’s. Where next for Alfie?- you just have to wait and see ….

Eventually all dogs pass away and go to the great kennels in the sky. The Shuttleworths were no different from the Windsors, from Edith Wharton or from Agatha Christie. They also  had a great love and respect for their four-legged friends and in the Swiss Garden are 14 gravestones each marking the burial spot of a much-loved pet.

The Doggie Graves in the Swiss Garden despite their age each name can be clearly read