I read your article “The walk” with great interest as it has family connections.

 My grandmother, Eleanor West, was a market gardener and my grandfather, who hailed from Kilpeck, was a signalman on the Hereford – Abergavenny line.

By dint of her hard work as a horticulturalist she built The Croft, Firs Lane, Mardy and raised their family of 8 children there.

When Rudolf Hess was incarcerated in Maindiff Court he was, as you said, taken for walks by the staff.  He frequently stopped to lean on my grandmother’s gate to survey her large

garden, which made her incandescent with rage.  She was working her socks off and he appeared to be enjoying a leisurely life.  Needless to say she often told the wardens/nurses to take him away before she berated him personally.

 Thank you for bringing that memory to life!

Judy Booth

The Old Mill

Dinedor,