A memorable overnight stay in the writer’s cobwebby French farmhouse
In 1972, the Observer encountered one of a near-extinct species: Bloomsbury Group survivor writer David ‘Bunny’ Garnett, nearly perishing in the process, thanks to Garnett’s hair-raising driving. ‘“You drive with great imagination,” I said faintly,’ journalist Ruth Hall reported when Garnett collected her for an overnight stay at his cobwebby, dead-fly-infested French farmhouse.
It’s a funny, affectionate portrait of a man who ‘retains an incredible “niceness” – there is no other word for it’. Beret-clad Garnett, then 80, was an attentive if eccentric host, frying potatoes, stoking the fire and plying Hall with walnut cake and a bespoke hotwater bottle fashioned from a beer bottle. He was modestly embarrassed to be interviewed, offering an alternative: ‘I’ve prepared a List of the Best and Worst Things in Life. Would you like me to read it?’
Continue reading… A memorable overnight stay in the writer’s cobwebby French farmhouseIn 1972, the Observer encountered one of a near-extinct species: Bloomsbury Group survivor writer David ‘Bunny’ Garnett, nearly perishing in the process, thanks to Garnett’s hair-raising driving. ‘“You drive with great imagination,” I said faintly,’ journalist Ruth Hall reported when Garnett collected her for an overnight stay at his cobwebby, dead-fly-infested French farmhouse.It’s a funny, affectionate portrait of a man who ‘retains an incredible “niceness” – there is no other word for it’. Beret-clad Garnett, then 80, was an attentive if eccentric host, frying potatoes, stoking the fire and plying Hall with walnut cake and a bespoke hotwater bottle fashioned from a beer bottle. He was modestly embarrassed to be interviewed, offering an alternative: ‘I’ve prepared a List of the Best and Worst Things in Life. Would you like me to read it?’ Continue reading… Bloomsbury group, Life and style, Culture
