The Woolf's purchased Monk's House on July 1st 1919 for the princely sum of £700. Life was hard here after the luxury of their previous abode at Asheham House. Lack of hot water and bath, the rudimentary earth-closet, small rooms and a myriad of other niggardly points were all brushed aside upon seeing the garden.

 

"This will be our address for ever and ever", declared Virginia, and so it was. The house was previously owned by the Glazebrooks, a family of millers who lived here in the 19th century and whose millstones you may see about the garden paths. Many alterations were carried out to the house and improvements made as Virginia's novels gradually increased in sales and reading but the essence of the property is still intact.

 

The house still captures the 'yesteryear' about it and it almost feels like walking through a timewarp into a gentler more serene period. During their at Monk's house, many noted and distinguished visitors stayed here and the place became a retreat for owner's and visitor's alike.

 

Viginia Woolf's memorial

 

There are many websites on the Internet discussing her works, her life and many other facets of this talented writer of life that I shall not go any deeper into into the subject. If you require further reading or information then please search for this yourself, you can use the search links provided on the website main page navigation bar.

 

On the 28th March, 1941, aged fifty-nine, she drowned herself in the river Ouse, near her Sussex home.

 

I have a page on this site explaining the events leading to her demise and you can find this at the link here Viginia Woolf's Demise. This work is not my own and if you know who wrote it please inform me so that I may contact the author for permission to show it, or at least add a credit to its author.

 

Part of the garden viewed from the house with Leonard's memorial in the foreground and the tower of Rodmell church showing above the orchard trees. The shed off centre was called the Lodge and became the preferred writing room when weather permitted

 

 

 

 

 

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