Letter from Edward Thomas to the poet Gordon Bottomley. Sent from Wick Green, Petersfield, Hampshire. Archival ref: 424/1/1/1/10/142
WEEK GREEN
PETERSFIELD

3. 1 10

My dear Gordon,

I am so plagued with the necessity for writing
Christmas polite letters now I think I must include
you in this industry. Thank you for Danae.
I am too sleepy to say more. We are just settled now
& Davies is staying with us. Helen has been unwell
& in bed during the move & now there is something
the matter with Bronwen. And I have accepted the
dirty job of writing the text of a book on Windsor
Castle this month. After such must custom
please tell me something about Windsor. I shall have to
give a list of celebrated or wealthy visitors. Were
you ever there? It all has to be discovered, and read about
& the book written & copied in these 4 weeks. So I do
not feel noble at losing the first week completely
owing to visitors whom I cannot put off early enough.
I am very glad to hear 'The Riding to Lithend' may
be played Tell me as soon as it is certain.
How beastly my hand writing is. It is the new
house - we like it very much, but it is new.
We can see our old one nearly from the windows,
& could run down to it straight through the woods in
3 minutes if we did not break our necks. We
are in a new parish called Foxfield, a much
pleasanter address, but it might lead to my
letters etc going to a notorious debtor of my
name - Edward Thomas - who uses that address.
The bailiffs are young men with summonses &
have already been troubling us. "Week Green' is
the name of a small district with about 4
houses in it - it is our briefest possible address,
though it does resemble Peak Frean.
I wish I could come to Millknowe this
year. 1909 was a devil. This has begun to
take after it. I hope it will be broken by the habit.
Goodbye & our best wishes to you & Emily &
your father & mother - Aunt Sarah.
Yours ever
Edward Thomas