IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Merrywood Lane, PULBOROUGH, RH20 3HD

Some of the green bits on the bare verge are plants of Epipactis phyllanthes. This is a contender for the least glamorous British orchid, being smallish and all green including the flowers, which sometimes never open. Many of the verges similar to this in this sandy area have this plant, which in Sussex seems to prefer dusty, dirty road or track edges like this. However, it is far from common.

Gates at the main entrance to the early-period Lutyens house. The mortar-courses of the gate piers are galleted - a touch that almost amounts to the architect's signature in the early days of his career.

Little Thakeham was one of Lutyens' early commissions, built in 1902-3, not long after Tigbourne Court in Surrey. The house isn't all that easy to see from public rights of way. This shot was taken from the bridleway which runs up from Merrywood Lane, and is about the best I could manage. The bridleway passes just west of the house - but deep in a gully, giving no view at all. A view of sorts can be had from the bridleway that runs along the valley north of the house, but the main impression from that angle is of tall chimneys. The house is built of local sandstone, rather than the Bargate stone used at Tigbourne.

At time of taking the photo I didn't realise that it was the rear view of the renowned house designed by Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens named Little Thakeham. The house was built mainly from the local Pulborough rock. It was for here he designed the now famous Lutyens Thakeham Bench seat.