Grayshott & Hindhead Literary Festival 1995–2001

Here is a summary of the five programmes which we ran: 1995 – 1996 – 1998 – 1999 – 2001 – List of Speakers

Location and History of the Grayshott / Hindhead area – Local links

Those who attended have been very positive in their comments, and artistically the festival has been a great success – but sadly, delegate numbers have not been sufficient to keep it going any longer.

For those who may plan to run a similar venture in the future, there are lessons to be learned which we are very happy to discuss – contact us.

22-24th September 1995

20-22nd September 1996

18-20th September 1998

17-19th September 1999

17-19th September 2001

List of Speakers

Our list of Past Speakers covers the range of genres, styles, content and presentation: from modern to historical, poetical to prosaic, dramatic to novel, fiction to factual — and paper to electronic.

Victor Ambrus 1995
Max Arthur 1998, 1999
Carole Baldock 1999
Philip Bird 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999
Claire Booker 2001
Jean Bowden 1995
Simon Brett 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999
Chris Brown 2001
June Chatfield 1995, 2001
Clarion Publishing 1996
Beryl Cross 2001
Tony Cross 2001
Rib Davis 1996, 1998, 2001
Josie Dew 1996, 1999
Hugh Dickson 1998
Tony Douglass 2001
Nigel Forde 1995
Colin Dunne 1996
U. A. Fanthorpe 1996
Vicki Feaver 1999
James Follett 1998
Bryan Forbes 1999
Adam Forde 2001
Nigel Forde 1995
Eugene Fraser 1995, 1996
Gordon Frater 1995
Dr David Gervais 1996
Sophie Hannah 1996
Sarah Harrison 1999
Anne Harvey 1998
Thomas Hinde 1999
Lyn Hughes 1998
Graham Hurley 2001
Janet Jerram 2001
Toni Kanal 1999
Deryn Lake 2001
Jack Laurence 1998, 1999
Michael Legat 1999, 2001
Michael Leishman 1996, 2001
Ruth Longford 1996
Andrew Lyndon-Skeggs 1996
Michelle Magorian 1999
Anne Mallinson 1995
Roger McGough 1998
Deborah Moggach 1998
Ian Mullins 2001
Martin Muncaster 1995, 1996, 2001
Nicholas Murray 1995
Martin Newell 1995
Michael Nicholson 1998
Michael Nyman 1995, 1996
David Orme 1999
Marcus Parry 2001
Iain Pattison 2001
Laura Ponsonby 1999, 2001
Lucy Pringle 1998
Simon Rae 1996
Paul Robinson 1998, 1999
Local schools 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001
Marion Shaw 2001
John Owen Smith 1995, 1998, 2001
Laurence Staig 1998
Frank Startup 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001
Sean Street 1999
Nick R Thomas 1998
Gillian Thornton 1996, 1998
Ann Thwaite 1998
Molly Townsend 1995
Marc Vyvyan-Jones 1999
Dr Jenny Ward 1996
Moray Watson 1999
Mike Wearing 1996
Valerie Wilding 1996, 2001
Dee Williams 2001

In particular, we would like to thank Simon Brett, who has been our Patron for the full seven years of our existence

Location and History of Grayshott and Hindhead

Grayshott and Hindhead lie at the spot where one of the most easterly points of the county of Hampshire meets Surrey.
In geographical terms, the villages sit on spurs radiating from the prominent rise (895 ft) at Hindhead known as Gibbet Hill. It was the attraction of this height with its air "as pure as that in the Alps," along with the arrival of the railway at nearby Haslemere in 1859, which encouraged a number of famous Victorians to buy up property and build houses in the area.
Before this, the district was largely a wild and lawless area of open heathland, only sparsely inhabited by drovers and ‘broomsquires’—the latter making brooms from the birch and heather which grew locally.
Enclosure acts passed in the mid-1850s allowed the land to be sold off in lots, and the villages as we see them today started to develop from that time. Previously the only significant dwellings in the area had been around the site of the present Grayshott Hall, then a farmhouse.
In 1867, Tennyson (not yet a Lord) rented the house for about a year while looking for land on which to build, eventually choosing a site near Blackdown on the other side of Haslemere.
In 1898, George Bernard Shaw came to spend his honeymoon at Pitfold House, and returned to stay for about two years more at the building which is now St Edmund’s School. Here he joined Arthur Conan Doyle, who had decided to live at Hindhead for his wife’s health, and several other literary notables of the day also took up residence nearby.
At that time, the telegraph office was in Grayshott, and a young lady named Flora Timms who worked there wrote of "listening with delight to their conversation as they met with friends at the counter," but she tells us she never dared to join in. She later moved away, married, and became Flora Thompson, famous in her own right for writing Lark Rise to Candleford. Her less well-known novel Heatherley tells of her time at Grayshott.
Never far away from Grayshott & Hindhead are many hundreds of acres of unspoilt land, much of it owned by the National Trust, on which modern-day visitors, like Flora Thompson before them, may enjoy the freedom of walking across miles of open country, adorned in season by carpets of purple heather and bushes of yellow gorse.
Whitmore Vale and Golden Valley, Hindhead with its famous Devil’s Punchbowl and magnificent views, Ludshott Common and the three tree-edged ponds of Waggoners Wells—these should all be visited —and at the end of a day full of healthy exercise, the hotels and restaurants of Grayshott and Hindhead will be ready to refresh you.

• Business Connections
• Grayshott Books – your local friendly knowledgeable bookshop
• Grayshott Flower Club
• Grayshott Parish Council
• Grayshott Pottery – pots to see, dishes to eat!
• Grayshott Stagers

Visit the Grayshott Village site for more local information