* * * * In presenting Leith Hill Place, and
47o acres attached, to the National Trust, Dr. Ralph Vaughan-Williams has saved from desecra- tion one of the fairest slopes in Surrey. The estate is within easy reach of London, and it may become as regular a pilgrimage to go and see the rhododendrons and azaleas there as it is to see the daffo- dils at Kew. I am sorry the notices in the papers have not made more reference to the late owner of Leith Hill Place, Mr. Hervey Vaughan- Williams, who died early 'this year, and dispensed delightful hospi- tality there, particularly during the lifetime of his wife, who was killed in a,road accident outside the gates of Leith Hill Place five or six years ago. Being childless as well as a widower, Hervey Vaughan- Williams left his property to his brother, the composer, who, being comfortably established in Dorking, had no desire to inhabit the house himself. Hence his generous decision to give the property to the National Trust. The house, it .is satisfactory to note,•is to be taken by a kinsman, Sir Ralph Wedgwood. All this is essentially Vaughan-Williams country, for High Ashes, just above, was the home of Lord Justice Vaughan-Williams, and is now occupied by his son, Mr. Roland Vaughan-Williams, the Recorder of Cardiff, who married a daughter of the late Lord Phillimore. To carry the legal association farther, Tanhurst, close by (owned by Mr. Roland Vaughan-Williams) was for several years the country home in which Sir Samuel Romilly sought peace and retirement.
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