Posted by Peter H on March 05, 2008 at 16:21:22 from 86.130.126.226 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Tent Lodge posted by MikeB on March 05, 2008 at 15:12:27:
The general belief is that Emma Holt (of the Holt shipping line family) was the visual inspiration for the Great-Aunt. In fact she was a dead ringer. Miss Holt, a lifelong spinster, travelled up to the Lakes every summer in a chauffered car (sitting in the back, GA-style). She wore old-fashioned Victorian rig and spoke very correctly and formally. She occasionally hired a horse-drawn victoria to tour the lakeside and visit old friends. From there on the similarity ceases. Emma Holt had a very sweet temperament and never raised her voice. She was exceptionally generous, and let the Collingwoods live at Lanehead rent-free. I checked all this out with Pauline Marshall while she was alive (she was a distant relative of Emma Holt's). It is through the Collingwoods that AR must have seen Miss Holt and no doubt met her.
I agree with Mike that Sudley House, near Liverpool, is a fascinating place to visit and has just been renovated. Incidentally, if you want a good description of what Sudley and Tent Lodge were like in the Great Aunt's, I mean Emma Holt's, day, you'll find one in George Melly's autobiography Scouse Mouse, mentioned in Mike's link (a Futura paperback - I think it's out of print now but try the internet.)