Clouds Hill - a haven for T E Lawrence better known as Lawrence of Arabia

OU PHRONTIS is the greeting in Greek over the single door: "Do Not Worry!" (from Herodotus). This was meant to be a place where Thomas Edward Lawrence sought and found peace and quiet.

Lawrence had a fatal accident on 13th May, 1935 - and died on the 19th May. Given the proximity of this anniversary, I am publishing this brief video to encourage to visit. On Sunday, there will be a collection of Brough Motorcycles in the grounds.

As is so often the case, the visit to this National Trust property was elevated from good to great through the warm welcome and witty insights of two volunteers, Alan and Phil. We thank you!

He was a single-minded man with a rich diversity of interests and achievements. He was, in their time, a soldier and an archaeologist, a writer and a diplomat, and engineer, and above all, a leader of men like Alexander the Great.

Clouds Hill is a 'man-cave' - designed and filled with treasures to Lawrence's pleasure and delight. In it, he could rest, reflect, listen to music, read, write, type, revise his manuscripts, and entertain the odd friend. His aesthetic reminded​ me of that great poem by Henry David Thoreau:
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms...”

I conclude, however, with T E Lawrence's own words:
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible."