History of The Lawn Guest House
The Lawn was built in 1898 and purchased by a Mr Reynolds who was at that
time a vetenarian to the stables maintained for Prince Kinsky, a member of the
Russian Royal family, at their vast estates in Bohemia.
In this year the Prince died and his son sold all the horses and purchased
motor cars!
Mr Reynolds therefore moved his family into the new home 1898 but subsequently
died of a heart attack at the wheel of his car in 1904.
The story goes that he left his family without any money, and as
ladies at that time did not go out to work, the eldest daughter of the
five children, Winifred, started giving private tuition in the front parlour.
This quickly developed into a school called The Lawn, with 3 classrooms
downstairs, while the family lived upstairs and the maid lived out the back!
It was run as a school by Miss Reynolds up to 1968 when she had to retire
due to ill health.
The first Cub pack in Horley was run from the house after school hours.
Following Miss Reynold's retirement the house became a private dwelling for
a few years and was allowed to become badly run down in the interior and
structurally, eventually with part of the roof missing.
It was then purchased by Ken Stocks in 1988, who rebuilt the turret and
renovated the interior back to its Victorian grandeur, at the same time creating
an-upmarket Guest House.
I bought The Lawn as a guest house in 1996 and have now substantially extended
the bedroom capacity with an addition that is 80% of the size of the original house.
During the last few years 3 people have called at The Lawn having been here as
children both before and after the Second World War.
In November 1996, when clearing a cupboard for the installation of a new bathroom,
I came across a set of glass photographic plates. When these were printed they depict
groups of children from the school from about 1920 to 1935. These are now framed and
hang in the breakfast room.
If you have any memories of The Lawn, perhaps as a pupil, a member of the Horley
Cub Pack, or perhaps as one of the original guests prior to 1996 do email me with
your recollections at recollections@lawnguesthouse.co.uk.
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