A brochure for Knebworth Garden Village that I have not seen before surfaced in the Archive last week. It must date from between 1910 and 1914, and has two pretty girls standing on a hill saying “Welcome to Knebworth” on the front cover. I wish I could quote it all, but here are a couple of its many gems:
“One after another is asking himself why he should go on renting a brick box in a sordid street when for the same annual cost he can live in a house built to suit his own tastes and requirements and standing in a pleasant garden where not only he himself but his wife and children may enjoy abundance of fresh air and sunshine with all the zest to life that comes from sharing the interests of his neighbours.”
“The altitude is between 300 and 400 feet above sea level, the subsoil is chalk and gravel, and the air is dry and bracing. There is a plentiful and constant supply of water, and a scheme of drainage has been carried out, so that all the pleasures of country life can be enjoyed without any attendant discomforts.”
Among the accompanying photos are a couple of a rural Stockens Green. A treasured Conservation Area now it has houses on it!
Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com