Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula

EValentineUMValentineJRM430223-0001.jpg
EValentineUMValentineJRM430223-0002.jpg

Title

Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula

Description

Reports on her visit to estate agents and house hunting activities. Mentions many possibilities of renting or buying and costs of various options including in and out of London and possibly a farm.

Date

1942-11-23

Temporal Coverage

Language

Format

Two sided handwritten letter card

Rights

This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.

Contributor

Identifier

EValentineUMValentineJRM430223

Transcription

Start of transcription
[inserted] [underlined] 50 [/underlined] [/inserted]
WRITE [underlined] VERY CLEARLY [/underlined] ON THE LINES TO AVOID DELAY IN CENSORSHIP
[inserted] R4A 26-3-43 [/inserted]
DATE 23.11.42.
Darling Johnnie, I have been up to the West End to see some estate agents & hasten to report back to you. [circled 1] It is very hard to get the sort of thing we want to [underlined] rent [/underlined]. Those who have property are hanging on to it & only part with it if they need the capital. I was told most London agents inly deal in sales, so I am getting in touch with some local agents to see if there is anything to rent. [circled 2] Even if we could rent, we shouldn’t get anything like the property you mention for £100 p.a. more likely £170 - £200 if it is within daily reach of London. [underlined] outside [/underlined] the daily reach area land is cheaper, but no good for us. [circled 3] [underlined] Buying a house [/underlined] ( I must say I am in favour of buying, if we can afford it. It would at least give us some capital when we move out & buy a real farm & anyway is more satisfactory, to my mind.) A house with elec., drains, etc 4 bedrooms & about 10 acres costs £2500-3000, if not much more. This seems a knock down blow to me. One agent produced particulars of what seems the very thing, in Sussex. 8 miles from Lewes ( on the South Downs, think of it!) 45. Min train service to London Bridge from Lewes, 13 acres, 3 bed. 3 receps. bath, central heating, main elec, good outbuildings (cowstall for 6, 5 pigsties, calf boxes chicken houses etc) garden orchard, 5 fields, good pasture with pond in each: bungalow let to postman brings in 10/- per week, rates etc. £13 pa, freehold - £2.5000. I rang up a building society which would advance 3/4 of price at 5% repayable not less than 20 years. So apart from finding £650 on the nail, it would cost about £300 p.a. to buy it in 10 years, according to my reckonings. This was the [underlined] most [/underlined] advantageous offer I had; others were modern house, I acre of gardens, £3,000
CONTINUE IN BOTTOM PANEL OVERLEAF
[page break]
[underlined] IMPORTANT: [/underlined] FOR A PRISONER IN GERMAN HANDS THE PRISONER OF WAR No. MUST BE CLEARLY SHOWN. IT MUST NOT BE CONFUSED WITH HIS BRITISH SERVICE No.
[underlined] PRISONER OF WAR POST [/underlined]
KRIEGSGEFANGENENPOST
SERVICE DES PRISONNIERS DE GUERRE
[postmark] [ postage stamp]
[AIR MAIL LOGO] [ink stamp]
RANK & NAME: SERGT. J. R. M VALENTINE
[ink stamp]
BRITISH Prisoner of War
PRISONER OF WAR NO: 450
CAMP NAME & No: STALAG LUFT III
COUNTRY: GERMANY
[page break]
FROM Mrs JRM Valentine
Lido Tenterden Grove
Hendon
London NW4
[page break]
[underlined] BOTTOM PANEL [/underlined]
With 6-7 acres adjoining which would be extra to that price. Tudor farm [inserted] furnished [/inserted] in Herts, 12 acres - £6.500!! What’s more prices are going up. Am getting in touch with owner of first mentioned Summer farm to say we are interested but must await your verdict. Shall try to go & see it. Meanwhile keep looking for rented farms. In view of above prices, what can we undertake? [underlined] Daren’t [/underlined] leave it till you come, conditions will be far worse. How can I finance it? Will write at greater length
[inserted] Reply quickly won’t you! [/inserted]
With all my love, Ursula
End of transcription

Collection

Citation

Ursula Valentine, “Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 29, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/20012.

Item Relations

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