Earlscliffe residents 1969 to today

David and Muriel Robinson

Earlscliffe was expected to sell quickly and for a large amount of money. However, this was the late 1960s, and big houses with labour intensive gardens were not that popular. This was fortunate for David and Muriel Robinson who had decided that this was the type of challenge they needed.

Earlscliffe with its five acres was ideal but it seemed inevitable that it would be beyond their reach. Miraculously, the large well-manicured garden intimidated would-be purchasers at the time. The house did not reach its reserve at auction and David and Muriel subsequently bought it for less than the asking price. [1] They moved into Earlscliffe in 1969.

For a discussion of how the Robinsons coped with the management of the large garden at Earlscliffe see:

• Changes in the swinging sixties - from formal garden to eclectic collection of exotic plants

Baron's Brae

When their children left home and Earlscliffe became too big for them, David and Muriel Robinson built a smaller house in the 1980s in the grounds of Earlscliffe in what was an orchard. They named it “Baron’s Brae” because a Baron is less than an Earl, and a Brae is a small cliff!

They rented out Earlscliffe and the adjoining cottage and continued to manage the gardens.

Additional Earlscliffe residents

Since the 1970s their have been many additional people who lived at Earlscliffe or the adjacent cottage/mews. The following is a list of a few of them:

• Bob and Marie Fannin
• Wolf and Uschi Rommerskirchen-Hilbertz
• Tony and Margot Francis
• Bríd and Patrick Sullivan

Fiacre's Fell

David Robinson's daughter, Karen and her husband David Foley moved back to Earlscliffe at the end of 1993 and lived in an adjoining cottage. They subsequently built a house adjacent to Earlscliffe which they called Fiacre's Fell. They gave it this name partly because St. Fiacre is the patron saint of gardening, and a Fell is a sort of hillside. However, the main reason they chose that name was that it is an anagram of Earlscliffe!

Earlscliffe garden today

The Robinsons continue to own Earlscliffe, and now David and Muriel's daughter, Karen, with the help of Muriel, brother Ivan, and Karen and Ivan's family, have taken on the challenge of managing the Robinson garden at Earlscliffe.

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References

[1] Title deeds and other legal documents that are currently in the possession of Muriel Robinson

This page was last updated on 27-Jun-2010 .