Catalogue number: WP1/2/127
Letter from Wallace to his daughter Violet describing buying land in Broadstone in Dorset, on which to build a house, dated October 1901.
Wallace gives his account of meeting a land agent to finalise the details of buying land in Broadstone, Dorset. He says he has marked out the exact boundaries and agreed on terms. Though the 'price is high', Wallace enthuses 'there is no spot to equal it for miles around'. It sounds lovely with '...a little valley with beautiful grass under trees and a view right over Poole Harbour to the Purbeck hills...' The land was formerly part of an orchard. Wallace built a house and aptly named it Old Orchard. He moved in by Christmas 1902. Wallace remained at Old Orchard until his death in 1913.
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View high resolution scans and transcripts of Alfred Russel Wallace's correspondence, including all surviving letters between him and Charles Darwin.