Trip to the Herb of Grace

The Heart of the Family, book 3 in the Eliot trilogy by Elizabeth Goudge

An old, weather-beaten tree in the New Forest from photographer Ariel Kozak on Instagram

“The gate led into a narrow lane, and a storm-twisted oak-tree grew beside it. It might have been one of the trees from the oakwood at Damerosehay, and Sebastian knew they had entered the second Eliot kingdom even before the lane itself made it abundantly clear... It led to a home deeply and deservedly loved, and so many hearts had sung with joy all the length of the lane that there seemed almost a singing in the air, an unheard melody woven into the music that was heard...

Upon his right was the wood of which Sally had told him, Knyghtwood, thick and deep and many centuries old. He knew these ancient woods, hung with dark curtains of shadow about pools of light, each tree as much its own world of mystery as a star in the sky, each leaf and flower as transient as a flake of fire, and yet seeming as fast held in the mystery as jewels in a king’s cloak. He knew the richness of these woods and the breath of them, pungent and warm. He knew the ancient homeliness, and the safety of them.”

🍂Elizabeth Goudge, The Heart of the Family

The Herb of Grace

Out of the roughly 300 pages that make up The Heart of the Family, the middle third (pages 100-200) are entirely about the trip which David and Sebastian make with the children to visit another Eliot home, the Herb of Grace. We read about this home in book 2 of the series, which was published as The Herb of Grace in the UK and Pilgrim’s Inn in the US. It is in fact, still being published under both titles over seventy years later.

Goudge used the first third of The Heart of the Family to return to Damerosehay. She caught us up on Lucilla, David and Sally’s family, and Sebastian. But now it is time to return to George & Nadine’s family at the Herb of Grace and see how they are getting on…

A thatched home in the New Forest that has the gracious feeling of the Herb of Grace. Photo by Boutique Retreats

“You must see the Herb of Grace,” said Sally. “It is beautiful. It is an old Pilgrim’s Inn, and there is a wood there by the river. David, don’t let him miss the wood.”

“No,” said David.

🍂Elizabeth Goudge, The Heart of the Family, ch 7

Trees in the New Forest by photographer Ariel Kozak on Instagram

How Knyghtwood got its name…

“After reading the old chronicles, three phrases are left chiming in one’s mind like music. The castled villages… Into the wood… We that were with him.’”

🌳Elizabeth Goudge, My God My All: the life of Saint Francis of Assisi