STONE HOUSE HOTEL
Wensleydale

Dream House on the Dream Site

Hugh chose as his architect the well-known London practitioner, P Morley Horder who had made a name for himself designing country houses in what he considered to be local tradition, with the use of local materials.

Though Hugh had married Edith Whittaker in 1901, they had no children and his principal interests became cricket (always a passion), horse racing, and living the life of a country gentleman. His greatest success in racing was winning the Chester Gold Cup with "The Guller", trainer John Osborne, jockey unknown to me, nor am I aware of the year but it must have been the early twenties.

During the 1914-1918 War, Hugh opened a shop in Hawes to "beat the profiteers" but as far as I know this philanthropic venture was of short duration!

Thanks to Hugh Parnell Crallan, Hugh Arden Crallan's nephew and godson for the above information.

The PG Wodehouse connection...

Hugh Arden Crallan was so keen a cricketer that he founded Hawes Cricket Club. Despite his life of luxury in his country retreat, he vowed never to forget his colleagues back in the "City". Quite frequently he would invite them up for a weekend of garden parties, croquet and elaborate dinners laid on by his personal staff.

On one such weekend it was decided that a local cricket match would provide part of the day's entertainent. So, complete with picnic hampers - and perhaps a bottle or two of champagne - Mr Crallan led his band of friends to the cricket field (the only one in the country to be surrounded by water on three sides). Amongst the party, now assembled outside the pavilion, was one of Hugh's most loyal colleagues, a young author struggling to keep his head above the inky waters of London's competitive literary world.
A Mr P G Wodehouse, with a new novel near completion, was still searching for a good name to give his principal character. Shortly after lunch, with Hawes chasing a few hundred runs, into bat marched the Stone House gardener - Percy Jeeves. Problem solved! Jeeves, of course, was to become Bertie Wooster's butler.

No century was scored that day, but a famous character had been christened and would prove to bring a huge amount of enjoyment to millions of people the world over. It was certainly a most enjoyable weekend for Wodehouse!