Anna Beddoes to Davies Giddy, 27 Sept 1808 [to Exeter]
If you have not received my letter at Tavistock my dear friend these few lines will certainly reach you – I write to intreat you will come by Clifton, I am only at Chepstow where I go tomorrow with the intention of remaining till the fifth of Octr, unless you do not dislike to come & spend a day or two there and escort us back, Mr King talks of coming over there, you could perhaps accompany him – & perhaps we should not quarrel as we did once – if we again take a walk through Piercefield [1] or Tintern [2] which you like best— Louisa Dashwood & Miss Grant with little Harriet Dashwood and my two children make the whole of our party [3] —
Do not lose time but if you did not get my letter at Tavistock pray write immediately to me at Chepstow post office — Next Spring will bring with it much pleasure to me as well as to you. [4]
Yours affectionately
Anna
The reason I could not go sooner, & of course return sooner was that Dr B took me to Aberystwyth, the cause of my going at all is that Miss D & G went there entirely they say on my account with the hope of my spending a little time with them there —
Address: Davies Giddy Esq M.P. / Post Office / Exeter / East Bourn / Sussex
Endorsement: Anna / 808 / Sepr the 27th
Notes
[1] Piercefield Park, overlooking the rivers Wye and Severn, was initially developed in the eighteenth century as a picturesque landscape by its owner Valentine Morris (1727-1789). Open to visitors, it included walks through woodland, clifftop views over the Wye, a grotto, a druid's temple, a giant’s cave and a bathing place, and became a key feature of the Wye Tour. Anna and Giddy had had a passionate falling out there in December 1805.
[2] Tintern Abbey, a few miles upstream from Chepstow on the River Wye, was a popular tourist attraction, often depicted in watercolours and described in tour journals and poems.
[3] Harriet Melasina Dashwood (1794–1877), Louisa Hay Dashwood’s younger sister.
[4] Pleasure at the birth of Giddy’s first child.