Bev Woodger – 16th May 1995

Dear Miss Field,

Thankyou for your letter of 2nd May 1995.

You invite my comments and here they are for what they are worth.

Obviously the choice of topic must be yours, but I would suggest that since there is virtually no connection between the development of the National Trust and Dunster Castle, it would be most unwise to try and combine them. The Trust only gained the Castle in 1976. The combination of the family history with the Castle’s development seems a more viable alternative. I think there would be no argument with your aim of wishing to keep it angled towards schools rather than adults if that was your decision.

I have to say I am still not clear exactly what it is you hope to produce. I would suggest that you need to consider how your ‘end product’ might be used and exactly what you hope those who use it might expect to get out of it. This will then help you to decide what to put into it.

Let me know when you wish to come and visit us and I will look at my diary and see how it fits. If you wish to get the maximum benefit from the visit I would suggest you should have some sort of an outline framework to your ideas by then, and we can point out suitable sources.

I enclose a copy of an unpublished manuscript on the history of the family that I recently wrote which may help you to get a feel for the family. Feel free to quote from it for educational purposes but it is not to be reproduced commercially. It does not of course cover the initial occupants in the 12th. and 13th. century. (See Maxwell Lyte – History of Dunster.)

Yours sincerely,

Bev Woodger.