1. Go south along the lane, following it left around a sharp bend. After 250 metres, turn off through a gate immediately in front of a farm shed on the right. Walk through to the meadow beyond and cross to a gate at the far side. Over a grass track, continue straight ahead across the next two fields. Entering the third field, go left beside the ditch to a stile in the corner. Cross another track and bridge then swing right beside the reen. Over another bridge, made a bee-line towards Porton House, crossing the intervening track to rejoin it by the house. Turn right over a gated bridge and climb onto the flood embankment.
The front door of Mead Farm at Farnham Common doesn’t have a letter slot. The postman delivers Christmas cards along with the rest of the mail to a safe place in the porch. That’s because the farmhouse in Beaconsfield Road was built in 1687, 200 years before 1849 when Queen Victoria’s government urged builders to fit a slot with a flap in the front door of new houses. A letter box was the latest mod con for homebuyers in Victorian England. Up until then, post was delivered to private houses by horse-drawn mail coach. The present owners of Mead Farm, graphic designer Jon Willcocks and his wife Jeannette, a speech therapist, bought the Grade II listed farmhouse in 1997.
17th Century Farnham Common farmhouse built before mail slots became fashionable bucksfreepress.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bucksfreepress.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.