Undershaw
| Undershaw | |
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 The façade of Undershaw, circa 1900, with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's children Mary and Kingsley on the driveway. |
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 Undershaw
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| Undershaw shown within Surrey | |
| OS grid reference | SU8875735647 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Surrey |
| Fire | Surrey |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
Undershaw is a former residence of the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.
The house was built for Doyle at his order to accommodate his wife's health requirements, and is where he lived with his family from 1897 to 1907.
Undershaw is where Doyle wrote many of his works, including The Hound of the Baskervilles.
For decades after Doyle sold the house, Undershaw served as a hotel, which closed in 2004. The property has been vacant since then. In 2014 the house and grounds were purchased by the DFN Charitable Foundation for Stepping Stones School, a school for children with special needs.
Undershaw is located close to the A333 road in the village of Hindhead in Surrey, near the town of Haslemere and is about 40 miles (64 km) south west of London. The name refers to the sheltering flora; 'shaw' is an Anglo-Saxon word that means 'a nearby grove of hanging trees'. The house is situated with a view of an undeveloped valley extending to the South Downs.
The location was chosen to cater to the medical needs of Doyle's wife Louise, nicknamed 'Touie', who suffered from tuberculosis; doctors of the era recommended healthy air, for which Surrey was known. Writing to his mother Mary in May 1895, Doyle lauded the building site because "... its height, its dryness, its sandy soil, its fir trees, and its shelter from all bitter winds present the conditions which all agree to be best in the treatment of phthisis. If we could have ordered Nature to construct a spot for us we could not have hit upon anything more perfect. ... I have bought 4 acres under £1000 and I don't think it will prove to be a bad investment."
In the same letter Doyle extolled the pleasures and convenience of the location. "As to my own amusements there I am within an hour of town and an hour from Portsmouth. I have golf, good cricket, my own billiard table, excellent society, a large lake to fish in not far off, riding if I choose to take it up, and some of the most splendid walks & scenery that could be possibly conceived."
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Wikipedia