Penelope Valentine Hester Chetwode, Lady Betjeman (14 February 1910 – 11 April 1986) was an English travel writer. She was the only daughter of

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

Lord Chetwode, and the wife of poet laureate Sir

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architect ...

. She was born at

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

and grew up in northern India, returning to the region in later life.

Career

She is best known for ''Two Middle-Aged Ladies in Andalusia'' (1963), her account of travelling through southern Spain on horseback in the summer of 1961. The book has been widely praised: ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' called it "a classic work of adventure and humour" while Kate Kellaway, in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', called it "a charming, intrepid story." In 2012, ''Two Middle-Aged Ladies'' was reissued by

Eland Books Eland Books is an independent London-based publishing house founded in 1982 with the aim of republishing and reviving classic travel books that have fallen out of print over time. Its list currently runs to around 160 titles and is highly rega ...

. Chetwode travelled extensively in Himachal Pradesh, India, and wrote ''Kulu: The End of the Habitable World'' (1972), an account of her trek from

Shimla Shimla, also known as Simla ( the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of British India. After independence, the city ...

to the head of the

Rohtang Pass Rohtang Pass (Rohtang , literally meaning "pile of corpses"Polgreen, Lydia. ''New York Times''. Accessed 31 July 2010.) is a high mountain pass (elevation ) on the eastern end of the Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas around from Manali, Himac ...

. She was also keenly interested in temple architecture of the western Himalayas, about which also she wrote. A collection of her papers is available at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, while a collection of her photographs from Himachal Pradesh is available at the Ancient India and Iran Trust, Cambridge.

Personal life

Chetwode married Sir

in London in 1933; the two had become acquainted through their association with the ''

Architectural Review ''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism � ...

'' magazine. They had two children, a son (Paul) and a daughter (Candida), now better known as writer Candida Lycett Green. But the marriage eventually broke down, and Chetwode converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in 1948. In 1972 the couple were separated. Later in life she retreated to New House, a cottage on Cusop Hill above the literary town of

Hay-on-Wye Hay-on-Wye, or simply Hay (; or simply ), is a market town and community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales. With over twenty bookshops, it is often described as a book town, "town of books"; it is both the National Book Town of Wales and the s ...

with her horse. Chetwode died at village Mutisher, in

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

, India, in 1986, aged 76, while leading a group of tourists on a trek through the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

. The next day, her remains were cremated at the nearby village of Khanag. In 1992, with the support of local villagers, Chetwode's grand-daughter, Imogen Lycett Green (daughter of Candida Lycett Green) erected a memorial stone at Khanag to commemorate Chetwode.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chetwode, Penelope 1910 births 1986 deaths Wives of knights Daughters of barons Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism English travel writers English women travel writers Writers from Aldershot Himalayan studies John Betjeman