'I was born at Melford Hall, followed by my sister two years later on the day war was declared.

'The house was then requisitioned and occupied by the army, and we moved to a house on the green opposite.

'My strongest early memories go back to 1942, when I was nearly five, watching the house burning in the distance.

'That afternoon I walked hand-in-hand with my father to the scene, which was comparable, at my age, to a burnt-out box on a bonfire. On the following day, my father marked the timber on the estate to be felled for rebuilding.

'The fire gutted the North Wing and destroyed adjoining roofs. Water from the firemen’s hoses also caused extensive damage to important interiors and subsequently dry-rot.

'Professor Sir Albert Richardson was the only architect prepared to restore the wing without demolishing the surviving structure, and his successful use of an internal concrete frame remains visible today.

'I remember him as a kindly old man, impressing us children by producing a miniature watercolour box from his pocket to illustrate his schemes.

'I continued to grow up in a world where the trappings of war divorced from serious action were delight to a small boy living at the hub of military activity ; when Wrigley’s Spearmint and B-17 bombers made the greatest impression on boys of my age in the village.

'Men from 12 successive battalions from nine regiments made the house and the Nissen huts in the park their home. Until, finally, in June 1944 the 1st Battalion of the Royal Hampshire Regiment was inspected by King George VI at Melford Hall before going into action as spearhead troops in the assault on Gold Beach during the D-Day landings.

'My final memories of the war are as a child on VE Day, standing by the biggest bonfire I had ever seen, on Long Melford Green. There were no fireworks during the war, so the army fired endless flares that criss-crossed the sky like searchlights, but in red, green and yellow.

'The concept of victory made less impression then than the diversity of the gathering lit by the flames. There were troops from the camps at Melford Hall and Kentwell Hall, Americans from the aerodromes at Alpheton and Acton, and us from Melford with the many evacuees who came from London to live with us.

'And yet victory was to herald loss of freedom for future generations of children to mingle like us, and to wander through the village and surrounding country.

'My sister and I often look back to our involvement as children in reviving the house, perhaps most when in charge of buckets to catch the rain, or when laying a bottle with our names in it behind new work in the north wing.

'My family is no less supportive of the house now, because I think we have all learnt that houses are made of far more than just bricks and mortar.'