Family Treasures

We’ve all got a few pictures that are real family treasures, so loved they’re full of tiny holes where they’ve been moved around the pin board many, many times.  We were lucky to see some wonderful old photos recently showing 5 young boys; Glanville, Ronald and Douglas Dunstan with their cousins Irvine and Kenneth Benney, taken, we think in the early 1900s at Budock Vean when it was their family home.

Glanville, Ronald and Douglas lived at Budock Vean with their parents Susan and John Dunstan.  The Dunstan’s moved into BV as tenants in 1905 and they went on to purchase the estate from the Pender’s upon their return from Australia. The family stayed here until 1927.

Little Douglas Dunstan was born at BV in January 1915 where his mother Susan (Suzie) was our forerunner offering farmhouse B&B, which must have been pretty tough during WWI.

Susan died in 1927 when Douglas was just 12 years old. The family left Budock Vean and Douglas  was sent to live away from the family and attend school. Douglas went on to have 3 daughters, one of them called Sylvia, who spent her childhood not too far from here.

Fast forward some 95 years and you could have knocked our socks off when we had an email from a guest called Juliet. Juliet and her brother wanted to bring their mother for a special birthday lunch. Their mother being none other than Sylvia, daughter of Douglas Dunstan.

It was an absolute joy meeting and spending time with Sylvia and her family and recreating some of the images they brought with them. We’re very grateful for their time.

Very happy (now belated) birthday to you Silvia and thank you so very much for sharing your pictures, memories and information about another part of this beautiful building’s past.

You can see these photos and more over on our History page.