Following in the steps of Beverley Nichols (Down The Garden Path, Merry Hall) Cecil Robert went rustic, originally buying Pilgrim Cottage in a fit of rebellion against the tedium of having to give London cocktail parties and as an escape from the 'futile littleness' of social life. Like Beverley, he entertains eccentric guests to his garden, takes the reader on a tour of the Chiltern valleys and heights, the White Hart Inn, has a look at some of the old local scandals and then a trip to the Henley Regatta. Roberts also constructed a high deck on which he could sunbathe in the nude and claimed that he wrote most of this book clad only in a white hat and dark glasses. And yes, he and Nichols were acquainted but do not seem to have been the closest of friends; Roberts had the reputation of being a name-dropping bore. With colour and black and white illustrations.