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, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

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 architecture, ...

. She was born at

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...

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 Kate Kellaway (born 15 July 1957) is an English journalist and literary critic who writes for ''The Observer''. Early life The daughter of the Australians Bill and Deborah Kellaway, she is the older sister of the journalist Lucy Kellaway. B ...

, in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 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 regar ...

. Chetwode travelled extensively in

Himachal Pradesh, India Himachal Pradesh (; ; "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 Region, mountain states and is ...

, and wrote ''Kulu: The End of the Habitable World'' (1972), an account of her trek from

Shimla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the States and union territories of India, northern Indian state of Himachal Prade ...

to the head of the

Rohtang Pass Rohtang Pass (Rohtang , lit: རོ་ (Ro)- corpse(s), ཐང་། (thang)- plain/field 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 Hima ...

. 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 and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, 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 Candida Rose Lycett Green (née Betjeman; 22 September 194219 August 2014) was a British author who wrote sixteen books including ''English Cottages'', ''Goodbye London'', ''The Perfect English House'', ''Over the Hills and Far Away'' and ''The ...

. 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 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

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 ( cy, Y Gelli Gandryll), simply known locally as "Hay" ( cy, Y Gelli), is a market town and community in Powys, Wales; it was historically in the county of Brecknockshire. With over twenty bookshops, it is often described as "the t ...

with her horse. She died in Mutisher, India, in 1986, aged 76, 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 planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

References

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