• the rates and charges;
• the trains - their costs and travelling times to London and through to the City (through trains then!);
• the local and nearby shops, sports facilities and places of interest.

The drama and choral societies were already in existence. Educational, medical and church facilities were all mentioned. There were photos (2 in colour) of furnished rooms and of a kitchen - electric cooker provided.

Much was made of Clare's houses and his designs "(which are) the property of the Riching's Park Estate Ltd" (i.e. they were exclusive) and of Clare's patent blocks - new technology providing insulation both against cold and heat and so on. The book was well illustrated with photos of houses. There was also a wishful thinking centrefold in colour - Tudor Court.

The second promotional book was published by the Richings Park (1928)

Co, Ltd. and can only have been 1½ years after the first. The emphasis was now on what was going to happen. Titled "A Country House Near London" it took up from the first book and pushed further the idea of a spacious, Arcadian suburbia

Wood End Dairy

The main purpose was "An account of the Northumberland and Slade Estates at Iver in the County of Buckinghamshire". These were to have been developed through the park of the mansion and on from Old Slade Lane, with a great emphasis on tennis courts. There were ten full-page parkland photos and the aerial photo from an earlier period. Clare

house designs were illustrated as artist's impressions as none was yet built, but the detailed specifications were provided. The text was a shortened summary of that in the first book but now included reference to the Estate's "own theatre" (the Plaza Cinema) and its "own boys" Prep. School.

On Saturday 15 Sep 1928 an article appeared in the Daily Telegraph on a page headed: "The Home and Women's Interests". There is a 4¾" x 6" box-advert for "Richings Park Estate" headed by a drawing of a "K" type house in Tudor finish. Below the promotional text readers were urged to "Write for the beautiful illustrated book of the estate to" RP (1928) Ltd at the Iver address. In the article on the page 5½ column inches were devoted to Richings Park and 2½ inches to Welwyn Garden City! At the top of the article was a photo of a "typical house" - never mind that the picture shows the view from the park of No. 39 Old Slade Lane (still the school at