Nevill Holt in 1984

In the summer of 1984 I came back to Leicestershire for a week and went on a couple of long bike rides.

One of them took me past Nevill Holt, which in those days was still a prep school. It closed in particularly dramatic circumstances after a police raid - see the many comments on this post for accounts of its life and death.

I do not remember photographing the building, but I do remember showing the photo to someone when I got back to London.

Yet when I started posting these old photos of mine, I could not find it in the album where I was sure I had seen it.

Today, when I was doing some sorting and tidying, I found it in a wallet of photos from many years later. I blame the Elves of Rockingham Forest.

Nevill Holt is regarded by many literary scholars as the model for Bonkers Hall, though I suspect that happy place has elements mixed into it from Rockingham Castle and even Belvoir Castle too.

These days Nevill Holt is again a private home. It is owned by David Ross, the founder of Carphone Warehouse.