Where is Cardinal's Folly?
Three Inquisitive People (1932/1940)
"... the family place, Cardinal's Folly, down in Warwickshire...' (Chapter XI)
The Devil Rides Out (1934)
"... the Eatons, living now so happily with their little daughter Fleur in their lovely old country home near Kidderminster.' (Chapter I)
(NB Kidderminster is a market town near Worcester)
Strange Conflict (1941)
Refers to Cardinals Folly being in Worcestershire (Chapter IV)
The description of Cardinal's Folly in The Devil Rides Out
Chapter XXI
- "... went out into the garden through the great octagonal library'
- "A rambling old mansion, parts of which dated back to the thirteenth century, and the library ... was sunk low into the ground so that they had to go up half a dozen steps from its French windows on to the long terrace ...'
- A detailed description of the garden including a swimming pool and a pool with lotus flowers and water lilies.
- "At the village inn, no more than a mile from you.' (Tanith to Rex)
Chapter XXI
- "The inn which served the village near Cardinal's Folly was almost as old as the house.'
- "The Pride of Peacocks
- A small stream borders the inn's grounds. "Most men can lift a woman, but it can't be easy to jump a five-foot brook with one.' (Tanith to Rex)
Chapter XXXIV
- "Richard led the way to one of the book-lined walls ... A low door-way masked by dummy book backs, swung open disclosing a narrow spiral staircase hewn out of the solid wall.'
The description in Strange Conflict
Chapter IV
- "The east wing of the rambling old house (Cardinal's Folly) was very ancient and said to have been at one time part of a great abbey ...'