Ashgrove Cottage

The position is pinpointed by the a number of references in the canon to Petersfield (a market town in Hampshire, about 15 miles to the north of Portsmouth) as the nearest large coaching town and to the specific mention in chapter six of "The Reverse of the Medal" of inn at a village called Buriton where Stephen is set down when he is visiting the Aubreys.

This cottage, though picturesque among its ash trees and even romantic, ideally suited for two in the early days of his marriage, was neither large nor comfortable; it had always been low-ceilinged, pokey and inconvenient, but now that it also contained two babies, a niece, a ruined mother-in-law, some large pieces of furniture from Mapes Court, Mrs Williams's former home, and a couple of servants, it was something like the Black Hole of Calcutta ...

The Mauritius Command - Patrick O'Brian

Thanks to Colin White from the Gunroom

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