Kenfield Hall Petham, England

I loved reading the comment by Rosemary Wells. Ivar O'Brien who was the O'Briens only child was my uncle (he married my fathers sister). He passed away approx 5 years ago and had no children to pass the name onto.

My aunt is in a care home now and today, 17th July 2023 we are auctioning the last remaining pieces of furniture from Kenfield Hall at Mallams Auction, abingdon. I have photos of Mrs O'Brien with her German Shepard Dogs.

I was employed as a kennelmaid at Kenfield Hall ( Nonnington Kennels ) from May 1963 working for the owner who was then Mrs O'Brien, a well known breeder and judge of German Shepherds and Bedlington Terriers. I met my husband there, he was chauffeur and handy man. We lived at 3 Kenfield Bungalows and our daughter Nina was born 1966. When Mrs O'Brien died in 1968 we moved into Kenfield Hall and looked after it until it was sold in 1969. I had a ghostly experience whilst upstairs one day with footsteps of someone coming down a corridor towards me dragging a foot, it was terrifying. We established that it must have been Mrs O'Brien's husband who had a bedroom along that corridor and had very bad gout in one foot. Others said they had seen him riding in the grounds wearing his hunting outfit. I remember how beautiful the trees were in the pinetum, red woods towering above and amazing rhododendrons, sadly I think there must have been damage in the 1987 storm.