Reminiscences by Mrs Sybil Rouse who was born in the village of Three Bridges, Crawley in 1920.

'Many of the village men were once employed on the estates, and the farms belonging to those estates. The railway when it came in the 1840's brought a new way of life, many of the younger men forsaking their poorly paid work for a higher railway wage.

To me in my childhood it seemed that all the menfolk were railway men. Everyone knew everyone else and all there was to know about them -- today I seldom meet anyone that I once knew.

There were three public houses which seemed too many for such a small place, but they were to be filled to bursting point with troops in World War 11.

All have disused stables, proof that they were built long ago before the advent of the combustion engine. How lovely it must have been to see only horses and coaches on the roads.

In 1948, the New Town began to grow, it 'growed and growed' and is still growing and does not know when or where to stop. So many council estates and private estates, most people have little idea and care less, what it was once like. The once beautiful countryside taken over by houses, motorways and the monstrosity that is Gatwick Airport. The fields of Crabbet Park once grazed by priceless Arabian horses are full of matchbox houses.

The view across the Surrey hills is now spoiled by hideous pylons and the sight and sound of planes every few minutes; the roar from the motorway never ceases.

The eccentric Lady Judith Wentworth inherited Crabbet Park estate from her father Sir Wilfred Scawen Blunt. He and his wife the Lady Anne brought the first Arabian horses to England. Pictures of Lady Judith's favourite horses were painted on the ceilings of her home. She was to be found most days tending her beloved horses dressed in old plimsolls and a raincoat that reached to her ankles.

A great legal battle raged for a long time between Lady Judith and her father over the ownership of some of the horses, a battle that she eventually won.

Before she died she had willed the estate and the horses to her stud manager not knowing that he was to die a few days before her. The estate went to the manager's family and it is his descendants who have sold the Maiden Bower property for development, they are now all multi millionaires.

Too old for stud duties, the most famous stallion of them all was given to the stud groom. The groom looked after Indian Magic until the horse died aged 30.

The groom, right into his eighties, still flew to America to visit relatives, and still took a lively interest in the Ambassador stud where the resident stallion is Magnifico, winner of many awards and a direct descendant of the grey Indian Magic.

The old man still cycled to the shops. Whenever he and I met there was only one topic of conversation -- horses.

The groom died about 1994.

Lady Judith was a great great granddaughter of Lord Byron on her mother's side of the family. Anthony Blunt, classed as a traitor who spied for Russia, was also a member of this family.

The mansion crumbled away for years and was eventually restored for use as offices. The original stables, an equestrian centre for riders from all over the world was sold.