Mr Cyril Flower M.P. purchased the two ‘small' 7 bedroom semi-detached cottages shown on the left of the photograph and over 30 acres of land from Lord Suffield's sale of the Overstrand Estate in 1888.
The "cottages" were extended over the next few years with the help of the young Edwin Lutyens (just 29 years of age and recently married) who, deprived of the opportunity to start afresh on the site, adopted the solution of disguising the existing cottages in a plethora of different architectural elements, forming one of his most odd and perverse designs.
Critics have said "the house is full of clever tricks and eccentricities and touches of Art Nouveau but, as an overall composition it is a disaster."
The finished property was named ‘The Pleasaunce' by the Flowers friend Lord Morley. The word (now obsolete) defined that part of a garden provided for the sole purpose of giving pleasure to the senses.
Greatly interested in horticulture and with an eye for beauty, Lord Battersea designed much of the garden himself, being particularly proud of his parterre garden, to which Lutyens added an arcaded passage.
Many references to The Pleasaunce state that Gertrude Jekyll designed the gardens but this is not correct. In a letter June 2002, to Mr Ess, a resident of Overstrand, Martin Lutyens, Chairman of the Lutyens Trust, states that neither Miss Jekyll or Edwin Lutyens were involved with the design of the gardens, the letter suggests that Lady Battersea herself designed the gardens but in Lord Battersea's personal autobiography which he published for distribution among friends, he claims credit for the gardens design.
The Gate House in Paul's Lane, which Lord Battersea designed himself, was built especially for the American poetess, the Honourable Emily Lawless.
The entrances and walls in Harbord Road were not designed by Lutyens, they were built at a later date, as were the many little outbuildings in the gardens and houses in The Londs.
Many consider Lord Battersea to be the founder of Overstrand, he took a deep interest not only in his home ‘The Pleasaunce' and its former beautiful gardens, but in the growing village, where he provided a prefabricated building, constructed by Bolton and Paul of Norwich, to be used as a convalesent home for the patients of the Metropolitan Hospital in London.
Lady Battersea allowed it to be used in the Great War of 1914-1918 as a hospital for servicemen recovering from their wounds.
Mary Haynes, former Chairman of the Parish Council, received a letter from a Mrs. Jean Watson, who had spent a holiday with her husband in Overstrand in the summer of 1999. Mrs Watson writes of her father William Bowler Francis, who served in the 17th Essex Regiment during the Great War and took part in the Gallipoli campaign between February 1915 and January 1916. He was wounded in battle and left for dead at the battle of the Dardanelles, fortunately he was found by the ANZAC forces (Australian and New Zealand, who had lost over 35,000 of their own troops during the campaign) and taken to Malta. From there he was transferred to convalesce in Overstrand, where he made a full recovery, in spite of the fact that he was included among the dead, and his name is on the war memorial in Walthamstow, London!
After the war Lady Battersea turned this into a village reading room and library. At its height it contained over 1500 volumes.
On the sale of the estate, Christian Endeavour Holiday Homes Ltd gave the building to the Overstrand Parish Council, who in 1938 renamed it Overstrand Parish Hall.
Lord Battersea also laid out a portion of his grounds as a cricket field, where some of the best matches of the season could and still can be witnessed. The cricket ground was purchased in 1935 by money raised by the villagers and the help of Mr. Meyer Louis van Mope. The property was conveyed to trustees for the purpose of providing in perpetuity so far as practicable, a cricket and sports ground for the use of the residents and visitors to Overstrand.
He also gave the land on which the present Methodist Church stands. The church was also designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the third of only three buildings he designed in Overstrand. The Lutyens Trust confirm that there is no record or evidence anywhere that he designed any other buildings in Overstrand, contrary to what has been written elsewhere.
Lady Battersea was also very involved in the village, to the church of St Martin she gave the magnificent antique Italian wrought iron brackets and three brass gondola lanterns in the chancel. Lady Battersea also gave a piece of land to the village so that a path could run round from the Londs to Cliff road. She endowed a children's ward in Cromer Hospital and presented the Bishop's chair to Norwich cathedral. In her will she left to the Norwich Castle Museum, the painting of The Annunciation by Sir Edward Burne-Jones.
Lord Battersea was a noted connoisseur of art, rare books and articles of vertu, scatter red throughout the house were examples of Michael Angelo, Canova, Caracci, Van Dyck, del Piombo, Lippi, Drouais, Etty, Sargent, Inchbold, Waiter Shaw, Ceil Lawson, de Windt, Rossetti, Gilbert, Burne Jones, and G. F. Watts, the last two enjoying Lord Battersea's close personal friendship, he also had a fine collection of old Nankeen china.
In early 1903, four of the leading figures of the Fabian Society (a British intellectual socialist movement) George Bernard Shaw, Graham Wallas, Sidney and Beatrice Webb, spent a working holiday at Overstrand. The Webbs stayed with Lord and Lady Battersea at The Pleasaunce.
According to the diary of Dr Dent (the only doctor at the time, in practice between Cromer and Mundesley) Beatrice Webb's attitude towards her hosts was not very kindly, although she gave poor Lady Battersea credit for a good heart and a certain amount of intelligence. Beatrice criticised her firmly along with the other "society dames", through their inability to talk anything but chit-chat. Lord Battersea fared even worse, not only was he condemned as "distinctly objectionable" but also as having too much money and no taste!.
(A strange comment for a founder member of a socialist movement to make, particularly when most considered Lord Battersea a connoisseur of the Arts and a known great favourite of Queen Victoria).
Cyril Flower an heir to the famous Flower's Brewery family, was Member of Parliament for Brecon from 1880 until the borough was disfranchised in 1885 and for South Beds, 1885-1892 and held the post of Junior Lord of the Treasury and whip to Mr Gladstone's government.
He accepted a peerage in 1892 and became Baron Battersea of Battersea, in the County of London and of Overstrand in the County of Norfolk.
Educated at Harrow and Cambridge, graduated Bachelor of Arts 1867 and took his mastership in 1870. A Barrister at Law he held a commission in the Bucks Yeomanry 1876-1883.
In 1878 he married Constance, the eldest daughter of Sir Anthony de Rothschild.
He became a founder member of the Recreative Evening Schools Association and for many years its President and Treasurer.
He was Governor of Battersea polytechnic, Treasurer of the Metropolitan Hospital in London.
He was a great sportsman and a fearless rider to hounds and riding on ‘Home Rule' he won the first House of Commons Steeplechase in 1889.
He was Chairman of Overstrand Parish Council from 1904 up until his death on 27 November 1907. Lord Battersea was buried in what was at the time the rather romantic churchyard that surrounded the ivy clad ruins of St. Martin's church. On one side of his tombstone are Walter Savage Landor's lines: Nature I loved and next to nature, Art. I warmed both hands before the fire of life, It sinks, and I am ready to depart.
Lady Battersea died in 1931 and is buried in the Jewish Cemetery, Willesden, London.
It was reported that the sale of the contents of The Pleasaunce, some five years after the death of Lady Battersea, took twelve days! Three days for the books, two for the paintings and seven days for the remainder.
Arnold and Son, Estate agents & auctioneers of Norwich, divided the estate into parcels and individual building plots and auctioned in 1936. The Pleasaunce was sold separately to Lancashire and Cheshire Endeavour Holiday Homes Limited and the four acres at the corner of Pauls Lane were sold at a subsequent auction in 1937.