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History - A New Life

When Tony Barnfield purchased The Nurse's Cottage in September 1987, the thought of running a business here was far from his mind. Then in his late thirties, this was originally to be a bolthole from a hectic life in London where he was a freelance presenter, interviewer and producer for BBC Radio. The purchase was prompted by Tony's parents' deaths and subsequent sale of the family home in Harrow, where he had lived since the early 1960's.
After the first few years, Tony had adapted The Nurse's Cottage for his private use and was looking for a way of spending more time in The New Forest while continuing his radio work in London on a smaller scale. He appeared in various guises on BBC Radio Solent for a time and made a number of further appearances on national radio, but a new career was looming in the wings.

Aware of his love of entertaining, several friends suggested that Tony might enjoy running a small guest-house, maybe seasonally. In August 1991, he began negotiations for the purchase of a long-established Bed & Breakfast in a neighbouring village with the intention of installing a manager and being involved himself in a part-time capacity. However, the sale fell through only weeks before Easter 1992, by which time Tony had said a temporary farewell to his freelance radio contacts in London to allow him time to set up the new business. So, what was to be done?

Although the process was certainly not as simple as taking over a going concern, Tony decided to try running The Nurse's Cottage as a B&B as an experiment for a year. The living room became a Twin Room (named after Nurse Southerden), the guest room a Single (Lipscombe) and the master bedroom the Double (Gibson). As well as B&B, a simple evening meal was offered, along with a choice of some twelve wines. The Nurse's Cottage received its first paying guest, Mr J R Crouch, on Saturday 11 April 1992.

The previous morning, Tony had been working alongside Sandi Jones on BBC Radio Solent's breakfast show, "Solent Today", compiling the traffic news and reading the sports news and shipping forecast: it was the morning John Major was reelected Prime Minister at the General Election.

A new era had begun in Downing Street - and Station Road, Sway!