Maiden Eggesford

Also the village

The Somerset village where Bertie takes a cottage for peace and quiet and which proves an inferno.

Inside it

• Balmoral, Mafeking Road
• Eggesford Hall
• the Goose and Grasshopper
• the village shop

Scenes set here

1. Bertie drives down to Maiden Eggesford, cured of his spots, and is shaken to glimpse what looks like the ghost of Major Plank leaving the Goose and Grasshopper.Chapter 4, Maiden Eggesford
2. Graham reports that the cat he returned to Eggesford Court followed him back, and Bertie, seeing he could betray Aunt Dahlia to Cook, pays him another ten pounds to take it again; then Vanessa Cook walks in.Chapters 14–15, Maiden Eggesford

Talked about, but not there

1. Bertie phones Aunt Dahlia to cadge an invitation, but she is off to the Briscoes at Maiden Eggesford and promises to find him a cottage there, near the Bridmouth races.Chapter 3
2. Bertie tells Jeeves the New York trip is off in favour of Maiden Eggesford, where Jeeves has an aunt, and recalls with him the old Plank episode.Chapter 3, Bertie's flat
3. Aunt Dahlia rings to say she has got the cottage, beginning what Bertie calls the Maiden Eggesford Horror.Chapter 3
4. Driving home drowsy from lunch, Bertie naps in a wood and is woken by Orlo Porter, who accuses him of following Vanessa Cook to Maiden Eggesford and threatens to tear his insides out with his bare hands if he goes near her again.Chapters 6–7, the woods
5. Bertie tells Jeeves of Orlo's threat and they agree he must avoid Vanessa Cook, but Jeeves then takes a call saying she is coming round at once.Chapter 7, Wee Nooke
6. Vanessa accuses Bertie of following her, plans to use him as a postbox for Orlo's letters, and on learning Orlo is in the village sends Bertie to the Goose and Grasshopper to fix a meeting at his cottage.Chapter 7, Wee Nooke
7. Jeeves reports that Vanessa and Orlo quarrelled when he refused to bully her father or steal the cat, and she broke with him; then Vanessa storms in and tells Bertie she will be his wife.Chapters 9–12, Wee Nooke
8. Jeeves unties Bertie, freezes off Plank by denying he is Inspector Witherspoon, and reveals the cat is his aunt's, so Bertie sets off to put terms to Cook.Chapter 19, Wee Nooke
9. In New York, Bertie learns from Uncle Tom's letter and a clipping that Simla was awarded the race after Cook's cat ran on to the course, and tells Jeeves that aunts are not gentlemen.Chapter 20, New York