Rf Delderfield lived in Tipton?

Recently during one of our 'Tipton Past' chats over a cup of tea, my Dad said to me
"Well, you know that RF Delderfield lived in Tipton ".
This was the first I had heard of this.  I knew that he had lived in Sidmouth, but Tipton st John !
This information definitely needed more investigation, so using the Internet I found that although Ronald Frederick Delderfield had been born in London he had moved to Exmouth where his father became Editor of the Exmouth Chronicle. In 1929 he also joined the staff of the paper and later succeeded his father as editor of the paper. Whilst working he was also constantly writing and went on to find fame as a novelist and dramatist, his works including 'A Horseman Riding By' and 'To Serve Them All My Days' amongst many.
Unable to find any connection with Tipton, I began to think that maybe my parents had imagined this memory.  So I decided to contact the Farmer family who have lived and worked in Coombe for a good few years and would surely be able to solve my problem. And low and behold Kerstin and Peter both knew of Mr Delderfield.
R F Delderfield had lived in Lower Coombe Cottage (next to John Nortons Farm) towards the end of the 1950's, They had an adopted son and daughter. The son called Paul was around the same age as Peter (Farmer) and they used to spend a lot of time together . Kerstin told me that R F Delderfield used to come up to the farm and buy eggs from Peters mum. She said although they had moved by the time that she came to Coombe, she did meet him after Peter and herself had got engaged.
He was known to write in his shed in the garden and in 'A Horseman Riding By' there are references to a 'Low' and 'High Coombe' so maybe he included his home surroundings in his work.
Marilyn Berry (who lived on the crossroads ) remembers delivering newspapers with her brother Chris Baxter to the cottage, and she tells me that Delderfields daughter, Veronica, looked like a model and caused quite a stir with the local boys, as it was a bit like having a filmstar in the village!
A few years later Mr Delderfield and the family went onto live in the amazing house on Peak Hill, 'The Gazebo.' I had the pleasure of delivering some plants to this house a few weeks ago and so had a chance to view the garden and that beautiful (if somewhat precarious ) view across Jacobs Ladder and the bay.
So there you have it, its always worth looking into these distant memories as thay quite often turn out to be very interesting. And wouldn't it be nice to think that one of his writings were based on the beautiful Coombe and Tipton countryside. You never know!