INTERVIEW
An Indian Adventure
B
orn and raised and still living in Sussex today, Bryony Hill is a true Sussex girl. Yet dig a little deeper and you will find the heat, spice and adventure of India running through her veins. Bryony’s ancestors first set foot in India at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Six generations then followed living there during the time of The British Raj (when the British Crown ruled the Indian subcontinent from 1858 to 1947), ending with Bryony’s mother. “It was 1935 when my mother left India for New Zealand. She was 12,” Bryony told me. “She had so many memories of her time there, but whenever she started to tell us about them when we were children we would say ‘Boring!’ and not pay attention. How I wish I asked her more questions and listened to her stories.” One story that did stick with Bryony was her mother’s journey to school. She would walk up Tiger Hill every day to her school, the hill so called because there were tigers living there! If this was just a story to get the school children to hurry to lessons or if there really were tigers prowling in the bushes as young children skipped past, we will never know. Another of Bryony’s mother’s memorable stories involved a beautiful Indian embroidered blouse, which was once a dress, worn by one of her distant relatives nicknamed ‘Queenie Rice’. The story goes Queenie Rice danced with the Prince of Wales in the garment. It was
Bryony Hill, cook, writer, painter and keen gardener, shares her family history, recipes, watercolours and sketches from life in India during the Raj, with Sara Whatley
passed down to Bryony who has worn the piece of history herself. When Bryony’s mother died in 2007 a wealth of recipes were discovered in the attic of the old family home.
These treasures had lain dormant for decades. Previous to this Bryony had been shown a number of historical albums, again from her family’s time in India. They are comprised of exquisite watercolours and detailed pencil sketches, many of which are highly
detailed and botanically accurate. “They had time and they were taught,” Bryony explained. “It was what they all did.” They all contributed to each other’s albums, along with fellow officers doing pencil sketches of their surroundings. “They are a social documentation of that time,” Bryony said. Having made these discoveries Bryony knew she had to do something with them. A memoir came first, Scotland to Shalimar: A Family’s Life in India followed by a recipe book, An Indian Table: A Family’s Recipes During The Raj both of which are illustrated with the watercolours and sketches. Emily Frances The recipes Margaret Campbell were collected by Bryony’s 3x
September 2021 | SUSSEX LIVING 125
