John Steinbeck’s Connection with Ludwell Ancestral Home in England

The Ludwells came to Virginia in 1660 from Bruton in Somerset, England – the same town from which William Berkeley came to Virginia after being appointed governor by King Charles I in 1641. One building, Discove Cottage, remains from the Ludwell 17th-century estate. It is the largest extant thatched roof house in Britain and for six months in 1959 was the home of the American novelist John Steinbeck who wrote his least successful novel The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights whilst staying there.