"Darling the hour has almost arrived. We leave tonight ... I am feeling it very much but I must not weaken. I must be brave. I think that will be the best attitude to take for us all"

Harold Bishop is called up to the army in 1941, aged 39. He leaves behind his wife Joan, his children and his livelihood as butler of the grand Cardoness House.

What follows is a tender and revealing collection of letters home.

Despite the restrictions of the censors, Harold describes his time in a training barracks in Edinburgh, his health and clothes, and his eventual deployment to North Africa. His letters also reveal glimpses of Joan's experiences, making this a valuable social history and a record of a soldier's service.

A tender and revealing collection that shares the life and cares of a soldier and his family during WWII