A FASCINATING window into the life of a remarkable lady was uncovered when two chests of memories were found during the demolition of a 100-year-old cottage in Brockenhurst.

In an overgrown garden shed at the South Weirs former workman's cottage on the edge of the New Forest, two trunks full of papers and jewellery from the cottage's former owner, Cecile Van Der Keist, were found by workers who were reclaiming salvageable fittings before demolishing it.

The patchwork of history found in the trunks reveals Cecile as a former wartime intelligence officer, refugee camp organiser, Ceylon tea plantation owner and actress.

Now aged 94, Cecile lives in a nursing home and was too frail to speak to the BBC crew who were filming the demolition, recycling of tiles, hand-made bricks, floorboards and fittings for a Southern Ways feature.

Her younger sister June Newson, aged 84, who lives in Wey-bridge, Surrey, was able to tell her story.

Cecile was the daughter of an aide de camp to King George V and grew up in Dulwich, London, where she, her six sisters and one brother were brought up by a governess.

Aged 19, Cecile was on the stage in West End productions of The Boyfriend and Rose Marie and it was there that she was spotted by her first husband, a 30-year-old businessman.

He died of cancer before the outbreak of World War Two and Cecile left for India with her sister Irene.

The history contained in the trunks later places Cecile in Egypt on a military posting to Cairo as an intelligence officer. BBC correspondent David Fenton said: "She never discussed her intelligence work and when her sister went to see her, Cecile had hidden all of her papers.

"She refused to leave even when Rommel was heading for Cairo. She said she had too much work to do and it was all too exciting."

He added: "In June 1945, at Cairo cathedral, she married her second husband, an RAF officer whose surname was Van Der Keist."

At some time between India and Cairo, Cecile, as part of her military work, was involved in setting up refugee camps for children in Palestine.

After the war ended Cecile and her husband settled in Ceylon where they owned a tea plantation for about five years before returning to live in Brockenhurst in the 1950s.

The final part of this BBC Southern Ways feature is due to be shown at 6.30pm this evening as part of South Today.