A PENARTH woman has discovered a treasure trove of love letters written by her great grandparents during Victorian times.

Anne Evans has uncovered details of the romantic correspondence between John Dunbar Drury and Louisa Hall.

Mrs Evans' parents found the letters when they were sorting out her grandmother's house in Cheam in Surrey after she died.

Mrs Evans has been in touch with the Royal Mail who are running a Letters of Our Lives campaign to celebrate the 500th year of the organisation.

She is also studying her genealogy and has traced her ancestors as far back as the battle of Hastings in 1066.

The loving couple who wrote these letters met, she believes, through the local Baptist Church in Streatham and because Miss Hall’s brother was married to Mr Drury's sister.

Mr Drury was 26 and Miss Hall was 22 when they started writing to each other.

They married in July 1888 and had one surviving daughter, Mrs Evans’ grandmother.

She said: "As my grandparents lived with my great grandmother, Louisa, I suspect that the house had never been properly sorted since she died, so my grandmother may not have known about them."

The letters cover a wide variety of subjects, from going to concerts and attending interesting lectures in town halls, discussions about the weather and looking for places to rent.

She also has dozens of letters written in the period of the two world wars between her grandparents, Herbert George Kibble to his wife, Hilda Drury.

Hilda was the mother of Anne’s late father, John Dunbar Kibble.

Mrs Evans said: "The photo albums I discovered of hers and her mothers are incredible.

"I was surprised that there were that many.

"I don't know whether my grandparents knew the letters where there or just chose not to read them.

"It is just amazing. We hear a lot about the Victorians being all prim and proper but this was really sweet."

Mrs Evans has been in touch with the Royal Mail who are running a Letters of Our Lives campaign to celebrate the 500th year of the organisation.

Anne is studying genealogy and has traced her ancestors as far back as the battle of Hastings in 1066.

Val Bodden, senior external relations manager at Royal Mail, said: "The letters that Anne has discovered from her ancestors perfectly capture the essence of our Letters of Our Lives campaign.

It has been amazing to see the support that the campaign has received from the public already.

"We have been sent letters from all corners of the country, covering everything from fighting in the First and Second World Wars, to love letters like Anne’s great grandparents to each other."