Bavarian chef, Herr Kannenberg, contrives an imposing array of vegetarian dishes, savoury and rich, pleasing to the eye as well as to the palate, and all conforming to the dietic standards which Hitler exacts. But at Haus Wachenfeld he keeps a generous table for guests of normal tastes. Here bons viceteurs like Field-Marshals Göring and von Blumberg and Joachim von Ribbentrop will forgather at dinner. Elaborate dishes like ... and ... will then be served with fine wine and liquors of von Ribbentrop's expert choosing. Cigars and cigarettes are duly lighted at this terrace feast - though Hitler himself never smokes, nor does he take alcohol in any form.

All visitors are shown their host's model kennels, where he breeds magnificent Alsatians. Some of his pedigree pets are allowed the run of the house, especially on days when Herr Hitler gives a "Fun Fair" to the local children. On such a day, when State affairs are over, the Squire himself, attended by some of his guests, will stroll through the woods into hamlets above and below. There rustics sit at cottage doors, carving trinkets and toys in wood, ivory and bone. It is then the little ones are invited to the house. Coffee, cakes, fruits and sweets are laid out for them on trestle tables in the grassy orchards. The Frauen Goebbels and Göring, in dainty Bavarian dress, arrange dances and folk-songs while the bolder spirits are given joy-rides in Herr Hitler's private aeroplane.

Nor must I forget to mention the archery-butts at the back of the chalet. It is strange to watch the burly Field-Marshal Göring, as chief of the most formidable air force in Europe, taking a turn with the bow and arrow at straw targets of twenty-five yards range. There is as much to-do about those scarlet bulls-eyes as though the fate of nations depended on a perfect score!

But I have said enough to convey the idea of a sunny sub-alpine home, hundreds of miles from Berlin's uproar, and set amid an unsophisticated peasantry of carvers and hunters. This is the only home in which Hitler can laugh and take his ease - or even "conduct tours" by means of the tripod telescope which he himself operates on the terrace for his visitors. "This place is mine." He says, simply. "I built it with money that I earned." Then he takes you into his library where you note that quite half of the books are on history, painting, architecture and music. When it is fine enough to dine in the open air, one sees a piano made ready for the after-dinner concert. Local talent will provide violin and cello for pieces by Mozart or Brahms. But at the piano itself, it is always that English-speaking giant (he is 6ft. 4 ins.)- Dr. Ernest "Putzi" Hanfatarangl who presides as composer of all-German reknown.