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Joan Rhodes and her husband, Peter Rhodes, were photographed in their cottage on the Newhaven Cliff Tops, where generations of children have been nurtured, raised and cared for over the years.
The images appeared in the December 2024 edition of T Magazine China, a New York Times magazine for China, as part of a Burberry special called Where British is Now.
The shoot took place after a professional photographer married to one of the couple’s friends asked if he could visit Four Winds, their Newhaven cottage.
Peter said: “He arrived, dressed us both up in Burberry and took a few photos there in the garden. It was lovely.”
Joan said: “I enjoyed it. The scarf I wore cost £164. Unfortunately they wouldn’t let me.”
The image of Joan that appeared in the New York Times’ T Magazine in China (Image: The Argus)
When asked how it felt to see herself in international publication, Joan said: “Well, I was very surprised.”
The photos also brought Joan to the attention of a London modeling agency, who invited her to feature in his books.
She traveled to Tottenham for another modeling session – and was pleasantly surprised by the remuneration.
“It was interesting,” she said. “I got paid a lot of money – I didn’t expect that. So they can invite me again.”
Peter, 77, relished the chance to tell people about his wife’s unexpected career.
He said: “I experience it because I go around saying, ‘Well, actually, my wife is an international model.’
But Joan, now 89, has no desire to swap Newhaven for Milan.
“I wouldn’t want to do it for a living,” she said. “It’s pretty boring.”
Joan said Peter seemed “a bit gormless” when they first met (Image: The Argus)
The modeling job is an unusually late chapter in a life devoted to the care of children.
She gave birth to her son in 1956 and the couple’s last foster child moved out of their home this year, marking seven decades of caregiving.
Joan estimates that she has fostered hundreds of children in that time.
Some stayed at Four Winds for short periods, while others stayed for years and became permanent members of an extended family.
Joan and Peter stay in touch with more than 20 former foster children who consider themselves brothers and sisters.
After 70 years of caring for children, Joan said: “It was a good experience. I enjoyed and loved all of them.
“Whatever their problems, I could always love them.
“It’s interesting that they all think they’re brothers and sisters. Well, they effectively are. It was quite fascinating, really.”
Four Winds cottage on the Newhaven Clifftops, where Peter and Joan lived for decades (Image: The Argus)
Asked what motivated her to keep going for so long, she said, “Just love them, really.
“Knowing that they’ve been through all kinds of trauma and need someone to love them.
“That’s what was missing in her life, really – love.”
Joan was born Joan Bastin in Exeter on April 1, 1937, and moved with her family to Newhaven in 1939 after her father, a mainline engine driver, was posted to the city.
She recalls the damage caused to her family home when an ammunition barge exploded off the Newhaven coast in 1944.
Joan married a sailor named Ernest Tapp at the age of 18 and gave birth to her son, Stephen, the following year.
Their daughter Louise was born in 1960.
Her childcare career began after she became dissatisfied with the standard of nursery for her young son.
Joan started her own nursery, and her work gradually developed in Foster.
The family moved to Four Winds in 1964 because Joan needed more space for the growing nursery and promotional work.
Joan said she loved all the children she had raised (Image: The Argus)
Set high on the Newhaven cliff tops, the house has evolved into a home filled with nursery children, foster children and animals.
Joan’s first husband died suddenly of an aneurysm in 1966, leaving her with children, a large mortgage and a nursery to support.
Her family advised her to sell Four Winds and look for a council house, but Joan stayed and expanded the nursery.
Peter entered Joan’s life after finding himself caring for his two-year-old son from a previous relationship, to find a daycare for him.
He asked the people in Newhaven where he should go and got the same answer over and over again: Joan.
“I came across the street one day,” Peter recalls.
“And apparently Joan said, ‘Oh my God, what’s that on the road?’
Joan admitted: “I was a bit rude about him, yes. He seemed a bit gormless.”
“I was a bit of a hippie,” Peter admitted.
“My line is, I asked her to marry me to save on nursery school fees. And she said yes.”
Joan and Peter said they are very proud of all the children they have raised (Image: The Argus)
Their wedding in 1978 was in the middle of an otherwise normal day at the nursery.
At lunch, Joan and Peter told 12 children that they were all going for a walk.
They crossed the fields to the church where the couple got married in front of two witnesses.
They then walked back to Four Winds and made lunch for the children.
Peter has since joked that he was “just scraping by as a toy”, having been 29 when the couple wed. Joan was 41.
Joan’s work extends beyond Four Winds.
She became heavily involved in the campaign to save the former Newhaven Boys’ School, later the Hillcrest Further Education Centre, from being sold and demolished.
The campaign succeeded and the building became the Hillcrest Community Center.
Jeanne became a trustee and treasurer, founded a crèche in the center and later took over the management of its cafe.
She remained involved with Hillcrest for more than two decades and returned at the age of 86 after learning that the cafe was closing in 2023.
They ran it for six months until it was established again.
Joan and Peter at Buckingham Palace receive their MBEs in 2014 (Image: The Argus)
Joan and Peter were both appointed MBEs in 2014 for their advocacy and work in the community.
Jeanne was initially uncomfortable with the idea of receiving an honor for something she undertook by choice.
“I didn’t want to go and collect it,” she said.
In the end, however, she liked to meet Queen Elizabeth II.
Joan recalled: “She said, ‘Congratulations on the work you’re doing, we’re very proud of you.’ She was very nice.
“I shook her hand, no gloves on, dear woman.
“She’s a little woman. Shaking the Queen’s hand is really something.”
When asked what fostering taught her, Joan said that each person’s behavior should be considered in the context of what they have experienced.
“People all have a story,” she said.
“You can’t judge them, you have to wait and find out why they behave the way they do.
“Often there is a history of abuse.”
Peter and Joan dressed in Burberry for the photo shoot (Image: The Argus)
For Joan, the most important quality a parent can provide is simplicity.
“Well, just love, really,” she said.
“You have to love your children.
“If you don’t like them, well, what’s the point?
“And to be patient with them.”
Looking back at the generations of children who have passed through Four Winds, she said, “It’s good to look back and think you did some good in the world.”
Joan now has heart failure and reduced mobility, but she remains determined to continue doing what she can.
“I was very privileged,” she said.
“I had a good father, a good husband, and now I have good sons and daughters.
“No complaints, really.”
She added: “I have heart failure. But it won’t put me off.
“I’m not going to sit and do nothing, I’m just going to knock and do what I can do.
“I think that’s all anyone can do, really. Get up in the morning. What does the day bring?
“You don’t know. Just enjoy it.”
