Parkham

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Church going in the 1960's

As local village children we used to walk from Fairy Cross meeting other children from the council houses along the way and wind our way through  the narrow lane, sometimes picking wild strawberries in summer - moving out of the way of cars that needed to pass us - usually on their way to church also - untill we arrived at St. Andrews, Alwington. We always sat up in the choir stalls with Mrs. Elston (who had been my first teacher at Abbotsham school - Alwington school, where my mother had attended, had closed some years previously because of low numbers and all from our village then went by bus to Abbotsham).  I can remember at special services - Christmas etc. ...read more here
A memory of Alwington contributed by Derek England

Growing up in the 1960's

We lived in Headon's Cottage, Fairy Cross - it had been an old German doctor's cottage in the 1700s, a Doctor Wacerill who is buried in St. Andrew's churchyard,  and his faded plaque was still above the front door - walls made of cob and thatched roof etc. We were just up the road from Portledge drive - my grandfather William George Harris was woodsman and forester on the Portledge Estate for the Pine-Coffin family for over 50 years and his grandfather before him had been the estate foreman. As a boy I very often walked our Rottweiler dog , Limbo, down Portledge drive turning into the woods halfway down and making our way over some wooden bridges and past a ...read more here
A memory of Alwington contributed by Derek England

Simple Times

Well our address was quite easy ,
Fairy Cross,
Near Bideford,
North Devon.
Tel. Horns Cross 328   !!
Our mail always found us with no problems at all. There were not a lot of us there in those days. We lived in Headons Cottage, it used to have a thatch roof until it caught fire in the mid 1960s and was then replaced with slates. I remember the walls were made of cob and would crumble away if you kept running your toys or marbles into the same place!! The cottage had been a German doctor's house in the 1700s and his faded old plaque was still above the front door - Dr. Wacerill is buried at Alwington church yard - ...read more here
A memory of Fairy Cross contributed by Derek England

Bucks Mills

I have such wonderful memories of going to Bucks Mills and staying in Kings Cottage with my grandparents and family. I used to go over to see Mamie Braund who lived in the old house on the opposite side of the road from the cottage, I loved to play with her old dog Dinah, a beautiful old Spaniel. Mamie used to let me go through to the pottery shop and I always left when it was time to leave the holiday with a Toby Jug. I can still recall the oil smell that emanated when you went into the house, not to mention I can still see Mamie in my mind's eye, the long hair tied back, the little moustache and ...read more here
A memory of Bucks Mills contributed by kathleen holloway