Bow, Main Road c1955

The Old School House at Coldridge

I went with my cousin Robert Allen to see the village of Coldridge to find out where our Grandad's sister had lived.  Now many of what were once the important village businessses are modernised houses called The Old Forge or The Old Bakery or The Old Post Office. It is a shame to realise that the heart of this beautiful country community has been lost but I have heard that village life still thrives.

My cousin and I thought that Coldridge is a beautiful place. Our Grandad was George Creasey Allen and he had a younger sister Winifred Kate who married a Mr Plumridge and lived in The Old School House right next to lovely Coldridge Parish Church.

Their home is still a lovely brick and stone building with a large porch and the old school hall still there on one side. Great Aunt Winifred died and was buried in the beautiful churchyard within sight of the windows of her house in 1972. Her daughter who I knew as "Cousin Madge" used to write to me in the 1970's but sadly I was never able to visit and see her lovely village at that time.  

Cousin Robert and I were able to see that Cousin Madge had died in 1982 and was buried in this churchyard right next to her mother. Our visit was on a cold damp December day and not ideal for tramping around a churchyard so we would like very much to return on a bright sunny summer day in 2008 and plant some flowers and bulbs on Great Aunt Winifred and Cousin Madge's graves to show we care for their memories and for the lovely place in which they were so lucky to have lived.

We took photographs on our visit to remind us of what a lovely place this is.

Sandford re-visited

I grew up in Sandford, I lived at 2 Snows House when my name was Sandra Birch. I was one of 4 children and of course Mum and Dad were there too. We moved from Creedy Park Lodge where Dad worked for Sir Patrick Ferguson Davy but moved to Snows when Dad lost his job. It was around 1968 and I was 9 years old when I started at Sandford County Primary School and made friends with Maria Crowe and Annette Bird. The headmaster was Mr Way and his wife was the headmistress, Mrs Way. I remember some of the families that lived in the village, the Hammette family, the Whites, the Webbs, and who could forget old Charlie Perkins who had a riding stables where I spent many a happy time.
There was a little grocery shop which was owned by the Furzes and a friendly post office where I would spend my potato-picking money. Gradually we all grew up and moved away and I now live in Surrey and have a grown up daughter and a 5 year old grandson. Sadly though, today I lost my dad, just before his 81st birthday, and I lost Mum in 2006. One day I plan to return to Sandford and relive some of my mostly happy and some sad memories.

Silvertrees, Monkokehampton

I read with interest Jude's recollections of Silvertrees farm. Could it be the same place that I used to visit as a child on holiday with my parents and friends of the family? Did Mr and Mrs Harris run a bed and Breakfast at Silvertrees? I'm sure it was an old rectory. My family the Beales family and the Harratt family used to stay there on holiday for many years. I remember it was a lovely old house that was on a slight tilt through some characterful subsidence. When I was around 7 years of age, myself and my accomplice Chris Harratt were allowed by Mr Harris to help with the milking and separating the cream. However one morning when we got up before Mr Harris we made our way out to the farm building and managed to start his tractor and reverse it through his old farm shed wooden doors. He was angry but more because he thought we could have hurt ourselves. We were admonished and not allowed to helpout milking that day, but all was forgotten the following day, with nothing mentioned to our parents. Mrs Harris was a warm lovely lady who prepared beautiful breakfasts. Both of them were lovely people I remember to this day and I'm almost fifty. I seem to remember a tree house in the magical grounds that Mr Harris told us was inhabited by a homeless boy. He seemed to be good at spinning a yarn. The main thing I remember is the most comfortable beds and pillows I ever slept on, big heavy sheets and big comfy pillows. Please tell me it was the same place Jude? I still have wonderful memories of them and that wonderful house. Many thanks Peter Beales 07802 445488

Sid and Nancy Harris

My granparents, Sid and Nancy Harris, nee Podgers, lived and went to school in Broadwoodkelly. They lived in the rectory, Silver Trees, when I and my sister Liz were growing up. We loved visiting and sleeping in this huge and wondrous house, it seemed so magical, especially the grounds. My gran, Nancy, would lay the enormous kitchen table for tea, with homemade sponge cake and cream and butter that we'd watched her make. She'd show us the baby chicks and pigs, and laugh heartily at just about everything. We used to play on the 'Silver Trees Island' at the entrance to the house with some of the local children that went to Winkleigh school with us. I can still smell those trees on that island when I think about it. We used to walk the two Jersey cows down through the village (to a field that was next to the cottage I was born in, next to the old post office) with Granpop, as we called him, Sidney. We were always terrified of the geese at the front of the house, they would hiss and chase us.

Granpop used to take us in his lovely old car to Winkleigh to deliver cream, butter and eggs to people, he would drive very slowly, telling us interesting stories all the way there and back. He would also tell us scary stories when we walked through the churchyard with him. He told us stories about his church bell-ringing, I particularly remember him telling me that one night he dreamt that the bell rope took him up, and that the next day it actually happened just as it did in the dream! He was such an interesting man and knew how to tell a tale. I once asked him if he believed in an afterlife of any kind, I can still see his puzzled face as he answered ... " Well, I believe we all go on to somewhere, but I can't imagine a place that would be big enough for so many people!"

My cousin still lives in the village and I think she's lucky to live in an unspoilt village such as Broadwoodkelly, it's never really changed, thank God, and every time I go there the memories flood back, and I'm out of the rat race and home again with Gran and Granpop. Sadly they passed away but I'll never forget these wonderful people and all that they taught and showed us in life. Without them and Broadwoodkelly itself, life would have been very different. Thankyou Sid and Nancy, for lovely memories. Now my son Reuben, 5, visits the village, church and old school with me,(and my father Michael Harris) and I tell him my memories. Reuben knew Sid but I think he's forgotten now.