Bucks Mills memories
Here are memories of Bucks Mills and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Bucks Mills or a Bucks Mills photo.
My Home
I lived in the cottage at the right hand end of this picture, from 1987 to 1999, it made us sad when we had to leave.
Summer Trip
What a lovely vacation we had that year. When I see photos of Buck's Mills, like this one, I am transported back to those precious days under the sun. People that live on in my heart are there. I remember so clearly the path by the store, I remember running up and down this road with my sister. We thought those moments would last forever. They do.
Long Lost Friends
I would love to know what happened to two friends , Fran and Sara Sutton, both R.A. artists who moved to Bucks Mills and converted the chapel into a studio during the 1960s; I stayed with them in the summer of 1974 but after some years lost touch and recently viewed the empty and deserted chapel with great sadness remembering those happy times so full of promise and hope. Fran was a very accomplished artist and his wife Sara a potter; two wonderful people, very spiritual. If anyone knows what happened to them I would be very grateful.
Family Holidays in Bucks Mills in The Mid 1950's to Early 60's
I have read with fond memories the recollections of others on their holidays at Bucks Mills and thought I would share mine. My family and I came down from Nottinghamshire for many years in the mid 50's to early 60's. The family name was Gordon, my father was Leslie, a GP, my mother Jean a vetinary surgeon together with myself, Alasdair, and my older sister Janet and we would come down with our dog (or dogs) of the time, the most memorable being an english pointer called Ben. I suppose we were about 5 to 7 years old then and stayed for several years each summer until perhaps early teens - it seems such a long time ago.
For most of the times we stayed at Kings Cottage, opposite Mamie's. I read with great interest the recollections of Kathleen Holloway and my memories are very similar. Mamie was a wonderful character and we spent many happy hours in her "front room". I remember she has some old bayonets... Read more
1960s in Bucks Mills
The earliest photo of me on Bucks Mills beach is in a pushchair from about 1951 -52! We were visiting for the day from my grandparents home in Bradworthy. In 1959 my grandparents, John and Gladys Dunn moved to Trundle Cottage (now Leat Cottage). For the next 9 years most of my Easter and summer holidays were spent there. I remember our very first holiday was at Easter 1960. We travelled by train (steam!) from Leamington Spa to Bideford where we were met by Grenville Braund in his big black car. We stayed at No 12, then thatched, for two weeks. We befriended other children whose grandparents lived in the village – Sean and Jane Rudman and their cousins Hannah and Ben Coles amongst others. The holidays that followed throughout the 60s were idyllic. Many hours were spent with so much freedom just to be… Sitting in Mamie’s house listening to her stories of her lover John, who one day would return to claim her hand… Visiting Reg Braund’s house... Read more
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 always the gentle smile. Kings Cottage was always on the edge of the rocks, but I used to sleep in the first bedroom upstairs and I can still recall the stories of the old Captain that lived there. The doors all had the old fashioned wooden latches and I... Read more
Wonderful Bucks!
My mum first came across Bucks Mills when we went for a bodyboarding holiday in Westward Ho! before the march of the mobile homes..! Next year we stayed in Driftwood in Bucks itself and did so for the next 7/8 years until my parents bought an old farmhouse in Broad Parkham. I have stayed in Bucks many times since with friends and family and then with my own wife and children. It holds a magical attraction for me and holds my happiest memories from childhood. Mamie Braund, the fisherman's daughter, Edith and Grenville Braund, Joe and his wife, Mark and Noel ......... all Braunds! .. the crabbing, the fishing, selling the freshly caught mackeral in the square, gutted in the kitchen of Driftwood for a few extra pennies, the midnight walks, first kisses and climbing up the lime kiln from the beach to Kings Cottage... and how it has changed now, with only visitors visiting, no shop, no cows being milked every day and walked up and down the road... Read more
Memories of Devon
Evacuee
I was an evacuee to Parkham in 1943 and would love to hear from anyone who might have been there at that time. I had very happy memories of Parkham and attending the village school.
If anyone has memories of this period please contact me.
My email address is alecnav@hotmail.co.uk
Arrival of Mail at Higher Clovelly PO.
This photo shows the arrival of Royal Mail being deliverd to the Post Office at Higher Clovelly. The mail for Clovelly village was then loaded on to the donkey and taken down the steep cobbled street to the Post Office in the village where it was delivered by the postman. The Royal Mail employees in the photo are Roy Fisher who was the local postman, and on the right is Studley Shute of Bideford. Roy Fisher was very well known in the local travelling concert parties that travelled around the villages of North Devon entertaining many people throughout the 1940s and 1950s. As a small boy I would sometimes be lucky to get a ride up the Clovelly High Street when the donkey returned with the outgoing mail.
Arthur Shackson With Kiwi And Peggy Posing on The Beach
This is Arthur Shackson with the donkeys from the New Inn Hotel (Kiwi and Peggy). Arthur was the Porter for many years for the New Inn, meeting the guest at the top of the cobbled street and transporting their luggage to the hotel half way down the village. The donkeys were used to carry the luggage to the top in the morning, plus other items which needed to be taken to the top, ie all returns from the bar.
Re Fred And Violet Cole Who Looked After The Donkeys.
[This photo shows Arthur Shackson with the donkeys in Clovelly - identified by Mr Graham Shackson in a comment on this 'memory'. Arthur Shackson was for many years porter for the New Inn Hotel in the village. Fred Cole did have his own donkeys for several years carrying the visitors up the cobbled street.
Frith Memory Archivist].
I was looking on the internet for information about my late great-uncle and aunt, Fred and Violet Cole, who used to look after the donkeys in Clovelly for many years. I would be most grateful to anyone with memories of my uncle and aunt as I wonder about their life in Clovelly, and would love to hear from anyone who might be able to shed some light! Aunty Vi died almost 5 years ago, and although she used to tell me of her life in London and Clovelly it would be lovely to know more.
Thank you.
Arthur Shackson And His Wife Gertie With Their Son Arthur.
This is my Uncle and Aunt and cousin Arthur, outside their cottage no. 32 North Hill in Clovelly village. They lived there for many years and took in many many people for B&B, people from all over the world came back time after time to stay with them. I remember at Christmas time they would recieve hundreds of greetings cards, and not having the room to display them all. Uncle Arthur was captured by the German Army during the First World War and was missing for many months, presumed dead, when one night he turned up on his mother and father's doorstep. He worked for years for the New Inn Hotel as a porter, using the donkeys to transfer the luggage down the steep cobbled street of Clovelly village.
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