Cove, Hampshire

Addition to Cove in wartime

The two stores at the bridge across from West Heath Farm run by Jim Blunden (who had a daughter Pam Blunden) were stores we frequented every Friday, namely the one next to  the railway track. This was run by Kath Owen. Her husband had been killed during military exercises in Aldershot, but Kath continued to run Owens Sweet Shop. I remember... [more]

cove, West Heath picture

The picture of Cove, West Heath Corner, is the bottom of Minley Rd. To the right is what was then called Hawley Rd, to the left is what was then called Fleet Rd. The large house between Minley Rd and Hawley Rd belonged to the Arrow fanily, The house on the left side that has two shops . One of... [more]

Cove-Farnborough, Hants

I was born in Farnborough and lived in Pinehurst Cottages until the age of six. My father, Charles Dunbar was an engineer at The Royal Aircraft Establishment. Later we moved to 166 Keith Lucas Road and later to 16 Fowler Road in Cove. I went to Fernhill school. I remember the air show each September and the crashes that happened when... [more]

Teenage Memories

Cove was a special place, a place where I was born, at 11 Sydney Smith Close...now stands Beverly Crec....

My grandad Matthew Smith lived at 39 Holly Rd, and worked on the railway as a plate layer. Growing up we lived in Hazel Avenue, and I spent all of my childhood on Eelmoor Farm, with Uncle Eddy Arrow. It... [more]

The Village

Going ‘down the village’ pretty much referred to the stretch of Cove Road, between Hazel Avenue and Marrowbrooke Lane, where most of the shops were. Once upon a time Cove must have been the typical English village: two houses, three pubs and a church. The ‘Tradesman’s Arms’, the ‘Anchor’ and the ‘Alma’ were all together, right beside the vicarage and St... [more]

Fond memories

I now live in Adelaide, South Australia, but lived in Holly Road in the 1950s and I too have fond memories of Christopher's sweet shop. My brother and I played on Cove green a lot and I broke my foot there atthe age of 6. I took a trip back down memory lane in 1984 on a very foggy day, Tower... [more]

Re Cove, Bridge Road (c172009)

The photograph of Bridge Road clearly shows The Cove Supply Stores building on the right. My parents ran that shop from about 1936 to 1945. The Bridge Road end of the shop in the photo was the Off-Licence. Opposite the shop on Cove Road was the Ivy Leaf Club. I have such memories of Cove... I attended the Hawley Road Elementary... [more]

Busk Crescent

Late in 1945 my parents moved to 25 Busk Crescent, in Cove. The house was on top of a hill and overlooked the Farnborough airfield. From the front bedroom you could see aircraft landing on the runway. The house was one of a string of brand-new red-brick semi’s, built on the crescent and down Fowler Road, bordering an estate which had... [more]

Hampshire Photographic Memories

A typical Edwardian scene, with smartly dressed children looking coyly at the camera. A mile to the west lies Fleet Pond, Hampshire's largest freshwater lake. Between 1854 and 1972 it was used by the Army; prior to that it was a fishpond for the dean and chapter of Winchester Cathedral.

Hampshire Photographic Memories

The Common 1924 Yateley Common, one of the largest commons in Hampshire, has long been famous in the area for Wyndham's Pool, an 18th-century fishpond reservoir. The Dartford Warbler is known to breed here, and the pool is also a favourite haunt of dragonflies. Smuggling was once a regular activity in the area.

Hampshire Revisited Photographic Memories

Village residents stare at the camera; over to the left stands the premises of W Wright, draper and outfitter. Cove is a suburb of Farnborough, famous for its international air show and remembered as the final resting place of Napoleon III, who was dethroned in 1870 and escaped to exile in England, where he died three years later.