Greywell Hill House

We returned to Greywell after a time away, my father worked again for Lord Dorchester however this time we lived in the house near the farm instead of the village. We were sure that it was haunted as we could hear noises in the bedroom. We had a lot of things happpen while living there. The snowdrops were wonderful and grew in great clumps in our garden. Over the fence was a mesh wired building used to hang the pheasant, deer and rabbit.

My father had an old tobacco tin which held mole tails, he was paid for every mole he caught in the big house lawn. I was allowed to fill the thick lipped milk bottles in the dairy and had a favourite cow called Fairy, I would sit in the manger and talk to her while she was being milked.

I recall my mother cleaning at the big house and I went with her, I wandered the house and one incident of me opening a door to a bathroom where Lady Dorchester was taking a bath..oops.

I spent many happy hours on the farm playing with the Goddard children who lived in Vine Cottages in the village.

Some warm weekend evenings we used to walk through the wood to the Lord Dorchester pub for lemonade and crisps with salt in a blue bag. My father killed an adder one time we went for a walk and there was a huge cannon that stood at the top of a hill in the woods.

I had a fear of thunderstorms and had to walk the long driveway to the main road to catch the school (Nancy) bus, one storm had me flattened on the ground in a field as I took a short cut to the back of Vine Cottages. I also recall watching Pat Smythe horse jumping in this same field.

Stange how the sun always shined back in those days, I am now living in South Island New Zealand and have just celebrated my 60th we have just had the worst rain in years.