Landkey Childhood Memories

A Memory of Landkey.

I was born at home at 2 Church Lake and had 2 older sisters, Jo and Barabara. Even as a baby they would take me off on long walks across the church yard and over to Bucky's Meadow towards Venn. Crossing the stream in flood, and crawling around the sides of the flooded quarries with them has left me with a discomfort of deep water. When I walk there now, I'm glad it hasn't changed too much, the grave yard where my cousin Phil Smale and I used to play is much the same except now some of our family are there. We used to stand beneath the tower on summer days and look straight up and it appeared the tower was falling due to the movement of the clouds. Our Granddad, Bert Smallridge who lived at Basis 2, on the main road used to walk us for miles, he could always find an owl pellet or a sleeping winter doormouse, and knew all the plants. Basis 1 was owned by our Great Uncle George Gammon, and behind the houses was a large garden and orchard, and a barn with a steam engine and threashing gear. An old cart horse called Tom lived in the orchard for many years, it was a great place to live and grow, even if things were a bit primative with an Elsan toilet and a tin bath, although the Elson was luxury after the bucket and plank seat in the shed across the yard. It was a good village to grow up in, and I still love to go back and have a look at it, no point in mourning the differences, other kids are growing up there now, and they will have memories just as special as ours.

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