Holidays At Moreton Paddox

My parents, my brother and I had about six holidays at Moreton Paddox during the early 1950s when it was a WTA (Workers Travel Association) holiday home. On occasion my grandparents or aunt and uncle accompanied us on our summer holidays too. Moreton Paddox has stayed clearly in my memory every since. I remember the excitement of arriving at the main entrance and driving down the long straight drive with all the rabbits running around on the grass on either side, until one year after mixamatosis set in and the rabbits were all lying dead...so sad for children to see. The house was beautiful and so were the grounds and I particularly remember the statue of Pan and his Pipes. We had wonderful tournaments like croquet and tennis, talent contests and there were trips to the Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. Oh, the excitement of coming back from the theatre on a coach in the dark! We always seemed to have lovely warm sunny days except once. There was a tremendous storm and the dear old roof started leaking. Mr and Mrs Deaton (who were the host and hostess at the time) lead a team of holiday makers with mops and buckets to deal with the flooding. Everyone was more than happy to lend a helping hand to save this beautiful place from damage. When I married in 1963 I always wanted to show my husband the place that I had been so happy, so on our first wedding anniversary in 1964 we hired a little car and set off from Whitefield, Lancashire for a day out in Warwickshire. I remembered the way and we were soon at the entrance to the drive. To my immense disappoinment, Moreton Paddox as I remembered it was no longer there and a new development of housing was underway. My brother and I still talk to this day about the best holidays we ever had as children.