Visits to my Uncle at Robertsbridge

Year: 1952

Visits to my Uncle at Robertsbridge

As a small child I would travel down by train with my nan and stay at my Uncle George Bowen who lived in Langham Road,
Most important thing before boarding the train in London was to get in the right section for Robertsbridge, the platform was too short for the train - get in the wrong place and you would be outside the actual station.
His sister Ethel got on the wrong section on one occasion and found no platform so tried to get out and ended up falling out onto the railway line - she was always doing silly things like that.
We would walk along from the station and along a stony road, soon knew if my shoes were a bit thin by the pain of the stones through them.
My uncle lived next door to his neice and strange as it would seem the lady on the other side of him had the same surname though no relative.
Nan and I would walk into Robertsbridge shops, I loved going past the old houses the type that when you walked into the front door you would immediately enter the front room with their windows showing nick-nacks.
We would walk along one part out into the countryside where there was a blue bell wood, very sad to say when I returned there many years later the wood was gone and there were now houses.
Traditionally we would visit Battle and have a cream tea at the little shop near the castle, we would also go into Hastings.
My memories of a quaint village staying with my uncle, although retired when I visited, he used to work at the cricket bat factory.
He had a dog called 'Pip' which went missing the whole village went looking for Pip and he was eventually found caught in a 'trap' after that Pip always walked with a limp.
Uncle George also had a huge garden where I used to help him with all his vegetables and fruit.  When we travelled back by train we would go back laden with apples, pears etc.  
It was the high-light of my summer holidays my visits to Robertsbridge I remember it always being warm and sunny when I was there and a sense of stepping back in time - not much traffic coming through the village at that time.  Old fashioned shops which most of them when you went into them you went down a few steps.

Ah happy days.