Grandmother's House

A Memory of Royal Wootton Bassett.

I have so many fond memories of my grandmother's house.  The house is on the left of the picture and has two bay windows and is painted white. As a child I would play with the turkeys which were kept in the stables at the rear. They were surprisingly companionable! My grandmother had a raised pansy garden and to me they all looked like velvet! I remember enjoying the smell of the old lilac tree in one corner of the garden.

I can remember from 1956ish, when I was 6, we had huge Christmas parties and all the family would come from far and wide. The table would groan under the weight of food. We would have a new outfit and everyone would "do a turn"! Grandmother was a lovely pianist and we had some good singers!  

The back servants stairs, which led from the small back room down to the kitchen (as servants then, did not use the main stairs) were a source of fear and fun! My cousins and I would gingerly pick our way down the dark, narrow stairs, fearful of spiders and whatever else we imagined!

I was told of a ghost that walked the stairs - a girl servant thrown down the well which was in the kitchen and since covered in. I didnt believe it really although my aunt said she had seen it. I often wondered if there was really a well as I was told that there are several in the High Street?

There were black coiled metal springs with bells on above the kitchen door with which to summon the servant at the time. My grandmother also had a nanny for her first born and a washer woman. My grandfather would never allow my grandmother to wash his smalls and socks, he didn't consider that a lady should have to touch such things! How times have changed!

Originally, there was a black-leaded grate upon which which to cook. My mother used to tell me how good it looked after she had black-leaded it.

There was a clever Border Collie to play with, a goat, chicks and a couple of horses which were kept in a field down the lane. There was also a black German Shepherd tethered by a chain in the rear by the stables. She was there to deter any would be thief, I suspect. There was many a tradesman who would plead "Tie your dog up missus!" before venturing in to deliver coal or the like.

I believe a small private school operated from the premises once.
Recently, it has been the bookshop and now I am not sure - but I think it is residential again.

When young, I had no idea that the Christmas get togethers would become a thing of the past, that the house would not have my grandfather and grandmother in it, and that I might pop in for tea and a chat. How quickly those 20 or so years went and then I moved to London. When I look at this collection of photographs I can see in my minds eye Miss Ody serving sweets from jars and popping them into paper cones for the endless, eager children who made her move her step ladder so many times - up and down - to provide us with 2 of this and 4 of that! Thats another story!