Lindsey Cottage And The White House

A Memory of Bentworth.

In 1949 my mother and I moved to Bentworth when my mother became the Health Visitor for Alton.
We first stayed at rooms in the White House which was diagonally across from the Dugdales in the Big house at Bentworth.
We then moved to Lindsey Cottage, opposite the Star, which introduced both of us to an outside khazi! But it was a lovely cottage and I used to listen to 'Dick Barton' on the radio whilst have a bath in the old tub in front of the sitting room fire.
During the bad 1948 winter I can remember returning to the village by bus from Alton. During those days the bus went via Medstead which meant turning right to Bentworth and going down the perilous twisty road (I believe it was staightened and widened in the 1960s). The bus slid and got wedged in the narrow lane.
It was a happy time as I met up with the Dugdale kids and used their tree house.
After that I went off to prep school and only came back in the holidays.
Today Bentworth is, I believe, a pretty smart village but in those days there were still locals working in the village and Alton.
Was it the Aylwoods/ Aylwards who lived close to the bike path from church to main road? They worked in the ironmonger shop at the bottom of the hill to assembly rooms in Alton. Not Curry's but another well known name.
It was such a very, very beautiful village and area.

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