Summer 1967

A Memory of Cawsand.

When I was three or four years old I visited Cawsand for a family holiday. I remember it very clearly because, for various reasons, it was the only holiday we all went on together. I am hoping someone might be able to solve an on-going mystery. We stayed in a wooden-framed canvas chalet which was set, with about eight or so others, on a concrete plinth reached by steps up from the beach. There were no loos (only the ones just up from the beach) and no electric lights - just paraffin lamps. The 'rooms' were divided by canvas walls (it can't have been much of a holiday for my mum and dad!). I distinctly remember that the part of the beach where the chalet was set was made up of flat rocks, not sand or shale, and that there was an out-crop of rocks and then the other part of the beach (to the right if you were looking at it from the sea) was sand and shale. I have a very clear memory of being able to walk through an arch in the rocks from one side to the other (I would have only been two and a half to three foot high!). The sun shone and the sky was blue except for one night when the tide came in so far my mother was convinced that we would all be drowned as the sea came right up the steps to the chalet door! I have some slides of the holiday which my late father gave to me but none of them solve the mystery of the arch in the rocks through which I remember walking, back and forth, with collections of shells and pebbles. A couple of years ago I re-visited Cawsand briefly with my own family as we returned from Par sands just to confirm my memory of this lovely village. My daughters' godmother, a sea-faring lady who used to sail out of Plymouth often, assured me that there was no rocky out-crop through which I could have walked and I was determined to prove my memory accurate. It would seem I was wrong (and utterly disappointed - indeed bereft - to think that the memories I held so dear were muddled!). Is there anyone who can remember those chalets? I believe they were privately owned and leased out like caravans are today. The one we stayed in was owned by a friend of my father. Or, where, if not at Cawsand, the distinctive beach of two halves could be? It must have been quite close to Cawsand because we didn't go very far during our stay - the furthest being a day trip to Plymouth. Both my mother and father are dead now so there is no one to confirm or deny my memory. I would be delighted if anyone could sort the Cawsand mystery out for me.