A Visit To My Birthplace

My grandmother and grandfather lived at "the castle", up in the woods above Hermitage village, Berkshire. They both worked for Sir William Cook at Wild Court in the years leading up to world war II. They rented this cottage from the Palmer family, of Huntley and Palmer biscuits, and my mother remembers going with my Nan to the estate office to pay the rent. We have photos of my grandfather digging in the garden. My mum didn't start school until she was six, when she was big enough to cycle to school to the convent in Cold Ash. My grandfather died in 1948, and is buried in the churchyard at Hampstead Norreys, with the other O'Driscolls. There is a photo of my Nan, Aunty Pat, Mum, and Uncle John outside "the castle" which was taken at approximately this time. Mum later went to Shaw House School. They moved from the castle in about 1952. We have always been intrigued by her stories about fetching water from the well to fill the cold water tank - it fed the tap in the kitchen. Nan heated up the water for the laundry in a "copper". My Uncle John had the attic bedroom - his bed would have been a metal frame with springs, with a mattress on top - it would have been put together up there, as apparently the stairs are very narrow. When he was naughty, Nan sent him to his room, but he would climb out of the window and go off to play in the woods!