Knatts Valley And Woodlands

A Memory of Knatts Valley.

I was brought up in Woodlands. My parents owned the Holiday Camp which they retired from in 1968. They built it up from 1927, the year they were married and gradually increased the size of it (on 7 acres) until it accommodated around 70 campers. My sister and I helped and worked in the camp from our early teens but as it was only a seasonal committment we also carried on with our own careers.
We knew the fields and woods around Woodlands in a 2-3 mile radius. We were avid blackberry pickers and we also had a pony which I used to ride everywhere including Knatts Valley and the footpath up past the poplars onto Heart's Delight (a name given to the hills above the golf-course by a camper). I remember Mr Milner, the vicar, and his wife who lived in the huge vicarage, which I believe has now been divided into appartments, no doubt needing a lot of restoration. The camp is no more as the person who bought it from my parents without the knowledge of running a holiday camp soon gave up and sold it on. It was then split into plots and where there had been standing a camp building, permission was given for a dwelling to be erected (despite the area being the green belt). There are now several large and very grand houses in Woodlands and it appears to be a sought after area. I remember Knatts Valley well and used to go carol singing down there at Christmas with my sister and the couple who lived in the church cottage (I forget their names) and were in the London Bach Choir. I went back to Woodlands in 1991 and stayed with the Todds in Elm Cottage (now rebuilt) for a brief while. I heard the Lukes were still at Romney Street but did not know of any other people whom I knew when growing up that were still in the area. Mr Clark and Mr Langford and Nurse Alward were long dead and the Coakleys who had lived in the golf-club house had moved many years before as the golf club was going to be re-instated. I have many, many more memories but cannot put them all down here. I hope to add to them from time to time.

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