Belvedere And Little Belvedere

I certainly remember a bungalow made from an old railway carriage in what I believe was Jefferstone Lane. The one I recall was after the railway, going towards the marshes before the swing park/ playground. I always wanted to live there!. I'm 70 this year & during my early life we would spend all our summer holidays at Field Bungalow, the oldest building in St Mary's Bay which belonged to my grandmother, Granny Hart! I still visit as my brother lives there now & we bring our grandchildren down to the beach. We often drive home thru' the marshes & when we drive down Jefferstone Lane I still look out & try to identify where the bungalow made from the railway carriage might have been. Is it still there hidden behind extensions I often wonder. There was another one made from a railway carriage between Hythe & Dymchurch, near what was the Beach Holiday camp, before the Martello Tower on the left by the sea wall which is now a dwelling. Once again I slow down searching for it as we approach Dymchurch, but the one in Jefferstone Lane was my favourite & it haunts me still. I remember when they used to have a bakery in Jefferstone Lane on the left as one approaches the railway. Large amounts of bread was baked there. There was a club along there too & on a corner which led round to the Leven Club where Aunt Frances & Aunt Betty used to call in for a guiness was a greengrocers where we used to buy the most delicious greengages. At the end just before the railway was a pig farm. I remember watching films in the church hall, walking across the plank bridge. Is that plank bridge still there? The heart seems to have gone out of the community today. Oh for a time machine to go back & visit.! Pat Bunce nee Hart

Hi Jean
Sorry it has taken so long for me to add a comment to your memory posted in 3010. This is is first time l have researched St Marys Bay where l had many holidays at "Little Belvedere". l think your gt gt grandparents were Fred & Flo Bridge who lived at the bottom of Streamway, Belvedere. My grandparents were Bert & Maud Fryer who also lived in Belvedere, as did l. They were really close friends that stemmed from when they all lived in Erith (Beechfield Rd). l had many happy holidays there with my parents and my brother and cousins and l remember very well the converted railway carriage. The last time l was in the area - probably a good 10 years ago - by sheer coincidence l visited for nostalgic reasons and Little Belvedere was in the process of being pulled down. l couldn't believe it! I remember walking back from the beach as a kid along Jefferstone Lane with the children's holiday camp and the poultry sheds on the left, the Bailliff Sargent pub on the right, over the little railway line by St Mary's Bay station, to Little Belvedere further up on the left down a little track. l can remember picking bowls of blackberries up the lane en route to The Bull pub and l can still visualise my Bert, Maud and my gt grandad (Harry) sitting outside the pub on a sunny day as l approached. l can also remember my uncle borrowing my dad's motorbike and sidecar and driving up the lane. He put it it the ditch while trying to do a u turn. Such happy carefree times when Dymchurch, Hythe, New Romney and Folkstone were vibrant (l remember watching through the window and seeing rock being made in Folkestone). l have so many memories of those times and remember very well your lovely gt gt grandparents.
Kind regards
Steve