Ansteys Cove

I remember staying at Ansteys Manor with my parents in the 50s, I was about 7 in 1954 and we stayed there on several summer holidays. Very fond memories of the zig-zag path to the cove, the "Torkey boat" which loud hailed the people on the beach and sent a little boat in to pick them up if they signalled back. The hotel had lovely lawns and at dusk there was a chap and his children dragging a rope across the grass. This was professor Eric Laithewaite whose hobby was moth collecting. My mother caught and sent him unusual moths for some years afterwards! Magical holidays, and sadly I have no photos of the hotel, all lost some years ago. It's lovely to read of someone else who remembers it. Wendy King, was Wendy Neal at the time.

I went on holiday to Ansteys Manor Hotel for 2 successive summers in about 1957-58 with my parents and sister. My father, Eric Laithwaite was then a lecturer at Manchester University and did not become a professor until 1965. I don't remember these early visits but I remember the last one. In July 1966, we returned for another summer holiday and by then I was 12 and I had 2 sisters and a brother. My parents must have become friends with the owner, possibly John Crawley, because we were invited to watch the World Cup Final on a TV in their private rooms.