Former Residents Of Combe Fishacre

A Memory of Coombe.

I, along with my three brothers and two sisters was brought up in Combe Fishacre House from 1965 to about 1988. My father lived there with his Aunt and Uncle (Neville and Anne Parry) who bought the house in the 1930's. The house was given to my parents in 1965 when we all moved in. We remained there until we sold it to the Longs in the late 1980's.

Much of our childhood was spent on Normans farm (owned by Frances and Aida Luscombe), where we helped out with milking, feeding cattle, gathering hay, etc. The Matthews were at Combe House (then the Monks, then Grant-Sturges's, then the Collins). Miss McVittie lived in the thatched cottage Old Walls until she died in the late 70's. She gave the cottage to Mrs Barbara Marsh who was formerly at The Combe Fishacre Lodge. Bill and Barbara Marsh used to keep enormous Pyrannean Mountain dogs in the tiny lodge, and used to let them sleep on the bed!

Joe and Mary Lock ran Combe Fishacre Farm from around WW2, but his family had been there since the 1920's. (Frances Luscomb was there til he was 4, then moved to Normans and the Locks moved in). The Locks had 3 sons, Graham, Robert and Keith. Joe's brother Fred ran the farm opposite Normans Farm.

My most vivid memories of Combe Fishacre are of a wonderfully peaceful and rural place, where farming dominated. The twice-daily routing of milking the cows remains clear in my mind. The Lucscombs had free-range hens in the meadow opposite Normans, and used to collect cider apples in the orchards on the farm. Aida used to make us huge trays of clotted cream each Christmas, and we would collect our churn of unpasturised milk from the farm every day.

David Luscomb still lives in the bungalow he occupied in his 20's at the top of Combe Fishacre lane, and Frances is at The Grange in Ipplepen. Sadly Aida died over 20 years ago.

The valley still looks lovely, but all the farming I remember has stopped, with most barns standing empty or having been converted into houses. Combe Fishacre House is still owned by the Longs, and have kept it looking unspoilt.

Combe Fishacre House was built in 1830 by John Shepherd, and he inscribed his name on one of the panes of glass in an upstairs bedroom. It's such a lovely house and has just about all its original features still.