My Young Years In Horton Village

A Memory of Horton.

I lived in Horton from the age of two when we moved from Chard. We lived in a cottage just below the village hall opposite the Police house. My dad was Joe Sparks, and my mum was Joyce, I had an elder sister called Shirley. We were great friends of the Slade family who owned and ran the Five Dials. We spent most of our time with Beryl and Brian Slade; mum helped in the bar. I spent all the holidays at Langs Corner, Tiffins and Bullen Court. I went to school with Ann Scrivens, the Lazells, the Welches from Channels Lane where we moved to when the new houses were built. I go back quite often and still call it home, although I have lived in Bristol for 47years. It was always my dream to go back to the village to live; to go picking Primroses and Cowslips. My family and I went and stayed at the Five Dials last year, saw some old friends and did the rounds of all the old haunts, it was amazing. We are going back in the spring to show my two grandsons birds nests in the hedgerows down Mill Lane and stickleback fishing at Bullen Court from the big red stone, which unbelievably is still there. I was taught by the three sisters in the school opposite the chapel. Governess was the eldest, Miss Muriel and the third that taught in Broadway. New houses have been built but not much has changed. It is the most amazing life living in the country and a nicer place one could not find than georgous Horton.

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