The White House

A Memory of Owslebury.

My parents bought the White House - a thatched terrace of 6 cottages in the Main Street opposite 'Thatchers' Shop. I believe I only lived in this village for about three years between the age of 7 and 10. The 'White House' had a condemnation order on it - it was in a really bad state and the 'thatch' had degraded to a kind of 'shredded wheat' consistency. I remember the dampness, wattle and dorb plaster, red brick floor laid on earth and the 'privy' up the garden. It had a lot of land which was utter heaven to a 7 year old and his best chum Adrian Story - who live with his grandparents in the thatched cottage opposite.
Dad and Mum pulled the thatch off and pulled the cottages down all by themselves. We had the permanent loan of a Fordson Major tractor which on the day we really needed it to pull the chimneys down - refused to start. However, we threw a rope round the chimneys and tied it to the back if our 1935 Austin 10 - it pulled them down with ease!
I attended the village school and remember it as one of the happiest periods of my life. I was well protected from reality by my loving parents when, immediately after Dad had dug the foundations for their dream home - a Cedar Wood bungalow - Dad was made redundant by Saunders Roe due to the fact that the great Howard Hughes had cancelled an order for the plane they had all been working on. Within weeks the bank foreclosed on him and we landed up in a top flat in Beech Grove. Stella Jones and her husband were great friends with my family.
We owned the property at the time of the great 'English Elm' disease and were sad to see half a dozen have to come down on our boundary. Other great friends were Frank and his wife who bought another complete wreck of a cottage opposite us but managed to fight the condemnation order and restored it beautifully. I believe Frank passed on only a few years ago?
Happy times - I come back every year or so and bore my wife with memories - have a meal in the Ship and walk the lanes round about. I still consider the place 'home' although I have not lived there for 55 years! Daft I know!

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