Eglu Cube, auto door, walk in run for sale South West London

[ali-s]

I have just had a lovely visit by 2 former residents of our Cottage.

 

A car stopped at the end of the drive and an elderly man got out and approached me. He said he and his wife moved into the cottage 49 years ago. The cottage had just been renovated from three cottages into two. He and his wife lived in the larger cottage and 2 Polish farm labourers lived in the second smaller cottage.

 

I invited them both inside to have a look around. The cottage was renovated 12 years ago and Andy is now changing things again so I wondered if they would recognise the place. They both recoginised the fireplace in the kitchen and the wife told me she used to cook all their meals on the fire or the two tiny ovens at the side. The living room is still the same but the old fireplace has now gone and a woodburner is in its place. They didn't know about the bedrooms as they are where the second cottage would have been. The man remembered the storage cupboard in the hall but was amazed when I opened the door to reveal a staircase leading up to the loft conversion.

 

We had a walk around the garden and I was told about 2 planes which crashed close to the cottage (we live very close to an airbase) and sadly the pilots perished, and about the time a plane only just got over the top of the cottage going in to land

 

At the end of the visit the man took both my hands in his and said thank you and that he had just been taken back to when he was a newly married man in his twenties with a young wife living in their first home together, there were tears in his eyes. I'm afraid I welled up a little bit too.

[Space Chick]

What a lovely story

 

Good on you for showing them around

[ClaireG]

Oh Ali thats lovely Sounds like you made their day.

[Cinnamon]

Isn't it fantstic when you live in an old house & you get to hear some of its history

 

I too live in a cottage - its about 120 years old, & it used to be the labourers accomodation for the estate...the estate still owns vast swathes of land around the village.

 

We found out a few years ago that the great train robbers,or some of them anyhow,hid here just after the robbery

It has also been used as a drug dealers place of business,& has heaps of little hidey holes & false areas to conceal things.

 

The person who was going to buy it but pulled out just before our bid was accepted was Leslie Grantham - Dirty Den!

 

And our neighbour grew up in our house as a child. His family then bought next door which he recently moved back in to after losing his wife.

[Egluntyne]

What fascinating stories.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

What great stories . Ali-s, you had me welling up too .

[Sam Palmer]

How lovely and to unexpectedly find out more about the history of your cottage.

 

Our bungalow was started just before the 2nd world war, but they had to stop building during the war due to lack of materials. They finished it after the war, but some of our neighbours have lived here forever and remember the people who lived here and said they lived in a shed at the end of the garden for the duration of the war. My son has found Shipphams paste jars and a child's lead toy aeroplane (WWII type) at that end of the garden. It can't have been easy!

[chelsea]

Wish I lived in a house with some history

[WarrensWorld]

Our cottage was built in 1856.... We wouldn't like any previous owners coming to visit. The last one Tom Barret died 16 years ago.....

[theherd123]

Ali thats wonderful, how very kind of you to invite them in and im sure they will be singing your praises tonight for the time spent with you looking round their old home. Such a wonderful thing to do.

[Blackrocksrock]

Ali that was so so nice and he must have been so pleased that you showed them round -

[Chucky1]

Facinating account Ali-s

[Redwing]

aww thats lovely how wonderful for them to be able to look round, they probably only pulled up to look at the outside so you must have looked approachable that probably made them so happy

 

Our old Bristol house was built in 1865, when we moved in the solicitors passed us a big package that was every single mortgage/planning permission request, change of owners details since the house was built, the first chap bought the whole road of houses! the mortgage was in copperplate type writing on a sheet of paper 3 x 2 and had a big wax seal on the bottom

[Looney]

How lovely that they got the chance to look around and you learnt more about the original houses.

 

A few years ago OH and I trekked to the house that OH's grandad was born in and lived in as a child. He wanted to see what it was like but was too old and ill to travel so we said we would go and take photos. We didn't want to photograph the house without the owner knowing (thought it would look a bit suspicious ) so knocked on the door. The owner took us next door and introduced us to Ramsey (named after her godfather, the ex-prime minister ) who had known OHs grandad, she was well into their 80s but could still recall so many stories The house was completely unchanged from 1910, in fact I think the BBC did a documentary on her house as it was like a museum piece.

[Lewis]

What great stories

 

How nice of you to show them round too

[Valkyrie]

That's lovely. The historical part was fascinating. Went to my grandparents old bungalow on Friday - it's been enlarged and doesn't look as nice as it used to. I'm glad you showed the previous people around and that it made them happy too.

[ali-s]

After the couple had left I thought of lots of questions I would liked to have asked them.

I would love to know if there was ever a well or a spring here, I am sure the Cottage didn't always have mains water.

 

They remarked on the different front door from when they lived here. After they had gone I remembered the big wooden door which is now part of the old woodstore I wonder if that was their front door. I have also got a big heavy key which belongs to the cottage, I should have shown it to them. The old door still has the lock attached to it, maybe the key belongs to the door.

 

The couple have made me want to find out more about the history of our home. I once googled the name of our Cottage as it was once known and I know there has been an archeological report done on it but I couldn't find any further details. We live next to a Mote and Bailey Castle so maybe the report was tied into that.

 

We have dug up a few interesting items whilst digging in the garden a few times, a childs leather boot, a few old bottles, a fork with the makers name stamped on it, it was made in the town, and few old bits of clay pipes.

[Lesley]

Did they leave you an address or phone number Alison? - I'm sure they'd love to chat about it further?

 

When we had American relatives visiting a few years ago I knew they'd like to see the house where their father (my Gran's brother) lived before he left for the US in 1926. I was lucky as I still live in the area so I put a note through their door asking if they would mind us standing by the gate and taking photographs, we had a phone call inviting us all to tea and we spent a wonderful afternoon looking around. I remember visiting my Great-Gran there many a time - it had a wonderful 'loo with a view', a two-hole wooden seat with views over open countryside......I was too scared to close the door My father also knew it well as he lived a few doors away in the hamlet when he was growing up so he came with us as well.

 

Since then the lovely couple who invited us in have moved and it was bought by a local farmer who we know as my son was at school with their son and the farmer accosted me at a beekeeping meeting to ask if I have any photos...........we'll be able to have another visit there soon!

[Seagazer]

What lovely stories from everybody, its so nice to take time out and show people round and help bring back memories.

[Daphne]

These are lovely stories My mother has been back to 2 houses she lived in and both times the owner invited my parents in and showed them around. Aren't people nice? One time she had her elder brother, plus nieces and great nieces/nephews from the US in tow and they'd all trekked to Wales to see if they could find the the family's ex-farm. We were only talking about it yesterday - I want to go next time

 

Try your local public records office to find out more about your own property, with it being 'attached' to a castle, there's bound to be references to the owners and then maybe estate workers who perhaps lived in your cottage? I found a huge (I mean huge) map in our PRO produced when the estate was broken up, plus newspaper references to good works by the local Lady Bountiful who has our cottages built. The other thing is to chat to older residents in the area. I discovered our cottage used to bake bread in its bakehouse which was sold in a larger house with a large front window further up the road!

[mags]

how lovely

 

 

 

here is a picture of my 1st home, the washing on the post card is my mother's

 

I lived there until I was about two years old

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130372831388&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:VRI

 

 

Here is a link to it now

 

http://www.hollytreehotel.co.uk/

 

DH want to take me there for a stay but I am not sure How I will feel about it

 

It only had 3 bedrooms and we lived above the station _ my Dad was the Station Master

 

Mags

[Valkyrie]

Wow! Looks lovely.