It's not surprising that my Grandma was horrified when her daughter and new husband bought this cottage in 1952 for £500.
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Front of the cottage, with my Grandad - centre- but even with a magnifier I can't tell who it is sitting on the step
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My dad (real Dad) and his brother (later my Step Dad) had just started a builders business and the land at the back was ideal for their new business. Room for sheds and heaps of bricks.
What a shock to everyone when my real dad was killed in a motorbike accident a couple of years later.
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| The lean-to kitchen out the back |
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| The old lean-to kitchen was replaced with this kitchen on the left and bathroom to the right. It must have been wonderful for my Mum after a few years with an outside bucket and chuck it privie and a tin bath in the kitchen. |
Years later you can imagine the 'treasure' we dug up in the land behind the house, after those cottages had been cleared. With six families burying their rubbish - before rubbish collection was invented. There were bits of clay pipes and broken pottery, old bottles and if we were lucky the marbles from Codswallop bottles.
( just a PS edited in to say thank you for all the comments about doing the washing yesterday, apologies for not replying. Seems no one likes those scent boosters - so I wonder who is buying them?)
What a fascinating post, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI have so many old photos and it's nice to share some.
Delete1952 - the year I was born! Fascinating photographs, thanks for sharing them and their story. xx
ReplyDeleteI'm glad they took photos back then, my mum had a little camera shaped like a box for years
DeleteAmazing photographs of your old home, I've visited mine here having moved back to live here.
ReplyDeleteMy dad built 4 houses in the builders yard before he retired and they lived in one until they died. The original house was up for sale last year and I had a photo on here I think. It's only about 10 miles from where I am now
DeleteWhat wonderful photos, well they could definitely add value to that house couldn't they!! But at £500 it seems quite expensive. My Nana bought her 3 bed semi with a back garden and a tiny front garden for £950 in 1959. I guess the acre of land and the vegetable patch would have added value to the cottage though. As you can imagine there has been a lot of going through old photos in my house too. Almost too many trips down memory lane.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wreck it was, wattle and daub and built in the 1700's.
DeleteI have so many old photos and it's nice to have somewhere to show them
What a wonderful slice of your history today and it was a privilege to see the photos. Catriona
ReplyDeleteIt's good to have somewhere to show them , old photos are always fun to see
DeleteThank you for sharing the old photos. It's hard to imagine anyone wanting to buy the old house, there was so much work to be done. You were a very cute baby :)
ReplyDeleteI think I must have inherited the 'fix it up' gene from them!
DeleteWhat a wonderful property for anyone prepared to put in the work.
ReplyDeleteSuch a wreck back in the 50s - it made a good house for almost all their lives
DeleteA great set of photos from your past, it is a good thing to make an internet connection to them
ReplyDeleteThey are all packed away in a box so it's good to have somewhere to share a bit of history
DeleteThese old photos are treasures! Now, that's a fixer-upper, and fix-it-up they did! Love the baby photo!
ReplyDeleteWhat a mess it was - but they made a good home from it
DeleteWow! That sure was a project but they knew what they were doing! No wonder you are so handy and such a good gardener. You got those talents from your parents! Great photos, Sue.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel like a good gardener here, things keep getting smaller rather than growing!
DeleteI don't buy the scent boosters myself (waste of money), but have a friend who uses them. She did say they make the washing smell nice, but it does that if you hang it out anyway. Xx
ReplyDeleteFresh air and sunshine is best!
DeleteI love old photos. Your Dad and Step Dad were very capable builders. Their work transformed the old house and made it a beautiful place to live.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cutie you are at 7 months old. Precious.
It was a good house to live in for my 20 years there
DeleteI enjoyed this. So interesting and the old pictures are treasures. What a cute picture of you. I think I would love to have gone to those dumping sites to dig for old bottles, clay pots - anything from the past. Too cool.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky to have lots of old family photos
DeleteSo interesting looking at old photos, I expect many old houses were condemned, when with the right love and enough money they could have been saved.
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