As a little girl some of my fondest memories are of our summer holidays, some of which were spent at "Primrose Cottage" in Battle. Pictured above are my sister and me (bunny skirt), in the back garden of the cottage. Just behind the cottage was a farmers field full of jersey cows. They were beautiful, with their huge brown eyes and big wet noses! It was both frightening, and exciting, to offer them handfuls of grass...the same grass that grew on their side of the fence, but they ate it out of our hands all the same so I imagined our grass
was special!
The cottage was full of charm, created by my mother's ability to beautifully decorate a cave if she had to, with beautiful handmade curtains and cushions, wall art, and furnishings arranged in the most creative and comfortable ways possible. In the front of the cottage was a lovely paned glass window in which my sister and I sometimes played real estate agents, wearing plastic finger tips with red nails on them. We had drawn pictures of houses for sale and fixed them into the panes of the glass! We spent hours pretending to be real estate agents greeting imaginary customers to whom we would talk about the advantages of the different drawn homes we selected from our window!
We also spent many holidays in Devon, playing on the beaches, building sand castles and splashing around in cold water! It never mattered how cold the water was or how stony the beach, playing in the ocean was a must. I remember dashing out of the ocean shivering, with blue lips and body, into my mother's arms to be wrapped up in a huge warm towel and rubbed and hugged warm! Then came the blanket, and tea from a thermos!
The smell of the ocean, and salt on my lips, the shells on the beach, all filled me with excitement, I couldn't get enough of it. Once dry, it was time to explore, in warmer clothes, the tide pools which offered a plethora of sea life. Little crabs and periwinkles were most prevalent and while I was interested enough to catch crabs, I would then squeal as they scrambled about in my hands in an effort to escape! Periwinkles were far more agreeable and just peeked out of their shells and just as quickly ducked back in! I especially loved collecting shells, pretty stones and beach glass. Treasures which could be gathered and kept in a little box to handle over and over again long after the holiday was over.
Another favourite pastime was the boating ponds. I had a little blue and white sail boat which I would launch into what seemed like a huge body of water and watch carefully as it passed other boats and
went on its own way with the wind. Eventually she would wind up close enough to an edge of the
pond to be retrieved safely, much to my relief!
These holidays are memories that I will treasure always, and since the majority of the time it was our immediate family only, I was free from any uncomfortable situations with my grandfather which made me feel freer and safer.
