The Book of Me, Written by You - Week 5 - My Childhood Home

The Book Of Me, Written By You is a 15 month project set up by Julie Goucher at Anglers Rest.

Each week there are prompts which require answering. 

Week 5 - My Childhood Home

My childhood home

I grew up in a 1930s 3 bedroomed semi-detached house, which my parents extended when I was about 11 years old making it into a 4 bedroomed semi-detached house with a living room, dining room, kitchen and study downstairs.

I lived there from birth until I was 18 years old when I ventured on my gap year to Brazil. During the next 3 or 4 years I was quite nomadic returning to this home during university holidays.

I lived there with my parents and younger brother.

Throughout the house the decor was quite plain with cream or white walls and darker patterned carpets of different colours in each of the rooms.

The dining room had a lovely old dining room suite in it which now sit in my own home. It had belonged to my grandparents and had been one of their wedding presents in 1950. Today it is rather creeky and wobbly but it still does the job for which it was intended.

Living room painting of where my grandmother was born
Low Mill Chapel, Rawdon

In the study resided the computer and mum's piano alongside lots and lots of books, but this was always the coldest room of the house.

The living room walls were lined with watercolour paintings some of which my grandfather had painted. There was also an oil painting of the chapel in which my grandmother was born. The living room was south facing which meant it got the majority of the sun and it also had amazing views over the Pennine foothills (see last picture).

My bedroom was originally cream with brown curtains and carpet until I rebelled in my teenage years and persuaded my dad to paint it lilac. Unfortunately the colour we chose was more of a pale blue than lilac but I still had purple curtains and bedding. There were lots of posters and paintings on the walls and a hammock with my cuddly toys in it. The window looked out into the back garden which I would gaze out of watching the birds and my dad gardening when I should have been doing my homework.

The back garden in the snow which my bedroom looked out over

The house was a short street of 8 houses which were set back from the main road. They were built in the old grounds of a mansion house which still remains at the end of the back drive, the access road to the backs of the houses. The back drive was wooded and you drove off the main road through big stone gate posts which made the street look quite posh although it wasn't really.

The adjoining semi was occupied by an old lady who died just after I had left university, she was a lovely lady who we used to cut the lawn for. She became a surrogate grandmother to me and to this day she never understood why I chose not to move back home after university. Across the gap the other next door neighbours were a family of 4 similarly to us which meant we had play pals to play outside with.

There was a large garden both to the front and rear, with a large garage to the rear of the house, so lots of play space for hide and seek or cricket and football on the back drive and to run around. My father was quite a gardener and grew lots of vegetables so we would always enjoy a good harvest every autumn.

I have lots of very happy memories of this home, but unfortunately so few photos.

The view from the living room and front of the house

Copyright © 2013 Ruth Hogan