Memories: The Original Glamping

 

 

You may have read my recent post on Niton, my childhood holiday village. Writing that post took me back to the wonderful holidays I had there. The magic ingredient was a place called Hoyes Farm. Hoyes Farm was where we would stay. It was a working farm with ten caravans perched up high on a hill that boasted a wonderful view of patchwork fields. The caravan site was called 'Meadow View' which was frankly very apt. It is still there today, but in a very basic form. You see much of the magic was directly due to the family who owned and ran the farm and holiday accommodation; the wonderful Brian and Orion Lacey. I probably holidayed there on and off for a good twenty-five to thirty years and it never changed a bit. I took my first holiday there at just months old and my last holiday there as a married women, yet in all that time Brian and Orion never changed; they managed to remain ageless. That certainly says a lot for the country air round those parts. 

 

My dad used to stay at the same farm as a child in the 1950's when Brian's father ran it. Back then the accommodation consisted of a few old buses which had been converted to house guests for their annual summer vacations. So by the time I started holiday there we were very much old friends of the family. But Brian and Orion treated everyone who stayed with them like old friends of the family. As a child the best thing was being able to get involved in the farm. Brian was always happy to take willing children under his wing. He was a bit like the pied piper with a trail of children behind him. He had all the time in the world for you. I've milked cows, helped herd cows down from the top field, bottle feed lambs, gone on tractor rides and fed the rabbits. 

 

Down the bottom of the hill was a caravan of an older model that wasn't rented out and as kids we were allowed to go in there. It had a black and white portable television and I can remember watching Top of the Pops on it. As older kids we were allowed to take some of the tame rabbits from their hutches into this caravan with us - I used to just love it; in my own space surrounded by these cute bundles of fur. I loved being on the farm helping out and having that freedom. When told we were off to the beach for the day it was usually met in a rather bitter-sweet kind of way as I'd quite happily just hang out on the farm.

Sadly Brian has since passed on, but Orion still lives in the village with her family close by. It's always a treat to bump into her down the village when we are there visiting my parents. When I think about those holiday's now I know that my children would have loved them. But I wouldn't dream of ever staying there now as it would never ever have the romotest chance of living up to my Hoyes Farm days. I guess I just got very very lucky.

A Tune for Tuesday no.2 ...

So, I started 'A Tune for Tuesday' last week and it's now time for another. I heard this much-loved song on the radio recently. I'd forgotten what a lovely nostalgic quality it had. It simply makes me smile. So turn the volume up a notch and enjoy.

A Tune for Tuesday ...

I decided to have a bit of fun and introduce what I am calling 'A Tune for Tuesday' to Buttercup Days.

Music has always played a big role in my life. My dad shaped my taste of music with his vinyl collection of late 60's and 70's music. We would often spend an evening or Sunday afternoon as a family playing LP's. In the kitchen my mum would have the radio on throughout the day and I would hear the hits of the time on Capital or Radio2. I clearly remember getting my first radio/cassette player and recording my favourite tunes each week from the Top 40 Chart show - pressing 'Play' + 'Record' together. No matter what your technique the sudden starts and raw ends that held each song were very much of the technology of their time and never really bothered us. Years later, music is still played in my home from the point of waking until bedtime. David has a vinyl collection to rival many of Brighton's independent record shops. So it looks like my 'growing up with music' will certainly pass down another generation. I think that is a good thing.

So 'A Tune for Tuesday' is born (now I've the pressure to come up with something every week!). My selection of tunes will be varied. Don't be put off on the first listen - it could be something completely different next week. There is likely to be a common theme running throughout; songs that have that nostalgic glow to them. Some may want to make you sing or dance, some might take you back somewhere for 3 minutes ... either way I find most music is best played loud, so turn up the volume a little. To kick off 'A Tune for Tuesday' I have unearthed this song. Listening to it can only be describe as having honey poured in your ears .... listen and you might see what I mean.

Now We Are Six .... well almost

Several times, on a daily basis, Lily is informing me of how many days to her birthday and how many days to her party. This countdown has been in full-flow for a good two weeks or so now and we've still almost that much time to go again to we get there.

I have however, probably added fuel-to-the-fire by having started preparations for her party. I pride myself on being organised - I have lists (and in some cases notebooks) to catalogue the various projects and daily tasks I have in my life. Lists keep me sane.

So the party. Well, we are having it at home. I've yet to venture holding one of Lily's parties outside of the home, although the day after each years party I swear that next year we're hiring a hall or that Lily can pick a few select friends to have a dinner out with. She's not having it and to be honest neither am I. I love the idea of young children having their parties at home, just as we used to. Their expectations are relatively small; a party bag, games, pass-the-parcel, dancing and cake.

I relish any chance to get creative, and my children's parties are good opportunities in which to do so. 

I enjoy the run up, the preparation, much in the same way I love the run up to Christmas. I set myself a goal to try make each years party individual, fun and memorable. I'm sure in a few years time, Lily will be begging me not to get 'so involved' and that she would rather just go out and have pizza with her friends, so I shall therefore, as they say, make hay whilst the sun shines. This year my (rather loose) theme is bright colour and pattern with a wink-and-a-nod to children's parties of the 1970's. It will be a crafty homemade affair through and through. I've made a start on making some fabric cone party hats for each of the guests and I've got fabric for my party bags cut and ready to sow.

Now the countdown really has begun. The invitations have gone out. The invitation design came about through my recent obsession with the wonderful Ed Emberley Picture Pie books. It's a rather therapeutic way to spend an evening or two, cutting and sticking these simple shapes. I hope that these invitations have gone some way to setting a taste of what is to come.

Memories: Were you born before 1986?

Is it just a sign of getting old while donning a pair of rose-tinted spectacles, or were some things really better in years gone by? Here’s some food for thought to ponder over. I came across such an article sometime ago in a magazine and the words still ring in my ears today ....

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were children in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s probably shouldn't have survived, because our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint, which was regularly chewed and licked.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles or latches on doors or cabinets, and it was fine to play with pans. When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip-flops.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags and riding in the front passenger seat - or the boot - was a treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle, and it tasted the same.

We ate chips, bread and butter pudding, and drank fizzy juice with sugar in it, but were never overweight because we were always outside playing. We shared one drink with four friends - from one bottle or can - and no one actually died from it.

We would spend several hours building go-carts out of scraps, then go top speed down the hill, only to find out we'd forgotten the brakes. After running into a patch of stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back before dark. No one was able to reach us and no one minded.

We didn't have Playstations or Xboxes - no video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape films, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no DVDs, no internet chatrooms.

We had friends - we went outside and found them. We played French skipping and rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt! We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones, but there were no law suits.

We played Knock Down Ginger and were actually afraid of the owners catching us. We walked to friends' homes. We also, believe it or not, walked to school; we didn't rely on Mummy or Daddy to drive us to school, as it was just round the corner.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls. We rode bikes in packs of seven and wore our coats by only the hood. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of, as they actually sided with the law.

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem-solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.