The House where my Mum was born

[niddly nod]

 Hello I am new if you do not recognise my name, just wanted to reply to this thread.
I was quite lucky in this respect. The owner of one of the houses I grew up in received a letter from a distant relative of mine in respect of my father. He was doing his family tree and had traced my father through a company pension scheme at a place where he worked. Don't know how he did this . However he wrote a letter asking for information to the address where my father had lived. The lady there did not know the family but she spoke to a local person who had been in the village many years. By coincidence this old gentleman was having a drink in the local pub and he related this tale to a woman who used to take her old English sheepdog for an evening walk and then call for a lager on her way home. She happened to be one of my oldest friends! So the following day we visited the house, explained what we had heard and were given the letter with lots of ancestoral details, and were invited to look round the house!
I must admit I was a bit disappointed with what they had done to this lovely 17th centuary house, a bit upset really. It was all oak beams and stone flags when I lived there but the couple who had bought it had installed laminated flooring had plastered the beams and taken down the delf shelf in the lounge. The lounge fireplace used to be stone with stone seats either side. That had gone and a modern gasfire was attached to the wall. Well there is no accounting for taste is there? Everyone has theIr own ideas but it was fascinating going back.
Niddly Nod

[Su]

Good luck Jan, hope it all turns out well and you are invited into the house.

Welcome to RC niddly nod.  I hope you enjoy the site and make many new friends.
What a fascinating story.  It is a shame that many old places are modernised by new occupants.  However, I think my granny would have given her eye teeth for a bit of laminated flooring on her cold flags, especially during Winter.  Mind you, I don't think she would have ripped her lovely coal fire range out of her kitchen to replace it with a gas one, thought I might be wrong.  I used to sit on a brass box where she kept papers by the fire, watching the kettle boil on the hob.  On washdays, the fender came out, and all the long johns and socks were draped over it steaming away.  I can smell it now 

Su

[wheeldon]

Good luck Jan, I think you are definitely going down the right road.

I would be happy for someone to come and look round my house, there must have been quite a few occupants as it was built in 1853.

However, if someone just knocked on the door then I would have to say no, I'm a mucky pup and would be so embarrassed at someone seeing my mess   

However, if I received prior warning, I would clean like a demon and there would be no problem 

[ozlady]

When Dad and I were in the UK earlier this year, we visited the village where my g.grandparents were born. The house where g.grandad and his Mum lived had burned down many years ago but the house next door was still occupied. The lady there was most welcoming, showed us the old well and the foundations of the burned house. She didn't know that her house was on the old maps for the village and was quite exscited when I gave her a copy.

[stevenson]

I personally would welcome anyone who wanted to come into my home, I would even give them all the information on it,photographs ,history etc

........But I have been on the otherside and found it very hard to go up to the door to ask ...can I please have a look and take photographs...I am a wee chicken,,...but if you are not going to be back in that country again for a long while...maybe it would be better to take the chance and ask.

good luck to you all

Steve

[KathMc]

This weekend my husband and I are heading to the neck of the woods my parents are from for a business trip and I have convinced him to make a stop by their old homes. The house my mom grew up in was her grandfather's and for many years had four generations living in it. I have three houses to check out and hopefully I will have enough courage to talk to someone, ask to take pix of the outside and see where it gets me. 

Kath

[Cas (stallc)]

Good luck, Kath...let us know how you get on...

Nothing ventured, and you don't have to see them again if not positive...

Cas 

[KathMc]

That's always my reply too -- what have I got to lose?! Until I actually have to put myself out there. Fortunately, hubby is much braver than me. 

[Lloydy]

I realised today that I had been carrying the letter around in my handbag and forgot to post it   I do worry about myself sometimes

Will be posting it at work tomorrow so fingers crossed, and lots of luck to everyone else who is doing the same thing, by letter or in person.