a door leading into the back garden and at the side of the door was a magnificent Grandfather clock. in the corner of the roadside wall was a very narrow curving stairway, about 18 inches wide. This staircase lead up to two bedrooms, the first was the main bedroom measuring about 9 feet by 10 feet and access to the second bedroom was through the main bedroom by an opening with a draw curtain across it. This bedroom was even smaller than the main bedroom, and this was the room that had slept the ten children !

As schoolboys, my mother would take my brother Stan and myself down to Banham for the duration of the School Summer Holidays, usually about six weeks. We would go for long walks in the quiet country lanes, where the sun always seemed to be shining. At harvest time we would go to the fields where the men would be cutting down the corn, and as the corn left standing became smaller and smaller, all the local lads and ourselves would be waiting, sticks in hand, ready to dispatch the rabbits as they scuttled out of the ever decreasing area of corn.

When this happened it was absolute bedlam: lads and dogs dashing all over the place, sticks thrashing the air as they chased their particular quarry. They would crash into one another, accidentally clout one another stumbling and rolling all over the place. The air was full of shouts, laughter, ows and the clunking and clatter of the reaper as it disposed of the remaining corn. When the reaping and chasing and shouting and thrashing about was finished all the red-faced sweating lads would wander back home proudly taking back their dead and dangling rabbits for the cooking pot. A very healthy and tasty meal, costing nothing.

Another interesting trip was when we were sent to the local farm, large jug in hand, to get a fresh supply of milk. On the farm was a windmill where the local grown corn was ground into flour, and the farmers wife, who served us with the milk, would quite often be using a churn to make butter from the milk.

These were halcyon days.

When supplies which were unobtainable from the village general store were needed, then we would have to go to Norwich which was about 20 miles away. There was a bus which would pass the cottage once a week, on Friday mornings. There were no official bus stops, so you just stood at the side of the road and flagged the bus to stop.

Going to Norwich was quite an adventure for Stan and myself. The bus would go through all the tiny villages picking up passengers. All the locals seemed to know one another and all the news from around the area would be swapped, so there was a constant buzz of conversation . Whilst this was going on Stan and myself would be gazing out of the window fascinated by the countryside and the occasional herd of cows being driven along the road as the bus edged its way past them. There were lots of agricultural activities going on right throughout the journey which seemed to take hours.Once in Norwich my mother and usually Aunt Mabel would go wandering
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See video of Hilda Hutton visiting Banham