What are your childhood memories of your grandparents' house?

I remember my great-grandparents too. Their names were Stanton and Irene, and they came from backwoods Kentucky. They moved to a little house on a side street in a mid-sized Ohio city, which was "moving up" in their world.

I don't have any memories of my Great-Grandpa Stant except of him sitting in a plaid armchair and watching "wrasslin' " (the professional wrestling on TV). He ate chocolates and mixed nuts. Once he had a chocolate box that played music when you opened it, and he let me open it as many times as I wanted. It drove everyone else mad, but he told them to leave me be. :) I was probably about 4.

My Great-Grandma believe in all sorts of old wive's tales and omens and such, but was not a religious woman in the traditional sense. Though she did often tell my father that she worried I would die as a child, because I was too happy and you weren't supposed to be so happy except for in Heaven. When I got older I would ask her what she was like when she was young and she would say, "Well, I had coal-black hair." That was about all she'd say. :) She died when I was 18 and I'm thankful I had so many years with her.

There were no toys at their house, just plain paper, pens, playing cards, and a family of china cats that I was not supposed to touch. And yet my brother and I never complained of boredom there because we were terrified of incurring their wrath. :) We were never so well-behaved!

Blankets with satin edging and sheets on the bed, which made for very heavy bedclothes

Spending hours rummaging through my gran's button and sewing box, thinking I was tidying it for her.

Getting dried next to the old gas fire in the back sitting room after my bath

Playing with her ornaments - she never seemed to mind or worry I might break them. My own Monica Geller mum wouldn't have let me near her breakables!

Getting a 'starter' for my tea, which was always either a melon with a glacee cherry or a half of grapefruit with a glacee cherry on top. Pudding was always the best ice-cream in the whole world, from the tiny Italian cafe up the road which shed buy especially for me, just before I arrived because she didn't have a freezer.

Making drop pancakes and playing Gin Rummy every Sunday morning. The pancake griddle was my gran's most prized possession. It had been her mother's and it was never washed, just wiped clean every time. And I've just worked out that as my Gran was born in 1918 when her mother was 41, that means the pancake griddle was about 90 years old when I was using it. My aunt still uses it

I'm getting teary writing this - I loved my gran so much. She never met DS

Dear MNHQ - Can it go in classics please ? - it's brought a tear to many eyes ...
And makes us think about building memories for our DC's too

• although I don't think there's any fear that that's happening !

One set had a little thatched farmhouse with dogs permanently stretched across the huge ancient flag outside the green-painted Dutch door. They were farm dogs awaiting their next mission and never moved for anyone except my uncle or grandad. They would look up amiably at you as you picked your way through the tangle of legs and tails trying to get in, and complicated your task by flapping their tails in friendly manner. I remember old paint cans painted dark green with geraniums planted in them on the outside windowsills, incredibly thick stone walls, old flagstones in the kitchen and a fireplace you could stand in and look up, with a hob and griddle, a slight smell of Kosangas from the more modern cooker granny also used, an icon of Pope Paul VI in the far corner of the kitchen near the table with a little red light constantly illuminating it, and a fly paper hung from the ceiling near the door. Granny, dressed always in a floral smock over her clothes, baked lovely shortbread and the kitchen always seemed warm. The little house had been there, tucked into the yard, away from the road down a lane lined with whitewashed dry stone walls for centuries, and you could feel that.

A few miles away, granny and an aunt and my aunt's little dog (whom we thought was our cousin when we were very small) lived in a Georgian dower house filled with lovely things from India and China -- in particular I loved two large watercolours of paddy field scenes done in tones of gold and terracotta that hung in the dining room. There was a huge engraving of a Roman chariot race in the hall, a scene of great drama and dreadfulness. When I close my eyes I can still smell the beeswax-polished wood, the roast, the roses, madeira cake and newly baked bread. We slid down the bannisters and used the drawing room furniture as gymnastics apparatus, and spent hours wandering through the orchard and the kitchen garden, climbing the trees lining the long avenue; on one occasion I got a lump of resin from a pine stuck in my hair that proved resistant to any effort of my aunt's to remove it, so I had to have a good deal of my hair cut off. There was a goldfish pond near the gate from the garden to the yard, with broken pieces of old china lining the murky bottom, pond weeds, lilies and the occasional flash of brilliant orange in the depths. Granny had a little greenhouse off the drawing room where two small peach trees braved the elements. I remember the smell and softness of the ripe peach she presented me with one morning for breakfast and chatting with her about places she had lived where even more exotic fruit grew.

I just realised that both my grannies died almost 30 yrs ago now! I never met my grandfathers.

They inhabited a different world - looking back to their houses and their ways of life, it's more like a different universe.

my grandma's lavender water
Minced beef and dumplings (they didn't cook much else)
Blue, fine bone china cups and saucers
Starched white tablecloth
High-backed armchairs with wooden legs
Flock wallpaper
A house that seemed to go up and up and on and on forever;so many places to hide
endless cups of tea
big tins of crumbling biscuits
the parade of moggies hanging round the back door and the garden waiting for scraps
little bits of soap collected in a jar to make 'jelly'
big juicy tomatoes that actually tasted like tomato

Long time ago but the old black range in the kitchen, the Staffordshire oatcakes with bacon for breakfast and the dresser in the dining room (now in my dining room).

My memories are of my maternal grandma and great uncle, her brother (my grandpa died when I was very little). They had lived together their entire lives and rowed in the way only a brother and sister can. We would often turn up and find them not speaking to each other other some minor disagreement - it was hilarious.

Their house was full of broken things that they thought "still had some life in 'em" and so she was always burning herself with pans with broken handles or cutting herself on chipped cookware.

Her children had to wrestle clapped out white goods out of her house as they bought replacements.

Best though was her dressing table covered in costume jewellery that I played with endlessly and her bedside table with racy bodice ripper books that I read when I was about 12.

Her meat pies and homemade faggots.

Her heavily bejewelled hands and wrists that I would play with as she bounced me on her knees singing songs from the 40s.

Pink candlewick bedspreads on the beds and a huge Singer sewing machine under the stairs :)

My grandparents, have had 4 homes between them, as they have downsized, but there is only one that stands out with me.

It was a farmhouse, with a courtyard and a brick wall to walk along, traditional buildings to play in, chickens, cats and a dog. There was also an orchard, fruit garden, green house and vegatable garden.

In the barn, we'd play in the straw, and make dens, and then drawer maps, so we could find our dens again.

My favourite memories are eating the peas, picking raspeberries, blackberries and gooseberries.

I also loved the house, especially the breakfast room, and the welsh dresser (I still need to buy my dream dresser). It was not smart (really rather tumbled down, no fitted kitchen or shower, and in need of central heating and rewiring), but I loved it.

When we stayed we'd get up at 6am to jump into bed with grandparents and sing nursery rhymes, we then got up to feed the cats and collect the eggs with grandma, when we got in we'd have porridge and pancakes. We'd usually then work in the garden (it was their great love) with grandparents. We may even make some raspberry jelly, pickle some onions, or help with fresh pea soup (our favourite) for lunch.

Later on, we may get on my grandad's old tractor to go to the bottom meadows and fish along the river, or feed the pheasants (he had a family shoot).

It was the good life, and we loved it.

They sold the farmhouse when I was about 11 years old, and although the next property was modern and beautiful, it was not the higgledy piggledy farmhouse that I loved.

They kept hold of the farmland as an investment, and always had a rental income from this. I still get to walk the farmland.

playing with my grandads 'silver' armband bracelet elasticky things that kept his sleeves up or something

the little wooden step ladder that i had to sit on if there were too many people at dinner for me to have a proper chair

the glass vinegar bottle with the little lid you poured the vinegar into (I nabbed this when the house was cleared and it's in my kitchen now)

bringing down the christmas decorations, all carefully boxed in individual cardboard trays

the dining table that me and my cousin hid under and played with our toy people on the ornate wooden legs

the stained glass window in the front-door-that-nobody-ever-used

my grandma coming into the lounge and announcing to a room of people that my elder cousin (who would've been at least 20 at the time) had a "problem with her vad-jinner"

The smell of my granny's boiled potatoes and butter for lunch when mum was working and she was keeping me for the day...

The lovely big feather duvet in the high double bed I stayed in at the weekend...

The smell of my granny's headscarves and coats that hung on the coathooks down the hallway...

My paternal grandmother's lemon meringue - yum!

Making pancakes with my maternal grandmother and eating them when they just came off the gridle, (could never quite master her method of getting them just a lovely golden colour on both sides)

My maternal grandmother's chocolate cakes - she baked one for each of the grandkids (5 of us in total) 21st birthdays and froze them, she died about 2 years before my 21st and it was still absolutely delicious!!

And finally, my fondest memory of my late granny, when she was seriously ill with cancer and just before she died, she stayed at our house as our grandfather was unable to look after her on his own. The Marie Curie nurses (God bless them every one) came at night to look after her. One afternoon about a week before she passed away, my mum's brother and his kids came to visit and she was lying in the front bedroom in bed, quite tired and very incoherent due to the medication she was on. My cousin and I were both about to take our practical driving test around the same time and were talking about it. All of a sudden, she threw back the duvet and was ready to get out of bed. In shock, we all jumped up ready to assist her in case she stumbled and asked what was wrong or if she needed the loo. She said, very matter-of-factly, "I'm going to do my driving test!" We were all so happy that she had been taking in what we had been talking about that we collapsed in laughter. This will be my lifelong memory of my darling grandmother... Love you always Granny H xxx

@kitswins - loving the eye around the corner!

the sound of a proper teacup and saucer as it rattled in grandad's shaky hands.

Pictures of corgies, everywhere (not not the queen)
jack russels with floppy ears
musty dark green armchairs
pretending we were in hammer house of horrors and grandad scaring the bejeebies out of us

My paternal grandparents. Lived in a lovely house by a farm. All tocking grandfather clocks and big furniture that seemed huge to tiny old me.

• Shelling peas straight into our mouths from the field.
• Granny in her quilted bed jacket and lending me one when I was 12 and cold in the morning. I felt SO grown up. It was peach quilted silk with bracelet sleeves. It was the only thing I wanted when she died (six years ago) and no one could find it.
• The old table tennis table in the clapped out stable block. My brother and I would play hours of ping pong with the roof practically falling on our heads
• Piles of blankets on the bed. Granny didn't do duvets.
• An amazing green jug that would make a strange glugging noise when you poured from it. Custard would sound like quicksand.
• Granny smoking sly Dunhills with my father (neither of them smoked - apparently!) and my Grandfather drawing a big eye on a piece of paper and sticking it around the door to show they were being spied upon!
• Trying on her fur coats and rings and tripping about the house.
• Their wonderful, fat old bull terrier called Nina who had teeth like razor blades but was as gentle as a lamb.
• Best of all was coming home from boarding school and arriving home and she and Grandpa were THERE on the step waiting for us.

Ooh it's all coming flooding back now...

Eating peas from the pods in the garden
Bath time and having one of those toy watermills (which I loved so much we've now bought DS one!)
Her toilet roll holder which was a doll, with its skirt covering the toilet roll (!)
Watching old films on the telly - grandma in her chair by the window
Crunch! (flapjack)

Could go on and on

I only ever knew my maternal grandma, she is still alive today and 85 years old

I am an only child, but my Mum is one of 6 girls so lots of cousins, and every saturday we would all go to Gran's house, these are my memories:

Gran dressing me and my cousin up (we were the only girls) as a bride each using old net curtains

Playing Newmarket with all the family on the dining room table for coppers and being delighted when I won a pile of 1ps!

Gran making scones, and toffee apples for bonfire night

Dancing and singing to Rene and Renata's record with my cousin (she was Renata and I was Rene) and the whole family watching and laughing

Her cupboard under the stairs that we made our den

A great big stool that fitted 5 kids on at meal times, after dinner we would turn it upside dowm, sit in it and pretend it was a boat.

Good times.

The funny pair of doors that we could close either side of us and pretend we were in a lift (or anywhere really).

The rock solid pears we used to eat off her tree.

The big tin cups we could play with in the bath.

Her miniature liquor bottles (which I would love to drink now).

Sugar sandwiches with the crusts cut off.

Porridge that we couldn't eat until it had volcanoes in it.

The HUGE tree that grew practically horizontally, so we could climb all through it (until it fell down).

I only ever knew my grandmas. Loads of memories!

At one of my grandma's (still here with us :) ):

• Playing monopoly or card games - my grandma would always console me when I lost to my older brother with "lucky at cards, unlucky in love"

• Little tassel fringing on the bottom of her settee

• Coasters with birds on them

• Really soft, squishy pillows

• Bunk beds

• Real lemonade

At the other's (sadly passed away about 15 years ago):

• Tins of quality street

• Playing her piano (or trying to)

• Rooms full of smoke from her and her sister smoking!

• Their strong irish accents

My only memory of my grandfather is deciding to bite his backside as he bent down to tend to his fire. I was two. I do remember the commotion that took place afterwards. I was a strange child

Oohh, I've always wondered about "anti-macassars" Issy ?

Pots of stew that Grandad would bung stuff into over a few days (we never ate it!)

The smell of lift grease in the hallway of the flats they live in

The telephone table with a flip-up address book in the hallway

The luxury of an indoor loo- ours was still outside

Mixing Nanny's Scotch and cokes from an early age

teeth in a glass
'basket of old toot' to play with
Sunday roast
Enamel dish of apple pie with 10,000 cloves
Lloyd Loom chairs in the garden
forbidden shed full of poison
2 pear trees
'You are my Sunshine'
poking a hair clip through holes in the pink satin quilt
weak shandy
Coronation button box
china dishes of sweets
'the mauve room' - never carpeted and full of boxes
the smell of sherry
red setters who lived next door
old fashioned phone
glass panel above the bedroom door
snooker, George Formby films and wrestling
Smart high heels
Anti-macassars