There’s nothing quite so lovely as visiting your gran is there ?

[naericht]

I’ve been ‘stuck’ at my gran’s for three days due to ongoing building works at my mum’s (I’m living with my mum just now due to ongoing health issues on both sides) . I’ve never visited my gran much as she only lives half a mile away, we never stayed more than a few hours if that !

My gran is 80ish , her house is like a wee (complete with pine ceilings, anaglypta walls and woodchip everywhere) . She’s got endless piles and piles of photos, letters, cards etc that she’s never chucked out . Lots of boxes and cupboards that are full of interesting wee things... when I was a child I always wanted to ask what was in the boxes but was never allowed . One in particular looked like a treasure chest to us as children (wooden box with boats on it) .

Finally satisfied my curiosity yesterday when my gran let me have a nosy in that box ... it’s her mother in law’s jewellery box ... packed with very old stuff eg cameo jewellery ...

She has about 30 different photo albums and 3 huge cardboard boxes full as well of photos dating back to the late 19th c ... all my great grandparents things that have been hung onto - eg wedding invitations, random bits of clothes, button jars etc . All her dads fishing bits - even all the wee feather flies that they used for fly fishing .

It’s making me miss my other grandparents on my dad’s side ... Papa passed away years ago, grandma took Alzheimer’s about fifteen years ago . Whilst I remember visiting them what I remember is very vague, I’d give anything to be able to sit down with them and have a blether . I don’t know much about them at all sadly . They had a mansion house for some reason (or half of it) and my uncles told me that when they cleared it the attic took longer than the house to pack . What I’d give to have been able to have a nosy in there !

Just feeling very nostalgic all of a sudden and wondering if anyone else has lovely memories of their grandparents ...

My Grandparents had all died by the time I was 14, one before I was born and one when I was 5. I've got no lovely memories of doing anything with them. My maternal grandparents never visited, babysat or took us out despite only living 5 miles away. My Grampa who never said much stayed with us a few weeks after having a pacemaker because he hated his son who lived with him and didn't want to be cared for by him.

I used to love going to my grandads house. The funny old sitting room chairs where the Side table pops out of the arm, the humbugs and the small garden where he grew vegetables. Upstairs he had a room full of paints, easels and paintings he had done or was working on, it was his hobby. Sadly he died watching the horse racing on telly, just quietly, we reckon it was the best way to slip out of this world.

I miss my gran so much.
She had a lovely home filled with all kinds of souvenirs from her travels (she had been everywhere in the 1970s & 1980’s, from Senegal to Fiji and had lots of photo albums as a proof).
She made us lovely food, we did a lot of nice games with her, she made the best chocolate milk ever and taught me valuable life lessons.
I still think of her when I wear red (she loved it) or put moisturizer on my face (she taught me from a young age to always wash my face and moisturize in the morning and evening). I inherited some lovely things from her, one of them is the novel ‘A woman of substance’ by Barbara Bradford Taylor and I love rereading this old book, as I know it was one of her favorite books.

I wouldn't know. My gran died when I was six and my mum's mum wasn't so nice and hated me

Sorry, pressed post too soon! But having been doing family history stuff with ds this week, get your gran to tell you about the photos and who is in them and write in pencil on the back. Its heartbreaking to have boxes and boxes of photos where you can't work out who is in them
Yes, do this. And, this might sound weird, if there are favourite family stories she used to tell, get her tell them and make a video. I wish I had made a video of my dad reciting his favourite poetry so my nieces and nephews could hear him. Also, there was was a card trick he used to do. I wish I had asked him the secret to it. Any favourite recipes she has? Get them.
In short, make the most of it.

I loved visiting my gran. She lived in a big house, that was divided down the middle. One side she lived in, the other side was a bnb, then a self catering thing.
She lived in Dorset at the top of a hill, so high up that any fighter jets flew low enough to rattle the chimney. Both sides had a well.
Down the hill was a farm and we used to frequently go down there to watch the milking. Roller skating was fun until you had to trudge up it.
Going further along the road past my grans was a retired judge who lived in an old railway carriage.
The going down the hill that way at the bottom was a tiny biscuit factory, who also sold tins of mint humbugs. We used to go fossil hunting at lyme Regis before they banned it and cricket st Thomas was a zoo I think.
My grandad used to make the pins that held the feathers on various forces hats, including the bearskin ones, many happy hours using a gadget my grandad made to create them.
My gran died when I was 16 from a pulmonary embolism on the way to the toilet. She was 78.

I hardly knew my grandparents as we lived a long way away. My mum's mum died when she was 6 and I can only remember meeting her dad twice. I think I met my dad's parents less than half a dozen times. My own parents were quite close to my daughter though and I am very hands on with my grandchildren and feel lucky to be so involved. My daughter has photos of my parents and grandparents in her house, though, so the previous generations are not forgotten.