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To ask you to help me recall a memory

185 replies

user1471451355 · 17/09/2016 04:04

Hi all! Posting here for traffic. Sorry my username isn't a bit more scintillating.
I'm from the States, but back in 2004 my parents and I spent some time in and around London. We stayed at the most lovely bed and breakfast, and I would dearly love to find it online and show pictures to my DH, but neither of my parents seem to be able to remember so much as the name of the area we were in. I was only about ten years old, but I have some of the happiest memories of that trip.

Here is what I do remember! It was a very large, very old house. At least it seemed very old to me as a child, though I do seem to remember hearing the owner talk about its history. I remember being very impressed by its size and grandeur! It was owned by a woman. I believe she had a husband and children as well but I never saw them. Her elderly mother lived there also. It seemed like it was quite a long drive from where we got off the ferry after crossing the Channel. It wasn't terribly far from London, but far enough that we only stayed there a few nights to recover from jet lag before proceeding to a hotel from which we went back and forth to London. I think it was probably quite a standard village; I remember stone houses, horseback riders, children in school uniforms, etc all of which were of course quite novel to me!

I realize this is barely any information whatsoever, it certainly hasn't been enough for me to turn anything up via Google. Even though it's a long shot I am so hoping it rings a bell for someone! We had disposable cameras along but only a few blurry pictures were taken, though I can see it all clearly in my mind, and I'd love to revisit those memories with a bit more information.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Caipora · 17/09/2016 07:41

www.theburlingtonhotel.com

Could this be it? It's not stone though, think you said something about stone.

Caipora · 17/09/2016 07:44

Or this www.therelish.co.uk

Conecraft · 17/09/2016 07:48

Field Green Oast House in Cranbrook?

Icequeen01 · 17/09/2016 08:08

I live in Kent and think Op can rule out Tenterden and Cranbrook as neither have cobbled streets. We do have a grammar school here, however, which wears Tartan skirts! Was wondering about somewhere like Canterbury although I'm pretty sure the Op would have remembered the cathedral! What about somewhere like Chilham, I seem to remember that has cobbled streets?

Sleeplessinmybedroom · 17/09/2016 08:29

I hope you find it Op.

CecilyP · 17/09/2016 08:29

Is this Cranbrook school, and would it not have a wide catchment, so children travel from a number of towns and villages? The place with cobbles sounds like Rye but not sure if girls from Rye would go to Cranbrook.

NoahVale · 17/09/2016 08:33

Bedes in East Sussex have tartan skirts.

CakeThat · 17/09/2016 08:33

Could the school be Beneden?
Although if op's parents detoured to Nice on their journey from Amsterdam to London anywhere in Britain is a possibility Grin

Bearsinmotion · 17/09/2016 08:37

My vote would be for Rye, although still confused by Holiday Inn or Historic House Confused

CecilyP · 17/09/2016 08:38

OP is fairly sure about the White cliiffs of Dover, though, so that narrows it down a bit.

CecilyP · 17/09/2016 08:40

OP stayed in 2 places, first the B & B she is looking for, then the Holiday Inn nearer London.

Caipora · 17/09/2016 08:40

Memories can play tricks though. For those still confused, the OP stayed in the historic house first and then went to a holiday inn.

AvaCrowder · 17/09/2016 08:41

Battle near Hastings.

NoahVale · 17/09/2016 08:42

even Hastings has cobbled streets though

NoahVale · 17/09/2016 08:44

Battle Abbey girls school uniform is also a kilt

FruVikingessOla · 17/09/2016 08:51

How about Mayfield in East Sussex? It's easily drivable from Folkestone and Dover ferry ports. And if your parents were into driving around to see interesting buildings, it could well be a contender! Although I've got no idea about cobbled streets, it's been donkey's years since I've been to Mayfield.

There is a well known girls school in Mayfield www.mayfieldgirls.org/ - although their tartan skirts are dark blue and light blue (I think), but if you saw them on a late December afternoon I suppose you might mis-see them as blue and green?

Caipora · 17/09/2016 08:51

OP is fairly sure about the White cliiffs of Dover but there are white cliffs all over that coast, the Dover ones are known from the song, parts of Folkstone have chalk cliffs so the OP might have just thought Dover because it's famous for the cliffs.

BelladiNotte · 17/09/2016 08:52

You said that your parents,pre-Internet and search engines, pre-booked the hotel.how? Ask them which tour guide book they used to find it?

Me, when I first arrived in England, I bought the AA guide book and stayed all over, invariably near a church which boinged the hours, halves and quarters all through the night. Swear I could identify any town by the sound of those bloody bellsGrin

WiIdfire · 17/09/2016 09:02

If I was booking a trip to London, I'd look at a map and pick halfway, which is Maidstone. Maybe image search 'historic b&b maidstone'?

Caipora · 17/09/2016 09:06

Could it be Chislehurst? It's a long way in but I'm thinking if the OP got the tube into London it's possible that her parents drove around London to a different suburb in West or North London for the holiday inn spot, perhaps not realising the south is connected by the over ground train. The London Eye is on the district line or northern line depending on the station, so the Holiday Inn might be quite a way from the first hotel.

CecilyP · 17/09/2016 09:06

What I can't quite understand is, if your parents were so into history, why they didn't visit anywhere of interest (castles etc) while staying in that historical part of England.

DadDadDad · 17/09/2016 09:12

Are your parents the sort to keep old credit card bills filed away? If you could find a transaction from that time it might have the hotel name or location on it.

Before anyone is too dismissive, I'm the sort of person who keeps cc bills filed for years... Blush

CecilyP · 17/09/2016 09:13

As everything else is so vague, OP may think she went on the tube (as the tube is well known ) when they actually travelled on the overground.

DesolateWaist · 17/09/2016 09:17

Are you sure we are not talking at cross purposes about cobbled streets here?
This is a cobbled street.

Also, a village is small, couple of hundred or a thousand people at most really. Anything bigger is a town.

To ask you to help me recall a memory
To ask you to help me recall a memory