What are your childhood memories of your grandparents' house?

[ChaosTrulyReigns]

I was schrunching some foil today and it reminded me of the Vitalite tub of milk bottle tops for the Guide Dogs (always a concept I struggled to undersand) at my DGP's house.

And the whoosh hit of tomato smell in the greenhouse.

And the tea caddy of buttom at the other DGP's house.

And the duoble loo roll holder for soft paper (guests) and Izal (unfortunate family).

And rice pudding with skin on.

And a shiny 5p coin for whomever had the smallest new potato on their plate at Sunday lunch.

Good times. Bittersweet memories.

[goodasgold]

A dusty bin

[BustersOfDoom]

Downstairs - lovely

Upstairs - haunted and scary as shit

[HerRoyalNotness]

The cold, sparse and basic nature of GDs house. I also remember our dog whining in the night, dad letting her out and her crapping all over the place. She'd had lovely fresh cows milk before bed, and managed to hold it in until she got outside.

Also remember GD slaughtering a cow and getting told off for kicking up the dust around the carcass.

[WeepsInPaleDew]

MotherMucca

[MotherMucca]

I know that feeling of grandma-shaped hole. After my grandma died, I lost the plot. Still wondering when I'll find it>>

Apologies to Chaos for misogging over lovely thread.

[TheFrogs]

Wordsearches
Immaculate house (nan picking crumbs off the carpet and grumbling)
Knitting
Nan having a sneaky fag, only one a week, and a sherry while grandad was walking the dog on Sunday lunchtime
Giving me a shot glass of sherry as long as I sipped it very slowly
Pigeons making a racket on the roof (Nan hated them with a passion)
The mangle in the outhouse (fascinating)
Nan's porridge with cold milk around it like a little island
Nan chasing squirrels down the garden with a stick "dirty vermin"
My apple tree in the garden, gooseberries, rhubarb
Pancakes
The magic land I was convinced lived at the bottom of her garden
Taking me to the seaside
Kicking leaves up
Toilet roll dolls
The way she was forever correcting my speech despite the fact she was very broad
Reading letters from their friends in Germany
Nan saying hello to Mr Smith next door over the hedge then slagging him off rotten the minute he was out of earshot
I have her sewing box, still with buttons and wool in the colour of my primary uniform in little Beaties bags

Mostly I remember her house being the safest place in the world. I loved my other grandparents too obviously but I really miss my special Nan. Whenever I hear one of those pigeons I like to think it's her way of cheering me up

[BeatrixBlackMambaKiddo]

Wow what an emotional thread. Aren't most of us so lucky to have had these amazing people fill our lives with so much love.

My paternal granda died when I was only 11. He was 85. At that age he would still drive about 3 miles in the rain to pick me up from school so I wouldn't get wet (I only had a 10 minute walk home).
I remember pandrops, his smiling eyes and his absolute adoration of me. I often think about him and wish he could see me now. I cry, very easily, thinking about him - he was such a special man.

My maternal granda lived an hour away from us and I loved to spend my school holidays with her.
I remember making toast over an open fire with her
Collecting hens eggs from the barn
Making pancakes with her
Playing cards at night with her and her thinking it was a bit bad to do it on a Sunday
and I remember seeing her cry only once when she told me of how her own mother had died when she was 2. Her father paid a woman to come in and look after the children and the woman was evil to the children, even stealing their food and taking it home to her own family.

Most of all I just remember their unconditional love and how happy I was just spending time with them, whatever we did.*

*Thinking about it now that never included spending money. None of my grandparents had any.

[Shutupanddrive]

My gran always had that green fairy soap in the kitchen, the smell always takes me back!

[HauntedHengshanRoad]

I remember a lot of Chinese ornaments and paintings. My grandfather was English, but travelled a lot to China in the 1950s - 1970s as he was a shipping boss in Liverpool. It's nice to look back on, because I ended up moving to Shanghai where he spent a lot of time. I think it was those ornaments that inspired me to come here.

[quirrelquarrel]

Aww :o

My grandparents' apartment- the smell in the rickety winding staircase up to their floor, Easter egg hunts in the courtyard, sleeping in my grandfather's room and his radio, him giving me a book about wild animals there, for some reason I was fascinated by the page on dingos, the big old door, the v. v. narrow corridor to the bathroom with hundreds of old bottles of shampoo and bath stuff everywhere, heaping white sugar into little plain yoghurt pots for dessert in the kitchen, my parents would never have let me do that...

Their house in the country- holding still while my grandmother put lotion on my enormous mosquito bites (I used to swell up like a balloon), playing dressing up in the playroom, hiding in the curtains, "boating" on the lake with a paddling pool (punctured...), huge thunderstorms in the night, hauling things up trees to make treehouses with my cousins, rose jam and chocolate in my bowl in the morning, apple fights in the orchard. Oh and I'd always find English books I'd left behind there the last summer, so I had something to read under the covers at night.

My other grandparents' house is smaller and darker, but still had quite a lot of rooms- so I remember people coming to stay, being turfed out from under my grandfather's big desk, it also had a lovely tobacco smell (I love all the different smells in these places), the larder down a little flight of stairs my cousins and I would push each other into, I always had the same room and it always had the same ornaments and things, and the spider toilets (from the beginning of the stay to the end I'd take note of exactly where the creatures were and if I couldn't see them I'd send my dad in to find them).

Aaand my great grandmother's house....v. old, v. rambly and miles away from any town. Huge spiders. Woke up to find one inching its way up my sheets when I was six and the phobia kicked off. We went all around, up to the farms and through the river, and there was also a little house which we redecorated. I used to leave behind little diaries and I found them again recently...I think it's French. Had no idea how to write it properly. Hmm and also reading No Exit for the first time there, made me cry.

[scaryteacher]

Gran and Gramps house: outside lav; no bathroom; washing at the sink in the kitchen in the morning; no central heating; sleeping under sheets, blankets and a massive eiderdown; the guzunder; love; happiness; Gramps eating his yorkshire before the roast; having to be quiet for the 1pm news on the radio.

Nana's: no fridge; milk kept in the cupboard; neat as a pin; shiny lino with rugs; it being sooo cold that there was ice on the inside of the window; no central heating; outside lav and no bathroom until I was about 13; no TV; playing draughts; eating plum pie (yeuch), rhubarb crumble (double yeuch) both made withotu sugar and lumpt custard; butterscotch angel delight over tinned pears with dessicated cocnut on top (triple yeuch); my little brother getting more sausages and bacon than I did in the morning as he's a boy; washing being done in a boiler and then mangled (didn't do my jeans any good) and hung out; metal hot water bottle and freezing sheets.

[reckoner]

What a lovely thread.

Playing with my cousins at my gran's flat. Using bits of fabric and nets to create a fashion show.

My gran's basement. She had no fridge. It was chilly and crammed with food.

Rabbits in my grandad's outhouse. Fussing them. Then one day walking in to him slaughtering one :(

Kittens. And my grandad rubbing them gently on his cheek going 'awww'.

Fetching coal with my gran from the shed.

New year dinners with my family at gran's flat. Playing cards. My uncle cheating and everyone having a huge laugh.

A little plastic Virgin Mary in my gran's spare room. It was filled with water from Lourdes and it glowed in the dark. I cried and cried when having a sleepover as I as so scared of Virgin Mary.

My gran making mash (my favourite food) and it tasted wrong. I asked if she had put salt in it. She added more. And more. And then it was horrible. It turned out she had made Smash and of course it didn't taste the same...

My gran pouring a drink of lemonade. I pulled the glass away as I thought it was full. Lemonade all over the floor :)

[LottieJenkins]

I remember going to Grannies house, she would have to shut her grumpy collie dog away. We would have Sunday afternoon tea around a huge table. Triangular sandwiches and those round marshmallow cake things with coconut on top!!

[gethelp]

You've made me cry.

[gethelp]

My parents and parents in law love my children so much and it makes me feel so grateful that they'll have great memories and feelings of love and security. My great-grandma had a farm and I have brilliantly clear memories of the most dangerous, scary and wonderful times. Thanks for all the love.

[akaemmafrost]

Pictures of Jesus and Mary. She was a staunch catholic.
A proper tea pot, tea made fresh from leaves with strainer etc
An iron that could be heated in the fire! We were fascinated by it.
A kitchen that had not changed since the 1930's.
The constant slight smell of gas and toast.
Geese in the shared back garden, they belonged to the neighbour and went for everyone who came out to hang out washing.
The Star Newspaper, she had it delivered
Photos of all her Grand kids.
Irish music, Fields of Athenry that kind of thing.
Bingo and Cherry pop at the local Working Mens Club.
Her doing high kicks and dancing with us in her sixties

She and my parents were estranged later in life and that affected my relationship with her unfortunately. Looking back the arguments were NOTHING and not really her fault at all, without going into too much detail. I was mean't to go and see her one week and I didn't go, just too bloody lazy, she died two days afterwards. I have such regret and sadness about that.

[RalphGnu]

My grandparents' house was the best place in the world when I was a child.

The faint lingering smell of pipe tobacco and Imperial leather soap. The way the house would fill with the smell of Yorkshire puddings and roast beef. The warmth and laughter. Long summer evenings playing games on the mossy lawn. Going to bed first and my Grandpa bringing the hostess trolley into the bedroom so I could have a 'midnight feast'.

Sitting in the dining room playing board games on cold winter nights with the airing cupboard doors open to let off heat from the water tank and the smell of Stardrops my Gran used to wash everything in.


Just perfect. I cried when My Gran sold the house. I walk past it every now and then and am so glad the present owners have kept the gardens in such good order.

[TipOfTheSlung]

The (not so secret) passageway that went out from the cupboard under the stairs

home made lemonade in glasses with purple flowers on
home made fudge

picking fruit in the garden

the stone paddling pool

wind up toys, penguin and babies, down the slope between the kitchen and the breakfast room

Feeling like a princess walking down the stairs


It's now now an old people home

[Raahh]

Aww, i love this thread. My paternal grandparents lived in the same terraced house for 70 years - until I was 6, we lived in the next street.

I practically lived there- so many memories.
They had an indoor loo (big luxury where we were!)
My gran's apple pie, which had gorgeous flaky pastry (never told my mum I prefered it to hers)
The button box (funny how many of us remember those!)
Their house always smelled of Palmer Violets (My grandpa was a rep for Palmer and Harvey- we got a LOT of free sweets!)
watching fuzzy cine-films of my sister and I in the front parlour (don't know why we called it that- wasn't like there was a back one!). Grandpa was always filming us, and recording us singing. He loved to listen to the tapes when he got older. In typical sulky teenage fashion, I used to hate this. i regret that now, as i realise how much it meant to him, especially after granny died.

The knitted loo roll cover- was a bit spooky actually.

The photo of my dad in the parlour- aged about 18 months old, with a mass of golden curls and clutching a giraffe. i wish I knew where that picture was- as DD2 now looks EXACTLY like that!

And Imperial leather and bryl cream.


My maternal granny lived in a flat with purple swirly curtains. She was always sewing- she used to make teddy bears. Her bathroon always smelt of Cote L'aimant. Actually, it still does! I used to love staying with her- she used to let me stay up and watch 'Dynasty'

[Raahh]

Oh, and my grandpa's pipe tobacco- despite my utter loathing of smoking- the smell of his meersham pipes and his tobacco was lovely

[LifeOfKate]

This is a lovely thread :) I'm quite sad that I don't have memories like these!
My mother's parents died when she was a child and My dad's mother also died when he was a child. So I just have one grandad. Sadly after his wife died, he became a bit of a hoarder so my overiding memory is going to stay with him and my mother sitting in the living room sobbing because the house was so awful and full of stuff and unclean and it would take hours to clean/tidy enough to be habitable. He is still alive and still in the same house, but thankfully my aunt and her family now live with him so it's kept under control. I'm not particularly close to him, so won't share any more stories as it's a little depressing!

[Psammead]

From my Grandmother (no grandfather on that side):

A cupboard full of Mr. Kipling cakes. Especially bakewells, french fancies and those chocolate sponge things with a disc of choc on top that you could peel off.

The gentle sound of screeched swearwords when the firealarm that she had positioned over the hob went off inexplicably once again.

Black bun bags full of easter eggs or christmas presents.

The heady scent of dog and fags.

Tons of pictures of the family in mismatched, garish frames dotted around.

Her laughing whenever anyone seemed to be taking things too seriously.

Playing with her carousel ash tray.

Garden full of holes that the bloody dog dug.

My uncle who still lived at home demanding his dinner.

The huge amount of tack on every shelf. It was like a treasure trove.

The sickly sweet smell of God knows what in the loo.

Dirty jokes.

Sing songs.

Her glass dining table that I was so scared of breaking.

Clutter, noise, mess, chaos, happiness.


From my grandfather and grandmother:

Silence

Depression

Resentment

Cribbage

Dancing trophies from years ago

From earlier days, view of Oxo tower and a dingy fishtank

From later days, pull cords and emergency buzzers everywhere

Tea without end

Boredom

The market where my grandfather worked for one of his jobs and how he came to life there

My grandmother sitting or laying on the sofa and never speaking

The sofa throw with tassles I used to plait

[Raahh]

And watching Deanna Durban films- my gran loved her.

I could go on all day......

[CumpyGrunt]

The big raspberry bush in Grandpa's back garden.

The black & white telly.

High tea at 3 o clock on Sundays with all the little cakes & the silver teapot.

His homemade jams & pickles & chutneys Done in the big shiny copper pan that hung on the wall in the breakfast room.

The cassettes of opera he used to listen to.

[ripstheirthroatoutliveupstairs]

My maternal GPs were a strange couple. My GM had schizophrenia so me and my sister would spend a good amount of time on each visit looking for the people who were talking about Nan. Otherwise we'd spend an hour or so rubbing vaseline into her legs and nipping to the corner shop to get her 10 weights.
Nan would let me light her cigs from the age of about 6 .
Grandad thought it was a treat to take either me or my sister to Caters to buy some eels. Not both of us, just one. When we got home we would watch him kill them and gut them and boil them. I used to think myself lucky if I didn't have to go, although there was a greater chance you would be given some eels. It was a tricky path to tread. He also liked cooking heads and trotters.