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.

My grandfathers both died before I was born, so no memories of them.

My maternal grandmother we very rarely saw, but what I do remember:-

The old fashioned sweet shop she ran, which smelt of mints and chocolate
Her conservatory, which contained a water tank and smelled of marigolds
A sitting room which was very quiet and very brown
A mysterious door on the first floor of the house - I never knew what was behind it - I found out years later, when my uncle inherited the house that it was a door to stairs leading to the top floor I never even knew existed!

My paternal grandmother we used to go and stay with every summer. I have so many memories of her house:-

Her "fizz" cupboard - a small dark oak cupboard in which she kept her alcoholic drinks, and the soda syphon (hence the fizz)
Her grandmother clock which chimed on the hour and half hour (I have that clock now!)
A set of melamine picnic ware in two shades of green, which my sister and I played with, giving our dolls tea parties etc
The "baths" which were three plastic washing up bowls, red, yellow and blue, which we took into the garden and played with using water.
Her kitchen cabinet (she didn't have a fitted kitchen) which contained a rocket shaped sugar shaker. I would be given the job of pounding the sugar in a pestle and mortar before it went into the sugar shaker
The "neddy door" which was my grandmother's back door, where you could just open the top part if you wanted
One of those things you hang over the door with the coloured plastic strips hanging from it to keep the flies out when you have the door open
Her pots of Ponds cold cream and elaborate brush and mirror set on the dressing table
A lovely picture of a view looking down to the sea in a limed oak frame
Pots of hydrangeas in the back garden (the pots were wooden, and painted blue)
The sundial and fruit trees in the back garden
A huge fabric sun umbrella in red, blue, green and yellow, also a small Japanese paper parasol which my grandmother used on the beach
Seagulls (my grandmother lived on the Kent coast)
The coal bunker, on which our beach shoes used to be placed to dry after a day at the beach
Reggie the grocer, who delivered groceries in a van every week
The next door neighbour Mrs Priest, whose house was called "Flamingo" and had two plastic flamingoes in the garden. It also had a sunken bath, and a conservatory with wind chimes. Her garden had a pond with a wooden bridge over it. Mrs Priest sometimes used to stand at the door of her conservatory and lob a couple of Milky Way bars over the wall for myself and my sister. They were always Milky Way, never anything else.
Runner beans - my grandmother grew them in her garden so we often had them at lunchtime
My grandmother singing (The Keel Row was a particular favourite)
A little saying she often came out with - "What noise annoys a noisy oyster most? A noisy noise annoys a noisy oyster most!"

My grandmother died in 1983 at the age of 93 (I was 21 then) but I still miss her, and my best childhood memories are all of time spent with her.

Radio Humberside. Nicotine stained walls and ceiling. Coughing. Smoke. Yorkshire pudding..massive. Sweet sherry..."medicine", laughs, outside toilet, pantry still with "golden raising powder", Camp coffee essence, apple pies, coconut and jam tarts, freezing bedrooms, scary old doll, bucket in the bedroom (!), naughty jokes, hugs from Grandad, overgrown back garden with millions of snails.

I'm so lucky in that my grandparents still live in the house they lived in when I grew up (and where my mum grew up, for that matter!). The smells and sounds are still pretty much the same. Recently I was there for a weekend with 14-month-old DS and it was lovely to see him crawling round, exploring the house and garden and playing with the same toys that generations of children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren have played with (the toy box still smells the same). I can't quite bear the idea of them not being there any more.

Ah good OP Chaos.

-Homemade fudge
-The noisy grandfather clocks which scared me a bit when I was in bed
-My nanny's hair nets, she had long red hair until she died at 92
-My dad always whispering to me that she dyed it with tea or something!
-Her coal bunker outside where the brick walls were painted and somehow kept white
-Being bathed in her Belfast sink

double deckers and sweets after we had visited them
Earl Grey tea leaves
Homemade Gravy
calling me 'locket' as a nn
fish and chips at a local restaurant
Grandpa's shed and tools
Playing rummikub as a family, Grandma mostly winning :)
Their huge garden on a hill, which led onto farmland, great for running down!

and for my mum's parents:
Full cream jersey milk on my bran flakes (yum!)
The sound of the sea whilst going to sleep (they lived on the seafront)
Orange and Pinapple squash with picnincs
Granny's stash of polo mints
a myriad of bottles of half used nail polish
'Tuck' from Grandpa - a weekly chocolate treat from the local shop
100's of back copies of woman's own that Granny saved for me
The rock pools in front of their house and looking for crabs/fish

Happy days! :)

Funnily enough I was thinking about this the other day.

Plastic disposable rainhats

The smell of Grandad's Pipe

Chocolate biscuits

Home made Coconut tarts (yum)

A glass cabinet with ornaments in it

Very uncomfortable sofas and chairs

Nylon sheets

Twin tub washing machine and a mangle

My Grandad's dentures floating in a beaker of steredent (I was terrrified of them)

Grandadma's housecoats and tabards

Playing in the park behind their house

Picking strawberries on their allotment

The smell of Polish

Home perms

my Italian nonna:

• smell of camphor (like mothballs, but smells nicer) when opening her wardrobes
• prettily self-embroidered guest hand towels in bathroom, unfailingly, every time someone was visiting
• towers and mountains of freshly laundered sheets, towel, blankets etc all meticulously arranged in her linen cupboard...no fitted sheets, only flat ones which were enormous and she ironed herself (mad)
• her top loading archaic washing machine which always looked liked it was in imminent danger of leaking
• her legendary pumpkin gnocchi mmm..
• my grandma standing on a great slab of wood when she ironed - her iron was well dodgy and from the late 60's, and had to earth - basically a death trap - so theory was that if it shorted whilst she ironed, the wooden board would save her life. hmmm...scared the crap out of us.
• the sound of her walking stick as it tapped down the marble tiled hallway
• her lovely framed photos of all my rellies
• her tightly permed salt and pepper hair and the lovely leathery/talcy smell of her
• her hilarious furry beret which looked like a teacosy on her head!

oh I miss her - wish she had met my daughter...just writing these memories down has brought tears to my eyes :(

my Greek yaya:

• her little votive candles and Greek icons in her bedroom, which she made sure were lit all day
• another hilarious furry beret :)
• brushing her waist length grey hair before putting it up into a bun every morning
• awesome cooking
• jumping up on her in my plastic gorilla mask to scare the bejeesus out of her (worked)
• teaching me to count to ten in Greek...i never did pick Greek up after she died

sadly never knew my granddads...

ham sandwiches - properly nice ham on white bread. never seemed to make any difference to grandma that I was a vegetarian - she always, always made them.

the football pools - werne't allowed to talk during the football results and grandpa used to sit there very focused on the tv and his little pools card.

daffodils - the garden was full of them and every visit we went out and picked a bunch.

willow pattern - crockery, tiles and all sorts. it was blue and white everywhere in the kitchen.

strange relics - my grandpa was a sailor and spent huge chunks of his life in the far and middle east. they were odd sculptures, pictures and relics everywhere. they were more than a little spooky.

at my other grandparents...

the allotment - endless hours down there with my grandad growing and picking veggies.

the outside loo - there wasn't an indoor one - it was in a shed/lean to in the garden. always cold and full of spiders.

knitting - everywhere. nan always had a project on the go and it was always beautiful stuff.

weak, milky tea - a lovely treat on cold sunday.

Sunday roast taking all day to prepare and smelling delish, then tasting delish.

an old knife without a handle that she used to peal tatties

watching the darling buds of may on a sunday evening while eating wedges of bread that you cut yourself with left over chicken from the roast.

Digestive biscuits with butter & jam on them.
Grapes in a bowl. Strawberried with a cakeing of sugar in a cracked bowl in the fridge.
salad with croquet potatoes.
Going to the corner shop for her for the news of the world, the people newspaper, 20 consulate cigs & a pint of milk (glass bottles with silver lid)

She was SO kind, and loved me SO much, i felt happy, comfortable, warm and secure with her. She had nowt, no money, nothing posh and yet she gave everything. I LOVED my nanna. She died 11 years ago at the end of this month, i miss her terribly.
She was the biggest positive influence in my early life, i would not be where i am had it not been for her.
having a little cry now

I loved their house, was a big farm. They had several dogs and chickens and geese as guard geese (the dogs were pets instead). I vividly remember wanting to be treated as one of the dogs and crawling round the house with a scarf as a tail, yapping and barking....

Nan didn't bat an eye lid and fed me lunch on the floor. She just 'got' silly games and didn't freak ever. I still miss her.

Faint smell of gas from the live gas grill

Lucozade bottles wrapped in orange cellophane, always served warm.

nylon sheets and cellular blankets

cold water in the bathroom

Quality Street yellow penny shaped toffees

my grandmother being a miserable old cow and our visits being done under sufference.

The smell of lamb / pork etc in the kitchen ALL OF THE TIME

Taking me window shopping to all sorts of places (window rather than real because we had no money but it was still great)

Sugar butties

A maiden in the kitchen on a pulley type thing,I remember the ceiling looked so high up (and the clothes always smelled of lamb/other meaty smelling meats [fond smile]

walking to the local shops where Nana would always buy me a choc cake from the baker and get a bag of scraps from the chippy

Proper cooked breakfasts, with the egg all crispy on the outside because it had been cooked in lard

Cuddling up to their two dogs

Grandads cup that he never washed thich with brown tea stains. Nana scrubbed it one day and he wasnt pleased

A cat ornament that I loved to just look at, it was a "mum" cat with two babies attached by a chain on the mum cat. Ive been hunting for one at boot sales etc but have never seen one Id be over the moon if I ever managed to get my hands on one

I miss my Nana so much

Jaffa cakes and Pop in the bottles you used to take back to get a penny back!

And Nana chain smoking!

Fifteen blankets on the bed with all my clothes on too as it was effing cold!

A whole room full (or so it felt to me) of Agatha Christie books... I still adore a good murder mystery 30 years later!

Unbelievable food. She really was a "chuck it all in and see" but by god it was always fantastic.

at the memories.

OH GOD!!! just saw up there ^^ the Football Pools. We were all addicted!

Just love
They loved us so much
Crying now

Great question!

the hit of of overcooked veg mixed with cigarette smoke and damp air from the top load tumble dryer as you walked through the door.

Black plastic sofa with nylon flowery cushions.

Pears soap.

I thought my nan's house was heaven on earth - a country cottage surrounded by fields.

Porch with loads of miniature cacti on shelves.

Living room with a fully integrated bar with plastic pineapple ice container and optics on the wall . Weirdly, they hardly drank at all. We would watch Crossroads and 321 and other ITV stuff never allowed at home while Grandad had half a cider and we had shandy.

Kitchen had a breakfast bar with high stools - thought this was the last word in cool - and placemats with pictures of the harbour at Tenby.

A 'verandah' (corrugated plastic lean-to) out the back where we did colouring in and listened to the radio (Ed Stewart or DLT) while rain drummed on the roof.

Freezing bedrooms with candlewick bedspreads - nan had a Teasmade and would let us have a cup of v v sweet milky tea with a digestive in the mornings in her bed.

She had a treat tin full of sweets and cake. An aviary full of budgies. A pond with a rockery that our Fisher Price people used to regularly drown in.

Wow. It was my dream house.

Maternal

• white bread, proper butter and homemade raspberry jam for tea
• lemon merangue pie for Sunday lunch
• My Grandad going up in the loft the first day of our stay to get all my mum and uncles old toys down
• My Grandad made us stilts one summer- they were awesome
• Going with my grandad to empty his traps and getting a carrot from the allotment on the way home
• My Gran's amazing button tin
• The electric organ
• They had a croquet set and we used to make a dog gymkhana in the garden using the hoops and garden canes and "train" the dog to go over it.

Paternal

• Radio 3, Countdown and Corrie
• My grandad singing a song called "Suzie-Anna"
• Going to the working mens club to play bingo
• Shep the dog
• Going to sit on my nan's bed in the morning and chatting to her while she had her tea
• Doing the crossword with my nan
• Being called "our" BofF

I had awesome Grandparents. I was so lucky.

Ooohh - the fly! there was always a buzzing fly.

The dark furniture and musty carpets and tick-tocking clock in the front room, where time went by about 40 times slower than in real life.

My grandpa's mineral collection that we were allowed to look at. And a drawer in the smallest bedroom full of interesting old junk.

Horrendous, filthy kitchen with loads of crumbly out-of-date packets marked in shillings and pence, home-grown veg lying around mouldering and a washing up brush at least 100 years old.

Rock-hard, lumpy beds with blankets instead of duvets.

I used to be so jealous of the lovely french windows and porch out onto the lawn, which my grandpa didn't ever use. The windows were blocked by the telly and you had to go out of a side door. I would sit there and fantasize about how if it was my house, I'd throw them open.

Recently I've realised that close to my grandpa's house were dozens of cool things we could have visited, forests, zoos, museums, caves etc. We never did. We just went for the same local walks every time and sat in the front room.

Oh I am feeling a bit emotional now. So many memories, where to start?

My paternal grandmother died before I was born. My paternal grandfather I don't remember much of, other than his nicotine stained fingers. He lived in a flat above his grocer shop. I don't remember much, but my Dad told me a hilarious story the other day about their Saturday boy, who cycled about 3 miles to work; and GD had put 3 bricks in his bag one day as a prank :D. I love hearing these stories, and must start asking my Dad more about his childhood etc.

My maternal grandparents we saw all the time, and my Nana was the most amazing person. She was so obsessed with us all! Spoilt us rotten, and she always told me how clever I was and that I'd be the first in the family to go to University - I was. I remember

Scotch pancakes toasted with butter oozing off them. When I stayed with her on a school day she'd lay all my clothes on the radiator so they were warm, then come in to the room in the morning with the pancakes, tea and hand me my clothes so I could get dressed without getting cold!

Going to all the shops - the butcher, greengrocer, fishmonger. She'd always buy Tongue!

Cooking - all the time. Food was always special, she was an amazing cook. Steaks or lemon sole. I remember making homemade chicken maryland quite often, complete with fried bananas. And she made the most amazing mashed tatties, which I still try to replicate. Oh and her Creme Caramel was amazing .

Whiskey - both of them drank quite a lot of it!

Their rug in front of the TV. It was a hairy thing, probably nylon but we all loved it and used to lie on it.

Podding peas grown in the garden. Alongside these beautiful sweet peas. My grandfather was an amazing gardener. The garden also had two ponds, complete with fish and water lillies. We used to go in all the time which made him a bit cross!

The smell of Roger and Gallet soap. The knitted loo roll cover (a bit like a bride in an enormous dress). The airing cupboard which always smelled gorgeous. The utility room with the enormous Belfast sink, where Nana used to hand wash all her smalls!

Me and my sister lying in twin beds in the front bedroom with Nana singing to us; or our favourite thing ever, 2 koala bears they had brought back from Australia, with a wind-up bit that played Waltzing Matilda. We loved those, and I hope my Mum still has them somewhere.

My grandfather finding 50p's behind my ear.

Actually - I remember everything. The pattern on the carpet, the paintings my grandfather did (two of which are now in my Lounge). The upstairs "loft" where we held Christmas every year, and the paper streamers that stayed up all the time. The spare wardrobe upstairs as there were so many clothes. The button box . The tallboy (though I'm still not actually sure what piece of furniture that was!). The Siamese cat. How the house and garden were always immaculate, but no one ever told us off for making a mess. Hospital corners on the beds. Blankets with a satin binding. The house was always roasting (oh how I miss that now).

But most of all, I remember the cuddles, the kind words, and the unconditional love :(. But also, :) for having these memories at all, that makes me a very lucky person.

Wow, I didn't know I missed my Nana so much, she died about 25 years ago.

Just spent the last half hour with tears in my eyes......

Fresh cakes
Real fires
Being properly cold in winter
Being spoiled
Being loved and praised for anything and everything
Getting into bed with grandparents when really cold
Vicks on my chest
Hard toilet paper
Hot chocolate before bed
Saying my prayers
The smell of the bakelite phone.
As much lemonade as I wanted
My Dad's old toys
Listening to them about "how things were"
Burned baked beans (how the hell that's possible still defeats me)
Rusty everything in the garage
Perfect gardens

Being made to feel great.

Sitting on the back bit of the sofa playing hairdressers with my grandad. He had a comb, plastic scissors and this weird shampoo that didn't need washing out and I loved the smell of it.

Going to the arcades in the summer and probably spending alot of money there!

Sleeping in the spare room but my gran had to remove the creepy china dolls first.

Drinking tea in bed in the morning which my grandad had made for us.

Taking the dog for a walk across the field and playing I spy with my grandad.

Going for a walk to the village with my gran and she'd always point out the witches house (was probably a v normal house in reality!)

Playing rummikub with my gran and she always let me win.

Feeling very lucky (considering I'm nearly 30) that my grandparents (x4) are still there, in their houses quite nearby. I'd see them more but am too pregnant to manage much right now. When the little one pops out we'll be doing some visiting of great-grandparents :)

Watching my Granny put on face powder, and looking through her jewellery box.

My Grandpa's old cars; driving down to Spar in one of them once and getting ice creams.

Rhubarb and gooseberries in the garden, and climbing over the wall at the bottom of the garden for a walk in the forest. Horses in the fields.

Them calling eachother "Mother" and "Father" with a North-of-Scotland burr.

A colleague brought in quality streets the other day and it reminded me so much of my paternal grandparents. Other things, the smell of my grandmother's face powder, amazing deserts, the soda stream and granny having G&Ts every evening, Granddad's piano (which is mine now, lucky me!), the softness of granny when we hugged her ...

For my maternal grandparents, my grandfather died when I was young but I still remember him, and his "pouf" that I loved to sit on, him pretending to be knight rider. Granny was central to the family and over fed everyone, bossed everyone around (including giving instructions to the doctor, moments before she died), her massive collection of reader's digests, the amazing tropical garden.

A couple of years ago I went back to the area where they lived for the first time since granny died, and it was awful. I miss them all so much.