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.

Well I lived with my gp's from a very young age so my experience might be a bit different to others?

Things I remember most-how much fun we had. Nothing big-we really didnt have any money-just going to the park,or for a wander round town. Or at night playing bingo or cards or singing.

They were the best people in the world-taught me to read,ride a bike,swim and I hope how to be a half decent person. I love them forever.

Only had my maternal grandmother, and only until I was 9, but I remember:

The cleanest, neatest bungalow in the world.

My uncle arriving every Thursday evening to mow the lawns for her.

A faint smell of gas in the kitchen.

Listerine mouthwash (when it came in a glass bottle with some sort of polystyrene sleeve, if I've not imagined that).

The ticking of the kitchen timer.

A surprising variety of knitted/crocheted articles in the bathroom, for the purposes of hiding loo rolls and anything else that lent itself to being hidden.

Baking together.

Classical music in the afternoons and teaching me how to waltz.

Stories of working in the fields as a girl (I do believe threshing machines played some part in these tales).

Tea and home-made cakes served from the hostess trolley.

Washing my face as follows: "Brow berry, eye winky, eye winky, nose nobby, cheek cherry, cheek cherry, mouth moppy, chin choppy- and that's where the cats tickle! [under my chin]"

One set:

Barry Island!!!

Laying the table for breakfast the night before (with NAPKINS)

The little mouse that supposedly lived in a hole in the garden path!

Tea in a thermos in bed in theimorning

Sherry

Izal!

Other set:
Thornton's treacle toffee
red cabbage
ginger wine on cold days
solitaire with marble marbles
Turquoise everything!
Knitting, button box, embroidery thread

The address book by the phone that had a dial on the front cover you could stick your finger in and turn - hours of fun doing that.

The pantry which had a very distinctive smell. Lino on the kitchen floor and the 1950s kitchen appliances.

The walk in wardrobe that had two doors on either side of the bed in their bedroom - we used to run through it and play hide and seek. The cut glass perfume bottles on GM's dressing table.

Eating in the dining room which adjoined my GP's painting studio - the smell of oil paints mingling with beef stew and powdery pepper.

GP would make us poached eggs for breakfast - it was only when I got to uni I realised they aren't called Grandpa Eggs

Playing chess and draughts with GP and always losing (not sure he would have approved of the notion of letting a child win).

Toffees in a little silver dish on the coffee table.

Ooh was it like on Gavin & Stacey SAHM ? It sounds posher mind you what with the napkins and all

My other grandparents (Dad's side) I remember ;

All getting into bed together in the morning
with tea and dunking rich teas - they often fell in !
Granny buying me new star shaped cereal and eating it at wooden kitchen table with stone floor ( they lived in an old stone built cottage )
An outside loo !
A bit of glamour from this granny ...
sharing her jewelry - lots of bangles, also perfume, and perhaps face powder in a fancy compact - Can just see me sitting with her in front of her bed-side table and mirror !
Their little white poodle called Henry (will only out myself to my brother or sister there I hope ! )
My Grandpa's glamorous old, black car with those curly side-board bits

This thread is great!

Hydrangeas by the front door.
An open fire with hissing coal.
Grandad pushing the carpet sweeper round (his 'job').
The old belfast sink and wooden draining board.
The pantry with the milk bottle on the cold shelf (no fridge!).
The terrifyingly steep stone steps into the back garden.
Making daisy chains in the garden.

I've just realised, I don't think I ever spent a night in my GPs house! They were quite elderly when I was born, and they didn't babysit!

I still miss then even though they have been dead for more than 30 years.

Opening the back door to the smell of something wonderful cooking in the oven.

Being able to dip white bread in the roast beef dripping before adding salt

Being taught how to knit, crochet and sew by age of 7.

Coating plant pots in the back garden with polyfilla and seashells, then varnishing.

Thrice cooked home made chips long before Hester got there.

And always a kind word and support no matter what the circumstances.

That tomato smell
Shelling peas
Playing poker
Scrabble
Bingo in the front room with the ladies from church
Bread and butter with every meal
The honey bee jam pot
Pictures of the pope everywhere and some sort of pope certificate (?)
Making 'things' out of bits of wood and nails in the shed
Baking with my grandmother
Placing pretend bets on the horses
Grace before meals
Chopping wood
Walking about with a book balanced on my head.
Tweed suits.
Playing with my grandmothers jewellery and the beswick animals
Cocoa and a cracker before bed.
Silence must be observed for the news.
Picking blackberries and windberries.
Feeding the birds
Butter softening over the fire
The telephone number in four digits which must be repeated to the caller when answering the phone
Runner bean seeds under the bed

Oh, this is such a happy/sad thread:

Memories of my Mam (maternal grandma) who I lived with til I was 5:

Walking me to nursery school every morning
Going to the "Cwop" and her buying me Lovell's nougat and ice gems
Being allowed to stay up til she went to bed
Eating at midday and always something cooked - usually fried, and always followed by some home baked pudding
Playing dominoes, draughts and gin rummy with me.
The old rusty red swing in her garden that I used to spend hours on.
Mr Brain next door's garden, absolutely packed with dahlias.
Nasturtiums.
Runner beans (which, confusingly, were known to us as kidney beans), their scarlet flowers and the poles.
The hens and henhouse.
Her boxy leather handbags, bootees, hats and those stole things with fake fox's heads
Her overalls/house coat, always had one on, usually brightly coloured floral one.
Her friend Mrs Davies and Auntie Gwennie dropping in (and letting themselves in) every single day
Wrapping my hair in bandages for ringlets.
Washing my hair on a Sunday evening and letting it dry in front of the fire while Tom Jones was on the telly.
Swirly carpets.
The scullery and kitchenette

God, I could go on for ages. She died just before my dc3 was born, 14 years ago, and like others have said, there's not a day goes by when I don't think of her. Sometimes, when I'm dropping off to sleep, I swear I hear her voice calling my name.

The smell of gas, we were all electric so for years I thought it was my granny smell. It makes me think of her

Outside toilets and being scared to go in them after dark

Great granny swiping us with her walking stick

Grandad always watching the races

Nanna crocheting huge blankets out of old jumpers. As soon as she had finished she would ask whoever was there if they wanted it. If no-one did she would take it out, we would wind the wool onto the back of a chair and then she would start again. Mum has 2 of those blankets and it is just loely snuggling under Nannas blanket

A houseful in a tiny house

Stairs that were really in a cupboard, the sette was right next to it and if you weren't quick enough you were knocked out by someone rushing downstairs

wish I had some grandparents left

More things are coming to me now....they had a bureau in the sitting room, with a pull-down desktop, (circa 1935) which creaked when you opened it. My sister still has it in her house now.

When we stayed for the weekend (which was often) we were allowed to creep inot their (separate twin) beds for a cuddle when we woke up.

Every evening after supper they would open a cupboard in the back parlour and switch on the immersion heater for hot water. They had a lovely tradtional red patterned Axminster carpet that ran along the hallway and up the stairs.

On a Friday night my Grandpa would always buy magazines for me and my sister. Bunty for me, and Twinkle for her. That was the absolute highlight of our week.

I loved them both so much.

I have tried to read this thread three times and just keep crying. I miss my Grandma

Cripes, yes, Cribbage for the men!
Lemon scented polish
Flannelette sheets
Lavender soap
Productive kitchen garden before it was 'trendy'
A proper Larder with all sorts of wonders within
Home made crepe paper garlands strung across the sitting room ceiling at Christmas
Granny's Apple and Blackberry Pie
Comfy, threadbare old armchairs
The scullery
Old Cornishware on the shelves
Freezing cold bedrooms, which necessitated hot water bottles and the wearing of nighties and cardigans to bed!
Granny's bed jacket!
The lovely small sitting room at Christmas where the family spent the evenings, lit only by the coloured lights on the rather huge real fir tree, eating ham and chutneys and turkey sandwiches and Quality Street whilst watching the 'Morecombe and Wise' Christmas Special!
Ahhh, happy times.

Gosh, a few other posts have jogged my memory further:

Nan was a chain smoker! From the moment she woke, she would light one after another until going to bed - yet I have no memories of everything smelling of smoke. How odd! Grandad apparently used to smoke when he was younger but had given it up.

They had seperate rooms! It didn't strike me as weird when I was small, not sure why. Maybe because Grandad was an early to bed/early riser and Nan a night owl who slept in (until Grandad bought her a cup of tea in bed in the morning). But once an adult Mum seemed to intimate that it was a miracle they had four children as Nan didn't like 'all that business'.

Nans 'full body' slip, over her bra and MASSIVE knickers! I used to giggle at her apple catchers.

Grandads shaving brush and cut throat razor.

THe front of the house had ivy all over it, which used to tap, tap, tap on the window at night and scared the crap outta me. When the rooms got swapped around and my uncle got that room (he's only 7 years older than me) I was so happy I didn't have to sleep in it anymore!

'Ashford 58260, hello?' was how the phone was answered. We didn't even have a phone at home!

Atrixo next to the sink in the kitchen.

The big Bells bottle full of coppers.

The never ending stream of Jean Greenhowe knitted dolls she made that were raffled off for the local charities.

Joy perfume. She'd never wear it (she claimed it was too expensive to waste) but we were allowed to have a sniff of the bottle.

Never being able to leave without a bag full of tat.

Reader`s Digest

The smell of smoke from the real fire

Proper butter on thick bread

Making you feel special and that they were so proud of you

Funny little rhymes and sayings

Riding on the stairlift

My Grandad's funny inventions

They died 21 and 17 years ago and I miss them all the time

I had one grandmother in the same country from the age of 13.

She was French and quite amazingly different.

My mother would be very strict when she was present.

I remember her making the best tarte aux pommes and shrugging and saying bof / poof a lot. Being so very chic.

Eating Boxing Day dinner at my own little table from the nest in the living room because there wasn't enough room for everyone around the table - felt so special

Grandad's greenhouse and the many tomatoes he grew.

The little purple flowers that covered the little wall around the lawn.

Grandad's books and his reading Armies in the Fire aloud to us.

The cherry tree at the bottom of the garden. A black cherry tree, but we didn't understand and always ate them when they were red - yuk! We did that every year without fail, cherries are red you know

Grandma knitting - usually gloves which always had pointy fingers. There was a whole drawer of them in the kitchen at home which we used to fight over

More memories from me too:

Singing 'When the boat comes in' and 'Cushy Butterfield' - North East - all the best tunes

Receiving beautiful hand knit cardigans that always smelled of cigarette smoke but in a good way - yes really

Fetching us a big white paper bag full of penny chews, white mice, flying saucers, and candy shrimps every Sunday morning

Always wearing a clean apron whilst in the kitchen

The huge black ornate jewellery box with velvet lined little drawers which fascinated me as a child

My lovely Eileen - we miss you so much

This thread is lovely but is making me feel very . I don't really remember much about my GPs house as they died when I was very little.

I have the same feelings about my parents' house when I was a child, but loads of happy memories of when both of them were alive and we were a big, normal, noisy family - I lost one of my parents when I was young and the other moved to a smaller house afterwards. Nothing was ever the same after that

Mum's side:
hiding behind the couch because I thought Adam Ant lived upstairs
Running up and down the ally between next door's house
Grandad's crabs, alive, in the kitchen sink
Feeling safe with my lovely Nanna
Dad's side:
Aunties and uncles putting me and my sister in an orange curtain and swinging us around
Uncle giving us ice cream and lemonade mixed together
Getting us to eat leftovers by calling them bubble and squeek
Playing with uncle's typewriter thinking it was a real treat

Baking with my Grandma, whilst my Grandad set up the slide show thing to show me (again) their trips to Africa in the '50's. I loved it.

The lavender bushes in their front garden that we would use to make bags for our knicker drawer. And, when we were older whacking the gate into the bushes to make the bees attack the next one up the path

Sitting on a bench in the park, eating liquorice torpedoes with my Grandma.

Picking the peas in the garden, and eating them straight away.

My Grandad making me sugarbutties! My mum went mad!

Lovely memories, I feel very lucky.

The outside loo with cut up news paper for toilet paper & just a hole dug in the ground (cottage in the country) clock tick tocking, absolute silence, his old first world war bugle hanging on the wall ,an old fire range with big old cast iron kettle boiling constantly , a big pare of bull horns hanging over the fire,

what a lovely thread.
rolling out pastry shapes and decorating with currants
watching real fire for fire fairies going up the chimney
jack russells
special book from GM's childhood that were fascinating
sherbert dips
being allowed to look at the view finder a sort of slide viewer thing that you put little slide discs with stories on in - anyone remember them?
and endless summer days in the garden

miss mine too