What Do You Remember About Your Grandparents House?

[RabbitsRock]

This popped up on Facebook & I thought it was rather lovely - I have wonderful memories of my maternal grandparents house & my paternal.
When DBro & I were little, we were lucky enough to live close to both sets of Grandparents. I remember the garden at my paternal Grandparents house the most. Beautiful flowers including a bed of stunning cornflowers. And at the end of the garden, over the low wall, was the most beautiful meadow. It really was like something out of an American movie, complete with a white picket fence & horses. I also remember sitting on the stairs & being so thrilled that I could hear my brother talking to me from a little cupboard in the outside passage. Oh & I remember the bureau where Grandpa kept his big bar of Dairy Milk. I also found some Pan books of horror stories & gave myself nightmares!
My maternal Grandparents first house was lovely, with high ceilings & big windows. I remember the old fashioned radiogram in the dining room where we spent most of our time. We would have those mini Kellogg’s cereals whilst listening to radio 4. I remember the comforting sound the pantry door made & I could see Sally’s lead & bags of biscuits inside. Sally was a very cute fox terrier. I remember all the bedrooms, especially the cosy one at the back of the house with the airing cupboard. The biggest bedroom at the front had a magical cupboard full of dressing up clothes & hats. My Grandma used to be in old tyme music hall so I could try on all her costumes. I get my love of music from her. I remember practising my scales on her piano & my Aunty got fed up & asked me to play something else! I also remember a beautiful music box inlaid with pearls, from Israel I think. That was one of the things I wish I could have had after my Grandparents died.

[RabbitsRock]

Anyone??

[gamerchick]

It was a safe space. Like a giant hug when I visited.

When I'm extremely stressed out I dream of it and wake up feeling much better.

[Hoppinggreen]

I didn’t have lunch of a relationship with either set of GPS for various reasons but when we first visited my Dads parents I remember they had an outside toilet.
On my Mums side from the spare room there was a lovely view of trees and you could watch the squirrels. I also remember their awful nylon stair carpet that was a death trap

[RaraRachael]

I was fairly young when they died so don't have a lot of memories.
My Maternal granny always had Pears soap in the bathroom which I still do and my paternal one had a bad tempered Siamese cat. She wasn't a particularly nice person and my dad hated her due to something she'd said to him when he was little so we didn't see much of her,

[HerbsandSpices]

I remember that I never knew my grandparents so never visited their house. I have never visited my grandparents. They live far away.

[LubaLuca]

Very fragrant rose bushes and lots of tiny red spider mites in the garden. Both sets of grandparents had the same!

[itsahotmess]

My paternal grandparents had a very large, square hallway.


I used to lay on my back on the floor watching the dust (or whatever it was!) dance in the streams of light that poured in through the windows.

I always did this while my grandmother was in the kitchen, which was just off the hall, cooking Sunday lunch.

Happy memories 😊

[dartsofcupid]

@gamerchick

It was a safe space. Like a giant hug when I visited.

When I'm extremely stressed out I dream of it and wake up feeling much better.

Aw, the dream. That’s lovely.

I remember sitting on the rug by their gas fire on a dark winter afternoon with no lights on and my gran cooking fish and chips, and realising what that floating, dreamy feeling was - relaxation!

I once had a flat that had been previously owned by an elderly couple and the airing cupboard smelled exactly like one in their house. I used to stand in there and breaaathe, just to be back there. Their memories are truly a blessing, I only knew them for a short time but that fleeting feeling of safety and peace has stayed with me all my life.

[JustMoved123]

Lots of happy memories of my paternal grandparents, a lovely welcoming red carpet in the hallway, my bedroom with nylon sheets that used to crackle 😂 but I loved them! Lovely family dinners and she had a pull out pastry board that I thought was amazing. There were also smells I associated with them, mainly cigarettes and home made mint sauce, not necessarily together!

[Maddy70]

Thick pipe smoke. Tinned peaches and evap milk

[Julesni77]

Sugar sandwiches on doorstop white bread and real butter! Making us boats and hats out of newspaper and playing banks with check books made out of old calendars! Simpler times............

[Innocents4321]

I remember both sets of houses perfectly. It is a good memory so thanks OP! Nice little trip down memory lane.

[Peppermint81]

Teapot and dollies on the biscuit plate!

[Babdoc]

My maternal grandparents died in 1926 and 1949, so I never met them.
I remember my paternal grandparents’ house - a terrace in the NE, with a grim outside netty (toilet) in the tiny back yard, next to the brick coal shed. They lived in the back kitchen, warmed by a range with a black leaded grate - the front parlour was reserved for special occasions that never occurred.
Granny used to scrub the front doorstep, and polish the brass plaque on the door with grandpa’s name on it.
They kept a budgie and Grandpa would talk to it in his (to me at the time) incomprehensible strong Geordie accent.
We rarely visited as we lived in the south, and trains were expensive, but I remember getting the steam train from Kings Cross when I was about 3.

[Ted27]

Coal fire, tin bath hanging on a nail in the yard, outside toilet.
Dripping pot, oilcloth on the table.
My nan sending me to the corner shop to get the ciggies.
My nan knitting, her Mills and Boon and Catherine Cookson books, her pinny
My grandad's false teeth on the sideboard.
World of Sport on Saturday - the horses and wrestling.
If her sisters were there, and if we were good, they would tell your fortune by reading your tea leaves

[Bexx87]

Nice cooking smells of cakes and roast dinners.
Royal Doulton figurines in a display cabinet.
Watching Nickelodeon after school while eating sweets or scones my Grandad had made for us.

[MrsMikeDrop]

This is so interesting. I really hate now that people are so into renovating all the time. When I was growing up, houses were like a time warp. One from the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s etc. I feel my kids won't have that as things are all so vanilla now and everything is generous and the same

[RenoDakota]

My maternal grandparents lived in a little bungalow in a tiny village in South Norfolk - which happened to have a disco at the village hall every Friday night. My best friend and I used to stay in their spare bedroom, when we were 17/18-ish.
They stored apples in crates under the bed over winter and there was the most beautiful appley smell in there.
Still makes me feel all warm and fuzzy when I think about it, or smell apples.
I am 60 now.

[DragonScreeches]

My grandma's fondness for hot toddies, cigarettes, horse racing and poker!

[RabbitsRock]

Just had more food memories. My maternal Grandma would lay on the most amazing “high teas” & I remember how much I loved her very fine cut coleslaw. Nobody else’s has come close! Often when we arrived to stay she would be baking & emerged from the kitchen to give us massive floury hugs!
In contrast my Dad’s Mum was not a very good cook but she would always try her best. My DBro & I used to be thrilled at her “naughty teas” - pikelets ( they lived in Stoke), cakes, tinned pears & jelly. She also made pies - the fillings were nice but the pastry was so dense!

[PTSDBarbiegirl]

I could walk myself through every room of both houses, even now 45 years later.

[tedgran]

Big house where grandmother and maiden aunt lived. We moved in with them when I was ten with my parents and two younger siblings. Night nursery on first floor turned into kitchen, day nursery became sitting room, our bedrooms and bathroom were on the top floor. When Granny died my aunt bought a small house locally and we moved into their accommodation. My X and I lived there with my parents until my father went bust. Loved that house.

[Worldgonecrazy]

paternal Side : the smell of the coal fire, non fitted carpet, a giant lemon tree, the folding table for dining that had no chairs, stretchy sofa covers, a twin tub washing machine, a freezing downstairs loo which had been outside before the extension of a roof. A weird sugar dispenser on the side of the cupboard.
maternal side: the smell of cigarettes, deep fried potato waffles and beans, onions in the garden, loads of old copies of The Sun which my brothers would find and sneak a peek at page 3. Snooker always on the black & white TV.

[areyouhavinglaugh]

Immaculate house
Red carpet
Convex mirrors
The kitchen door had bobble glass door, with those 1950's handles

Formica kitchen table, baking, steak and kidney pies, best ever gravy, roast chicken, cottage pie , black berry and apple pie, trifle at Christmas.

Beautiful garden, I'd help my grandad plant and pick fruit, tomatoes,

Sweet tin we were allowed if we'd been good 🤣

Watching one man and his dog with grandad if I was quiet!

Going to the British legion on Saturday night and playing penny's from heaven

[Fiddlerdragon]

A weird smell of old roasts as that’s what they ate every day. They had one of those living rooms just for show that you weren’t allowed into. But me and my siblings weren’t allowed to go into the living room where they were sat watching telly all day. We had to find somewhere else in the house to play (usually the spare bedroom) and not make any noise at all. Despite being deaf enough that they had to have their tv on full blast, they could hear the tiniest squeak if you walked down the stairs and you’d get yelled at. Having to eat boiled meat, almost raw carrots and really watery gravy for dinner. Having them tell your parents you’d be really naughty that day even though you’d spent the entire day hiding in the back bedroom reading a book.