Memories, Farewells, Travels and Ancestral home visits!

"La Maison" ~ The family home to three generations since it was built in 1920


Farewell to a Family Home and generation
as another chapter of life closes...

Well it's been an extra busy time since my last sharing at Easter and we have now booked our flights for Guernsey to help sort and empty my partner's family home before it is sold. With both of his parents now passed, the house has just been listed for sale.

Guernsey is one of the beautiful Channel Islands which lie in the English Channel between England and France - the others being Jersey, Alderney, Sark and Herm.

Map showing the location of Guernsey
 and the other Channel Islands

The Channel Islands from the air

Guernsey from the Air

Naturally I am looking forward to travelling and being there again and this will be my 7th visit! I love the island - and have been fortunate in getting to know her wild beauty during family trips since our son, now 32, was seven years old! We have many wonderful memories of holidays spent there during Spring, Summer and one icy Winter for Christmas which will live forever in our hearts. Sadly this trip will be more of a bitter-sweet time filled with a lifetime of memories and farewells...

It will also be a kind of "working holiday" as we sort and empty the house! However I know we will have fun catching up with friends and family and hopefully also enjoy some sunny weather with my favourites ~ the bluebells ~ and other gorgeous Spring flowers doing their thing! Perhaps this trip we will also finally have time to visit Jersey and/or Alderney - the two islands which we haven't been to before.

I am looking forward to visiting Guernsey's heavenly scented
 and magical Bluebell Wood again!

I was delighted to have a bird's eye view of "La Maison" in this wonderful drone shot below which the Real Estate agent has used in the For Sale brochure...

Centre of the photo is "La Maison" and the back garden which was
once filled with glass greenhouses where tomatoes and roses
were grown and sent abroad. 

Past times and happy days in one of the glass greenhouses

It was the Grandfather who had come over from France and built the home and for many years the land at the back was covered in glass greenhouses for growing. 
I remember the first time I went to visit the family in Guernsey back in 1992 and as we flew in, seeing all of the shimmering glass reflections from the greenhouses blinking in the sun as far as the eye could see... what a magical sight! Sadly over time, the growing industry in Guernsey waned when it could no longer compete with the prices and produce of Europe so many of them now lay broken and in ruins throughout the island.

Naturally the family have a long history of mixed memories since arriving on the island all those years ago. During the Second World War the Channel Islands were occupied by Nazi German forces from 30 June 1940 until their liberation on 9 May 1945.
Mothers with children below school age were authorised to go on the first ships, as were men of military age. Older children were evacuated ~ many to England and in this family's case, Scotland.
I can't begin to imagine the heart-ache of families torn apart and affected by the cruel suffering of war, which also invaded this family home, their lives changed forever and never to be forgotten.

A photo from the occupation of the Channel Islands
during World War II

As fate would have it, the new film called "The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society" was released here just this week and we plan to see it before we head overseas.
Years ago when the book was first published, I enjoyed reading it and then gifted a copy to my partner's mother on our next Guernsey visit. She devoured her book and was finished even before our holiday was over!

There have been a variety of opinions about the book and consequent movie - despite having a fine cast - but I think that my main criticism will be the fact that for whatever reason they shot the film in Devon, England and not in Guernsey!

I have no doubt that the scenery will be beautiful and there is bound to be token historical war footage from the Islands, however for native Channel Islanders and frequent visitors like myself, not being able to enjoy watching the story in its original "local" Guernsey setting is such a shame and disappointment.

                    

While reflecting upon past times and visits to the family home in Guernsey, I recall my delight and amazement when first shown inside the linen cupboard and invited to "choose" some pieces of Grandma's exquisite tatting work. Every shelf from floor to ceiling was full to overflowing with hand crafted tablecloths, doilies and assorted other works of art  which had been painstakingly stitched over many years. 

Grandma shown here busy working on one of her
many exquisite tablecloths made by lace needle tatting.

Mother and Grandma also knitted all of the family's traditional "Guernseys" (a seaman's knitted woollen sweater) and in fact, were part of a group that had one of their Guernseys presented to the Queen during a visit to the Islands!

Variations do occur, but this is probably due to embellishments by individual knitters,
rather than any strictly defined parish pattern.

Guernseys are traditionally navy blue and are made to the same pattern with a square neck, making them reversible, and patterning at the shoulders which in the past were often specific to a parish or family. One reason for this was to help identify the bodies of fisherman lost at sea when they were washed ashore. In addition, the rib at the top of the sleeve represents a sailing ship’s rope ladder, the raised shoulder seam a rope and the garter stitch panel, waves breaking on the shore. And so was born the now famous oiled wool Guernsey, renowned for the warmth of its tight knit and its rain resistant qualities.

                       

Some happy Guernsey knitters busy at work!

Guernsey and the Channel Isles have such incredible beauty and a also have a fascinating history and culture which I shall share more about another time. There are also many more family stories and memories I could continue telling now, but I am mindful of the length of this post already!

So best if I take a pause on our lovely Guernsey and Channel Islands for the moment and return with more travel tales and photos when I get back from our trip!

But there's just one more thing I must share 

before I leave you... 

I am really excited about the last week of our trip because once we have said our farewells to Guernsey, we will head over to the South West of England and travel to the village of Sparkford in Somerset, which is the family home of my Bennett ancestors!

Even though I visited Sparkford many years ago (sadly when I had much less family history information or even considered trying to find or visit the Ancestral Manor House) I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined it possible to actually STAY at Sparkford Hall!!! Which is what we are going to do!

This is where my Maternal Great, Great Grandmother Susan "Fanny" Bennett was born (and married!) and where many generations of our Bennett family lived.

A Past Times photo of Sparkford Hall

Sparkford Hall as it is today ~ a beautifully restored venue which caters
for weddings, corporate functions and other events & celebrations

I was so happy to find that the Manor House is not only still there, but that the current owners have restored it beautifully to cater for weddings, corporate functions and other events & celebrations.
To find out more and see breathtaking photos of the beautifully renovated and restored Sparkford Hall please visit here:
www.sparkfordhall.co.uk

One of my family history treasures is a copy of Edith Mary Bennett's daily journal which she kept during her life at Sparkford Hall. Reading about the family and their daily activities during those past times is fascinating and really brings the people and place to life once more!

My Maternal Great, Great Grandmother, Susan "Fanny" Bennett
who was born here in 1838 and was later married to Archibald
Hamilton Grahame in 1861 in the St Mary Magdalene church
 at Sparkford by her father, the Reverend Henry Bennett.

Archibald Hamilton Grahame ~ Taken from the original hand tinted photo

St Mary Magdalene Church in Sparkford where they were married
and many of my Bennett family are buried.

A Bennett family gathering in 1927 at the Sparkford Rectory.

A charming photo of Emily Margaret Grahame visiting her Bennett family.
Emily was one of my Great Grandfather Henry's sisters.

So the travel countdown is on! 

Meanwhile... I shall return here with some other to things to share before we head overseas in less than two weeks but will leave more on Guernsey and my very special trip back to my Ancestral home until I have returned with more photos and tales to tell... 

For now I will excitedly leave this chapter to be continued...!

Quw'utsun' Made © Be A Good Ancestor

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Easter/Ostara Greetings! | Reminiscing & Pondering Traditions and Seasonal Contrasts...

"We are homesick most for the places
we have never known."

~ Carson McCullers

I just love this quote which rings so true for me...

Perhaps it comes from having no siblings with a relatively lonely childhood and the awareness of living far, far away from the lands of my Ancestors... so often spoken about by my Nan who was very proud of her Scottish heritage and loved to tell stories...

I have always wondered what their worlds and customs were like in places where they experienced the full spectrum of the changing Seasons... (with holiday calendars to match!) and I suspect those nostalgic pangs of longing and curiosity actually came from a much deeper desire to simply "belong" to a larger family or community which I've never experienced...

Easter nostalgia ~ both foreign and familiar...

Matryoska Egg for Easter

Growing up in the flats next door to mine is where I made my very first best friend. A girl two years older than me whose parents were born in Czechoslovakia and had fled to Australia for refuge and start their new life.

My Czech dolls in traditional costume

There were many things that I loved learning about in my new friend's family, culture and traditions but Christmas Eve and Easter were my favourites.
Don't get me wrong... I adored every kind of chocolate as all children do! But in their home, I also enjoyed discovering that there was so much more to Easter than chocolate eggs and bunnies... 

Like helping them dye and decorate their eggs with food colourings and vegetable skins; also adorning them with special transfers and using wax to carefully draw the designs.

The Ukrainian word for these eggs is pysanky. In Czechoslovakia they are called kraslice

My other Easter favourite times were the visits with my Mum by bus and train over the Harbour Bridge to my Nanna & Pop's house out west ~ via the magical Darrell Lea shop on George Street to buy one of their to-die-for nougat eggs with the wee chick on top!

It was always a long journey, but with my favourite comics to keep me company, the ride on the classic "Red Rattler" trains (which my Pop used to build!) was always an adventure!

The usual Easter egg hunts in the garden - which also sometimes came in a cute new egg cup of some sort - were our family traditions, resulting in quite a collection over the years!

Myself with Mum and my Pop "Tom" in later years.

My favourite Easter Show treat ~ The magical Kewpie!

During these younger years, I could never quite understand the connection between Jesus and Chocolate nor bunnies and eggs (not that I complained!) so it wasn't until later in life that I started to explore the wider origins, meanings and customs of Easter - and other traditions - which didn't relate to us at all seasonally, being in direct opposite to our world down here in the Southern Hemisphere. 

How did it get so late so soon?

It’s night before it’s afternoon.

December is here before it’s June.

My goodness how the time has flewn.

How did it get so late so soon?

~ Dr. Seuss

A world of confusing contrasts...

In keeping with the Christian belief of resurrection at Easter and the promise of new life, there are the fertility symbols of bunnies and eggs with the new growth of Spring; and yet our days here are shortening as golden leaves fall from the trees which are turning in preparation for the Winter months ahead... 

Then after their precious warmer Summer months, the North are observing the ancient traditions of Halloween/Hallowmas/Samhain and the shortening days of Autumn which then creep into Winter and the next thing, everyone is rugging up for a White Christmas complete with Yule log fires burning...

Meanwhile in the Land Down Under, we are at the beach with our salads and seafood, desperately trying to cool off while watching our Summer Santa surfing!

I think you get my drift!

Over the years I have discovered that for me, living by the seasonal calendar (as our earliest Ancestors would have once done) simply made alot more sense! So while we would still participate in all the usual community holidays of the year, I found that being aware, observing and living by Nature's cycles rather than because a calendar said it was the "right time" felt a whole better and helped to be more connected to the land and traditional ways of my Ancestors...

With love and Easter/Ostara Blessings to all...
Happy Month!

An after note:
My thoughts above are simply me reflecting on life!
Please know that I respect and honour all of the spiritual and sacred beliefs and traditions of others. Ho!

Photo by Sarachmet

Quw'utsun' Made © Be A Good Ancestor