I woke up thinking about family holidays this morning, don’t
ask me why, just one of those strange early morning reminiscences.
Once a year we would pack up the car with duvets and pillow
and food and set off to exciting destinations where my parents had rented a
holiday cottage for a week. I don’t suppose this was the cheapest way of
holidaying, caravans and tents must have beaten that for a family of 5, but the
hiring of a holiday cottage in those days was not quite like it is now, where
peak season brings peak prices. My sister and I would often share a bed and it
would be so exciting swapping scary tails over night, until my mum told us to
shut up. I was always put in with my sister because my brother and I had a
tendency to fight. After about an hour in the car on the way to these cottages
we would begin to get unbearable in the back seat and start fighting and
moaning and crying...... Poor parents the world over.
Our most common destination was Wales. As a family we had an
interest in trailing around ruined castles and Wales certainly has its quota.
My mum, to this day, says that her fear of heights came from having young
children running up spiral staircases to the top of tall towers. I still love castles
and have very fond memories of Caernarfon and Beaumaris Castle. We did go
further afield, once to Seal Island in Scotland and once to Dorking in Surry,
although for the life of me I don’t quite know why they chose Dorking of all
places. Sounds like a pin in a map sort of destination.
For me, strangely, the exciting thing was to live in
another house for a week, most exciting were those old cottages with latched
doors, no streetlights and quirky features. These are some of my best and most
memorable childhood days, even the awful bits now just make me laugh, like the
time I threw up in Chatsworth House (not sure my parents ever quite forgave me
for the embarrassment that caused). It is quite possible that I have very rose tinted glasses on for my memories of these days, but that is ok, they are good memories to me.
These days I feel a bit like I am living in one of those holiday
cottages, that makes me a very lucky man.
The point of this post? I don’t think there is one, it was
just reminiscence.
Hey, nothing wrong with a bit of reminissing!
ReplyDeleteGood times spent with family makes for a grounded person. I`d say you are grounded. You achieved something most of us just dream about. You`ve got your own four walls around you, that`s quite an achievement at your age. Shear determination and grounded guts gets you there.
Enjoy those old memories, but don`t forget to make new ones as well!
I once worked in Dorking :)
ReplyDeleteI hope my kids have the same sort of memories you have. We started off with a tent, four kids and no money, moved upwards to caravan static, then the self catering. Still no money! My main memory is being evacuated off Whitby cliffs, the tail end of some American Hurricane. Our tent was the last to go, my partner exceedingly proud. Took us weeks to dry the bloody thing out. So that memory stayed with us for weeks as the only place to drape it to dry was our sitting room.
ReplyDeleteYour post has just left me smiling from ear to ear - we've taken our girls to Wales (mostly Pembrokeshire) for the last 20 years. We had moans through the teen years as they always wanted to go abroad - then the youngest started studying geology at school and began to look at the rocks and coast in a completely different way. Now she's asking us to book for next year!
ReplyDeleteIts lovely to reminisce and there doesnt always have to be a point to a post! I tend to go off at tangents too, something will just trigger off a memory for me. I had to smile though, there were four of us kids and it was a real squash in the back of my dads car, journeys were a nightmare and we used to end up fighting and squabbling!
ReplyDeletePerfect post. A little piece of another person to help us all feel connected no matter where in the world we are. Adults and children see holidays so differently. Beach holidays and lying around reading. Fish and chips. Long walks as we talked about everything. Now I am retired I loathe holidays with nothing scheduled, so I take classes in everything. One trip away included traditional folk dancing lessons in Bali. Another time I climbed an extinct volcano. Gotta live and make memories.
ReplyDeletea melancholy meander is not a bad thing!
ReplyDeleteGlad you all enjoyed my little trip down memory lane.
ReplyDeleteA great post, simple holidays are the best and make nice memories for the kids (whether they moaned all through the actual holiday or not!)
ReplyDeleteA great post, simple holidays are the best and make nice memories for the kids (whether they moaned all through the actual holiday or not!)
ReplyDeleteThroughout my life it is the simple and cheap holidays that have actually been by far the most enjoyable. There is nothing like coming home and knowing that it didn't cost you very much too.
ReplyDeleteI hope my own daughter will be able to look back on her childhood holidays (complete with no end of castles and ruins!) with as much pleasure as you do.
ReplyDeleteYou've spent an awesome holiday I suppose. Those spots are really worth the visit. It's great to look back from the past lives of people. Where have you stayed for your accommodation? I'm planning to go there and so I booked a holiday cottages from Blue Chip Holidays, do you guys have feed backs about them?
ReplyDelete