Greta Romaine
Evacuated to stay with a lovely aunt
In the wartime I have my happiest memories. Fortunately, I was evacuated to stay with a lovely aunt who was active, rode a bike and made wonderful apple and gooseberry pasties.
Farm Cottage and Chapman's Farm
Photo from WRVS Heritage Plus Archive
My great companion of this era was my cousin, June, who was two years older and came to the same auntie; we became like sisters and were never lonely.
The lane
The lane became a great feature of our lives because it ran straight past the doorstep of our pretty cottage, called Farm Cottage.
Every morning we waited to see if the postman would call in his red van, or whether he would speed by - then we would have to wait another day to hear from home and maybe be sent a bar of chocolate or a little book to read.
The lane became significant at night time when we had to get up and take a torch to our makeshift toilet behind the grey door several yards away from the cottage. It was conveniently placed at the farm entrance next to the "midden". This was the name given to the pile of cows' and animal waste. I just hope that the squares of newspaper we had to use disintegrated too.
The beck
One of the pleasures of this lane was the gurgling stream running beside it, the whole length until it went down a bank into the big wheel of the wood mill below.
No doubt the words "mill" and "beck" came from these two features, plus the name Natland referring to the area next to Kendal.
As children we naturally loved playing in the "beck". The local farmers were friends to us and never minded us damming up the stream and floating sticks down so that we could run beside them.
As it was a clear stream with a stony bottom we were able to study the wildlife closely. Stick-like creatures, which we were told were caddis fly larvae, were fascinating and hard to find as they were clad with pieces of gravel about an inch long.
Something we caught in those days (which do not seem to be in streams nowadays) were crayfish. What fun to find them with their massive claws - I didn't seem to have any fear in those days.
Prince and Charlie
Prince and Charlie who liked to see us
Illustration by Heather Hookey
Looking over the gate into the lane were two carthorses, Prince and Charlie, who would like to see us when they were not working, pulling the hay carts.
At haymaking times we were allowed to join the flat, bumpy carts (with solid wheels) and go up the lane and into the fields to play in the hay. Unfortunately I got hay fever even at an early age, but it was such good fun and I suspect the farmer thought we were helping by turning the hay to dry.
Sometimes the farmer would let us sit on the back of Prince or Charlie for a short ride or a photo shoot with the Brownie camera. Charlie, the grey dappled horse, was our favourite. We felt miniscule on his high broad back!
Greta on Horseback
Photo from WRVS Heritage Plus Archive
Close to nature
We were literally very close to nature and could touch the cows as they came past our doorstep to go to the farm for milking. Occasionally my aunt would throw out a red rug onto the doorstep and if the cows came along they would look suspiciously and shy away. We worried that they might lurch backwards and fall into the beck.
Illustration by Heather Hookey
At the end of the lane were the pig sties and we loved to see the amiable creatures who always looked as though they were smiling. We would stroke them and sometimes go into the sty with them and give them a nice apple. I can hear the lovely crunching sound to this day.
All the recreation we needed
The lane actually gave us all the recreation we needed out of school hours. There was hopscotch, whips and tops, skipping, marbles, ball games, bows and arrows and what excitement when the snow arrived.
But that's another story!