Saturday, June 05, 2010

the garden i grew up in

Its beautiful weather here in London at the moment and I plan to spend some time in the garden this weekend.

And thinking about that led me to choose these photos for today's Sepia post - photos of the garden I grew up in.

This is the garden from my bedroom window - the bedroom I shared with my sister:


You can just see here the garage which we were occasionally allowed to climb up and sit on, one of my favourite photos which I've already posted here. Just off to the right of this photo, this side of the garage, was a pond.

And here you can see my bedroom window. And it had bars! I don't know if they came with the house (which was new when my parents bought it) - or if they put up the bars. I guess it would have been pretty unsafe and would have had to be locked without the bars.

I like the random wheels in these 2 pictures - I don't know what their story was.


My mum - with my (big) brother. Behind her you can see the beginnings of the copper beech hedge. Mum and dad sowed that when they first moved in - in my memory, it was always taller than me and was perfect for hiding in, and for birds nests.



This is just outside the back door, by the swing. My brother is facing the camera, and with backs to the camera are my sister - on the left - and me in the middle on the chair. We saw a lot of the friends we are with here, their parents were good friends of my parents.



And the swing. We loved the swing so much. It was a climbing frame - and sometimes a substitute for a tree house, we used to put planks across it and make a den. And sometimes it was just good for swinging...




And here are my parents, who loved gardens and gardening - and passed the love on to the three of us.

15 comments:

Akelamalu said...

What love memories and such a lovely garden too. :)

Unknown said...

Wonderful photos and stories. I notice that your Mum was wearing a dress. You are fortunate to have these photos to go with your memories, or to help bring the memories..

Enchanted Oak said...

I especially like the last photo of your father leaning jauntily against the window in his suit, with your pretty mom in the flowers. Wonderful that you have these shots!

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

very beautiful photos.
lovely story.
Happy Saturday!

tony said...

Ah, Summertime in England.You cant beat it when the weather is nice. A Pretty Garden & Pretty Memories.
Long May The Sun Shine!

Nana Jo said...

How I wish my parents had taken photos of the houses and gardens I lived in as a child! I love the shot of the tea party in the garden, something my sisters and I we did a lot as little girls. Such a pretty view you had from your bedroom window.

Tom said...

we had a lot of trees and a man eating shrub...very very nice garden your folks kept.

Nancy said...

Oh the fun of having so many photos of the gardens and yards of your childhood home. I love the photo of your mom and dad - him in a suit, her in a dress - and the photo of your mom and little brother. Your A-frame swing looks like the one I had as a child.

Lynne said...

Funny how the "odd wheels" show up in two different photos, so they must have been taken around the same time. Both top and second to the top photos show them. I wonder what they were for? or to?

Love all these photos! Especially the swing photo speaks to me. Is that you on the bottom? Who ever it is looks a bit scared!

Wonderful; thanks so much for sharing.

And who gardens in a dress anymore?? Classic. I would love to wear dresses all the time ...

Vicki Lane said...

Wonderful pictures -- I had a swing that hung from a big oak tree and spent hours swinging.

Megan said...

Very cool!

Alan Burnett said...

Such wonderful photographs. I seem to remember from my childhood that old pram wheels like the ones in the photograph were a great find as they could be converted into the kind pf cart that young kids loved to race.

Reya Mellicker said...

How cool! You know you don't seem old enough to have a collection of such old fashioned snaps.

Lovely garden!

Steve Reed said...

How funny that your window had bars! That's very New York!

I love these photos. It's so interesting to see how people grow up. :)

RoseGold said...

Good old pictures you got there. I thought I can only see those kind of pictures in the cinema. I wish I also had those kind of pictures when I was growing up.