Family

As I slowly drove into the farmyard I instantly recognised the red brick buildings originally constructed for horses.  Memories tumbled out from their secure storage within the many folds of my hippocampus. Mental images as fresh as the day 50 years ago when they were collected and placed deep in a young boys mind. The buildings, I noticed, were once again full of horses as Cousin Eddie capitalized on the equine livery business in order to survive on this small, unchanged and delightful rural haven.

We Woodwards are a scattered family with mainly rural roots. I hardly know my cousins let alone any detail of family history further back than my own  parents, now deceased. This latest trip to Derbyshire is aimed at addressing such a lack of knowledge and getting to know my cousins and their families a little better.

Two pleasant heatwave affected days were spent with cousin Anthony and wife Avrill. Cousin Pauline also joined us for one of Avrill's delicious meals. An enjoyable visit where I feel I now know them better. I also filled in a few historical family unknowns as we delved into letters and sundry paperwork only recently seeing the light of day after the passing away of elderly Aunt Mary, sister to my late father.

No long lost papers here at Cousin Eddies however. Just a small and little changed farm that like so many others is no longer commercially viable as a conventional agricultural farmstead. So now locally owned horses grace the red brick stables and a small herd of cows with their calves add a genuine agricultural flavour as they wander around feeding on the recently cut hay meadows. These meadows surround a wonderfully mature and much loved 4 acres of woodland.

A very pleasant day was spent with Eddy, wife Kate and their two boisterous boys out in the garden playing numerous games with everything from trampolines to water pistols to Badminton rackets which annoyingly caught and held the shuttlecock in their loose strings every time you attempted a hit. 

"Hmmmm!" Said Kate; "Maybe Tesco's best are not the best after all!"