Chapter 9 - For four years we had all lived at Grove Farm.For four years we had all lived at Grove Farm. It must have seemed like four years hard labour for my parents and brothers, but although there were many disappointments there was also a great sense of achievement, for from being just farm labourers, they had become fully fledged farmers. They had proved themselves and made good. On October 11th 1928, when I was eight years old, we pulled up our roots and moved to a larger farm. Red Barn Farm with 100 acres. I remember well that Michaelmas Day when I looked round the empty house for the last time and said goodbye to each room in turn. The menfolk had gone ahead with the furniture in the waggon and Mother was left to follow in the trap drawn by Pansy. Aunt Emma, Mother’s sister had been helping with the move and we squeezed into the little cart with the household goods that were too precious to allow rougher hands to transport. Aunt Emma sat holding the paraffin lamp perilously on her lap, it was our only means of lighting and I don’t suppose we had a spare lamp glass. I kept my eyes on the box that held a protesting cat. We felt like the Swiss Family Robinson when they went forth to take up residence at Falcon-nest. The hedges were dark with blackberries as we made slow and cautious progress towards the farm that was to be our home for the next four years. THE END |
