Childhood memories – a beloved auntie, beach fun, summer log cabin houses and caravanning.

With Bug’s 5th birthday looming on the horizon and Jelly Bean reaching that half year mark, now a busy beautiful 6 month old baby boy, I often find myself thinking where has the time gone and how quickly my babies are growing up. Looking at my children growing up so quickly and making memories with them that I will cherish forever, memories I hope they will look back on fondly when they are grown, I often reminisce about my childhood memories.

Some of my fondest childhood memories are from holidays to Hereford and surrounding areas to visit my beloved great-great-great auntie Nansi (sadly now late great-great-great auntie).

During school holidays, the summer holidays in particular, my mum would pack up the car and take my sister and I on road trips to Hereford where we would pitch up at my auntie Nansi’s where we always had a fabulous time and lots of fun and adventures.

Our holidays would be action packed and fun filled, with my mum taking full advantage of the road trip to Hereford to show us what that area of the UK has to offer. We would stop off in little B&B’s or pitch up our family’s caravan along the way to Hereford to explore other towns and areas. I vividly remember one day trip when we visited some gardens open to the public where we played in the hedge row mazes – beautiful, natural and simple fun in the great outdoors.

Whilst we often headed straight to Hereford with a little stop or two along the way or way back, sometimes my mum would make our holiday an extra special adventure and venture further afield than Hereford or take a big detour on our way there. At times my mum would hitch up our family caravan to pitch up at caravan parks, other times she would rent a caravan on site for a few family fun days at a new area where the caravan would be a base for down time and play before heading out for days out of fun.

Being a fan of the beach my best memories were ones spent at the beach. I loved – and still do – digging and playing on the sand before splashing and swimming in the sea.

Although all the days out and holidaying at various places across the UK were fun filled and memorable, the highlight of our holidays was visiting my great-great-great auntie Nansi in Hereford.

My auntie’s modest home had a lovely flower filled garden that overlooked plush green fields and sat alongside a trickling river. My sister and I loved playing in the garden, spending hours playing make believe and helping auntie Nansi tend to her beautiful blooms.  

Our auntie’s log cabin house – which we called the summer house – was an appealing place for us children to play. As our young imaginations dreamt up fantasies and play scenarios the summer house transformed in our minds as different locations – it was our home, a shop where we served each other, a restaurant, and a doctor’s surgery amongst a whole host of other things. We spent countless hours playing in the summer house and it was our favourite place to be.

I look back so fondly at our time at my auntie’s house in Hereford and her summer house in particular that whenever I see a garden log cabin memories of summer days spent playing in the cabin house overlooking the blooming flowers we helped my aunty plant and the river flowing along the garden and green fields come rushing back. To me a cabin house evokes memories of fun and love.

Perhaps hopefully one day I’ll have my very own cabin house in our garden where my children can play as my sister and I did, letting their imaginations run wild as they create memories of their childhood.

I hope that when my children have grown and have children of their own they too can look back at their childhood memories with fondness and love.