3 and 4 December 2011 - family gatherings and then my Gran's old home!

With the dawning of the new morning, it was time for me to start bidding farewell to both Mum's cousins, and to Somerset.

The view from the lounge window of John and Shirley's home. Rather an attractive outlook. It was interesting that at one stage Shirley's mum (who has also ticked off her 100th birthday) was living in a home across the park , so in a sense they were able to "keep an eye" on her in terms of general things, but also that it meant that they were close to her and thus able to be there for her if she did need them in a hurry. She has now moved into a facility where she has more care than before as just before I left to go to the UK she took a turn for the worse, and now needs that additional care.

This is a clock that John and Shirley own and it was rather interesting. At each hour it would mark the hour with a different bird's call. It was actually only either on Friday afternoon or that Saturday morning that I realised that it looked like this - and that the calls that were chimed were as the birds on the clock face!

I was under strict instructions from Mum to document as much as possible in terms of taking photos of all that I could on my trip as a whole so that she could see the details for herself. It gave me a wonderful excuse to take dozens of photos, and where people might have objected, they were told quite firmly that this was because I was under instructions from Mum, and so they just had to "deal with it" :-)

The other side of the coin is that it has meant that I have been able to bring back a lot of pics that will forever remind me of this trip - and I think that I am starting to get the measure of finding a balance between seeing places through the lens of a camera and without the camera - just taking in the aspect of just "being in a place and feeling it".

Before departing for lunch, I had a chance to look over some of my pics with John and Shirley - both those taken during my trip and then some of the family and pets that I had on my netbook and external hard drive. It was a strange thing to be sharing those things then, and for the first time, that day made me very conscious that this wonderful and magical time in my life was about to come to an end and I had to start coming to terms with that and start gearing myself for the various farewells that would follow in the next ten or so days. It was not a great feeling, as I have become very attached to the people I was fortunate enough to spend time with! I know that there is always a way to stay in touch, but it is not really the same - and I can say that with absolute conviction having just been in the middle of an IM chat with Silks and realising how tough it is to stay "on top of the goings on of people you care about".

Anyway, back to Somerset. As part of a treat for Uncle Dave, Dee and Dan had managed to secure a booking for the five of us to spend a night at Cutsey - on 3 December. The reason this would be so special was two-fold. Firstly, Uncle Dave knew nothing about it, and secondly, for all of us it was a wonderful chance to spend an evening in the place that had once been the home to my Grandmother, Uncle Dave and Mum's mother, and her family. So, all in all very special. I had had the chance of seeing it from afar on my "family history tour", but to actually be able to go into the home and spend time there was also something special. I also found it interesting to think of the notion of the fact that this had been Rosie and Pat's home for many years, and so there was a strange feeling that while I was stepping back in time, I was also stepping into the home of Rosie, Pat and Marianne - all a little weird. :-)

So, all was packed and then we all bundled into the car to travel to a pub that Rosie had thought would be a good place to meet and have lunch. Rosie, Pat, John and Shirley did not know at that stage about the intended Cutsey stay, and I had thought it best to keep it that way as that would ensure that no-one would "let the cat out of the bag" for Uncle Dave. What story the family spun him as to why he needed to pack an overnight bag, I really do not know - and then he and Dan were also going to be playing some golf, so I can just imagine the story!

The pub was a lovely old fashioned place, with wooden bench tables and seats. It was wonderful to see Aunt Pam, Uncle Dave and Dee again; and a pity that Dan had not been able to join us for lunch as he had to go to Cardiff to do something for the charity with which he is involved. "The cousins" were so looking forward to meeting him, but I am sure that that will happen in time.

John, Aunt Pam and Pat at the pub

Dee, Shirley, Uncle Dave and Rosie at the pub

Following a lovely lunch at the pub, Rosie invited all back to her home for coffee, and so off we all bundled to go back to Rosie's before setting off on our various ways for the afternoon. It also gave a chance for us all to spend a little time, sheltered by Rosie's conservatory, to chat about various things and generally "catch up". And then it was time to see whether I could get the timer to work on my camera so that I could get a photo of the whole family who were in attendance that lunch. I would have liked to have taken another, but the family were not too keen on the whole "photoshoot" idea going on for too long - but it is a nice memory taken at the front of Rosie's home.

Pat and Uncle Dave in the conservatory

Jasper (looking far more fierce than he is) and Kizzie had a wonderful game in Rosie's lounge while we were in the conservatory

The family gathering - Dee, John, Pat, Shirley, Aunt Pam, Uncle Dave, me and Rosie, with Jasper (front) and Kizzie (behind Jasper)

After all of this, it was time to bid farewell to "The Cousins" and bundle ourselves into Dee's car and head off to Cutsey. I think we were all intrigued by what we would find and what it would mean for each of us. I know that for me there was the sense of it being the home where my gran had been raised and a place my dad had visited on his trip to the UK when I was born - so there were two different aspects to it for me.

In a previous entry I showed the entrance pillar to the home itself. From what I have been able to piece together, the home is currently owned by people who have been basically stationed in India and they decided to buy it as an investment where they would then operate the home as a B&B. The man who was in charge, and I have not been able to work out whether he part-owns the place, or what, but he was in the UK military in India.

Cutsey as the sun sets. The windows that are lit is the room in which Dee and Dan were staying

The home is large and like so many large homes in the UK there have been additions and changes over the years. John the "owner/manager", gave us carte blanche in terms of poking around the home. Something Aunt Pam took full advantage of - and I would probably need her to assist if I were to try and create a "map" of sorts, so I am not going to try that.

This is certainly no great shakes when it comes to photography, but I had to include it, as in the foreground you can see the berries on the holly bush/tree - another first time experience for me - real holly with berries! (This was not the first time I had seen it - but my time in the UK meant that right at the very beginning of my time there I saw holly and holly berries.)

There are two sets of stairs in the house, the one led to the rooms in which Uncle Dave and Aunt Pam and Dee and Dan were staying.

The stairs leading to the rooms in which Uncle Dave and Aunt Pam, and Dee and Dan occupied for the night.

At the base of these stairs to the left was what was probably the dining room, and this then led through to a nook room of sorts, before coming out in what was my favourite room in the house - a library.

What we decided must have been the dining room in days gone by. Just look at those chandeliers!!! The door to the right leads to the corridor "nook" room.

My favourite room - the library - the door to the right here is the one that you would come through from the "corridor nook room". The door on the left was the entrance from the downstairs corridor.

Panning around the room

And round the room some more. Dee and I were fascinated by the seating arrangement around the fire!

To the right at the base of the stairs above, one walked along a short corridor. Immediately to the left was a nook room where John had his office. Then there was the room that was used as the dining room for the B&B and next door to that a sitting room.

Dan, Dee, Uncle Dave and Aunt Pam around the breakfast table on 4 December, 2011

Uncle Dave and Aunt Pam

Dee, Aunt Pam and I standing behind Uncle Dave at the breakfast table

Breakfast - and this was after I asked Dan for a "romantic pic" of he and Dee! :-)

The sitting room - have a closer look at the manner in which the fireplace is being used!

The opposite side

Opposite these two rooms there was a fairly modern kitchen (obviously upgraded for modern times), and at this juncture there was the other flight of stairs that led up to my bedroom and a cavernous bathroom/shower/toilet opposite.

The stairs leading up to the second floor where my bedroom for the evening could be found just to the top left and the bathroom was to the right.

The key for my room!

The HUGE bathroom

Okay, to the best of my knowledge I do not have a "loo fetish", but this was another that amused me no end. I really felt as though Cutsey was being run by the British Army! :-)

My room

The view from my bedroom window - isn't the grass a gorgeous green!

There were two other rooms leading off from the landing at the top of the stairs, but, both doors were closed and so I did not go into them. If you followed the passage past "my bedroom" and there were a couple of other rooms that faced out the back of the house (doors closed as well) and at the end of this a room that was now used as a games room of sorts as it had a snooker table in it. This was to the right of this picture, and referenced below when I speak of the courtyard.

I think the one thing that I found the strangest with Cutsey was that it was both what I expected and wasn't. Obviously due to John and his partner/s involvement with India, there was a lot of memorabilia from India on the walls and as furniture. For me that just did not really gel, as for me (and I do stress that this is my viewpoint), if I were going to use an old English home as a B&B I would try and establish some sense of "Englishness" about it. Many of the paintings were of people associated with the army or other such related things. Many of the nick-knacks were Indian - or Eastern - and this tended to jar with me. But, as I said, it was a personal thing, and I am not sure that anyone else would have been concerned or affected by this at all.

The light in the window is from the light hanging above the stairs on Dee and Dan/Aunt Pam and Uncle Dave's side of the house. This is an enclosed courtyard and to the far left of the photo you can just see the window of my bedroom. The doors leading out are doors from the dining room (the current one).

A different view of the courtyard, the doors to the dining room bottom right, and my bedroom window top left. The wall running down the left side where the rose is kind of "climbing", was the side where there was the passage and at the end on the top floor the "games room".

The beautiful view from the courtyard

This is on the opposite side of the house - basically walking past the holly tree, the front of Cutsey and then around into another courtyard. I loved the evocative nature of this picture

It is onto this that the above picture would be on the right hand side of it. I loved the cobbled stones, and generally the sense of history and wondering what had traversed these stones before me!

We did discover that Cutsey has been sold once again, and the person who has bought it is someone living across the motor way. John would be remaining on in one of the cottages on the estate, but he was not sure whether the person who had bought it intended carrying on Cutsey as a B&B; running it as a farm; or what the plans were. So, I guess come April 2012, all will be revealed when the new owners take ownership.

After a lot of noseying around, it was then time to go into Taunton to collect Dan from the railway station, as he was catching the train from Cardiff to Taunton, and then into Taunton to try and get dinner. Dan's train was right on time and we were ready and waiting when it came in. Then we bundled back into the car, and off into Taunton.

Then the fun began.

We had not really thought much about getting in anywhere in terms of dinner, and so, after parking in one of the parkades, we started wandering around, and as we saw a place we thought looked a good bet in terms of dinner, we ventured in. The first place asked whether we had made a reservation, which of course we had not, and so a polite shake of the head and we were informed that they would only have a table at about 8.30pm. The next place was the same story, and then Dan pulled out his cell and started phoning around. I even pulled out the credit card slip from the lunch at the Happy Harriers that John, Shirley and I had had the day before in the hopes that they might be able to accommodate us. Still no luck.

Eventually, after we were starting to think that we might be doing a Burger King dinner, we found a delightful (and small) Italian Restaurant that could accommodate us - Ciao Roma (http://www.ciaoromarestaurant.co.uk/). We had just five minutes to get there, we were informed. So, of course, we reckoned that this meant they were also almost full, or would need our table cleared before the next sitting. Surprisingly, I think that this restaurant is a good little secret in Taunton, as it was neither full, nor chaotic. Service was stunning and most important, the food was really good. We were genuinely quite impressed by the whole thing. We did come to the conclusion that the cook was probably also the owner - and he seemed to run a very tight ship, but we had a lovely evening with lovely food!

Finally the evening drew to a wonderful close, and despite fears that we would not be able to find the place where the car had been parked, we did - and then it was a night sleeping in my Granny's old home. Weird! I am still not too sure what feelings that evoked in me - I tried to understand it at the time, and again now as I write this, and it is still something that I cannot wrap my head around.

The following morning Dan and Uncle Dave dropped Dee, Aunt Pam and me in Taunton while they went off to play some golf. The three of us had a lovely time scurrying in and out the shops and finding and buying various things - either as gifts or mementos.

And thus my time at Somerset came to an end. Following the golf game, Dee and Aunt Pam had grabbed a "lunch on the run" and we all piled into the car and travelled back to Thatcham. What a special time - and so many wonderful memories! I really cannot thank everyone enough for the wonderful generosity with which I was showered during this week. It was truly memorable and I have returned with such wonderful memories!