Sweetbriar Cottage Revisited

It was someone's birthday, someone who was incredibly influential in my life for seventeen years.  The card was posted with the usual newsy bits and a phone call was planned in my mind on the usual 'when I get a moment' time of the week.  A couple of days later the phone rang, I missed the call and the caller did not leave a message.  1471 was dialled and it was a delightfully familiar number.  The number clicked through and the husband answered.  'Thank you for the card Chel, however she was not here to open it'.  The words cut my heart like a knife.  His tears and heartbroken words made me pull myself together to let him speak, let him tell the story of what had happened and I hung on to every word.  You see, this couple were my neighbours when we lived at Sweetbriar Cottage in its idyllic hamlet setting.  For seven years they taught us the way things should be done in the country, gave us advice and supported us through some difficult times.

They worked the land every single day and their enormous garden had perfect lines of fruit and vegetables along with her summer flowers again in lines of such precision.  Spring was the busiest time and when we were ready to build a greenhouse, there was no place better than right next to theirs.  You see, there were no real fences there.  There were trees and shrubs, but the only 'fence' as such was a three foot wall running the length of the land that was built by her father to keep the earth contained as we were on a steep slope.  In this magical place, there was no need to cut off your neighbour.  So, at springtime we would be extremely busy in our greenhouses but able to chat and absorb the years of knowledge of how to grow all sorts of plants and where to plant them.  The golden rule from her to me was  'NEVER plant your flowers in the garden until May 1st'.  Something that my gardening fingers and mind have abided by ever since.

Both myself and Hubby still worked in London at that time and drove every day.  This would mean hanging out my washing to dry first thing in the morning and cross my fingers that they would be dry when I got back.  A couple of times she would bring in my washing if it was raining, dry it, iron it and then leave it as a neat brown paper package by the front door tied up with string, along with a paper bag of vegetables and fruit for our tea.  In turn we would ask if there was anything she needed picking up on the way home and of course sharing jams and chutneys with them.  Simple acts of kindness, not expected, just done as a matter of love and respect.

They unfortunately never had children, and the hamlet itself was childless, so when I became pregnant with Mr Teen, the ripples of excitement grew as they experienced every moment of the impending due date.  This came and went and the evening entertainment was for them to watch me walking up and down our third of an acre garden in the dark, trying with all my might for some movement! Eventually Mr Teen made an appearance to everyone's excitement and their love and nurturing of the little boy was that of proud grandparents.

As he grew and his sense of adventure increased, there were a few times where they would come running down the garden to tell me that he had 'climbed up a tree again', when I thought he was playing behind me.  How do children do that??  They loved to pick him up and take him for a tour of the garden or to see the horses or farm animals down the road.  Then Miss Teen came along and again, a new baby filled the the hamlet with excitement.  Unfortunately Sweetbriar was not going to hold us all, so the time came to move on.  Something that we have regularly regretted.  Good neighbours are incredibly hard to find, especially those that lead a simple life and are not bothered by gossip or trying to outdo each other.  The couple were who they were and nothing was going to change them.  Unique, happy, content, friendly and able to pass on their knowledge without you feeling that you were doing something wrong.  Married for 64 years and still incredibly close.

The call ended to reassure him that we would be at the funeral, and we were, but just a little late due to a car accident, however we were fine with a bit of whiplash and the car was still drive-able!  Nothing was going to stop us saying our goodbyes to such a true angel.  Our devasted neighbour was sat at the front listening to each kind word, which were true and focussed on her love for the wildlife, garden and neighbours and friends.  Our hard part was going to him to offer our condolences.  No words were said at first, he saw Hubby and took his hand, looked to me and hugged me with all his might whispering 'how am I going to carry on?'.  My words were, 'look around - look at how many people will support you'.  Then he saw Mr and Miss Teen and hugged Miss Teen incredibly tightly, the last time he saw her she was two.  The love that he still held for these two Sweetbriar babies was still there and they loved him right back.

As the photos show, we revisited our hamlet of four cottages and a couple of farms for us to go through our own thoughts of her.  The occupants have all changed apart from this wonderful couple and the appearance of satellite dishes now adorns the cottages, however mostly everything else is the same, it has to be for these cottages to survive.

The old bake house, as it was known, is fenced off but this is on everyone's deeds that live there and was used to store non perishable foods and supplies for when the hamlet was cut off in bad weather.

The old log store for 'Percy's Farm' as it was, still stacked.  The work that we all had when logs were delivered for the wood burning stoves!  Two days at least for all of us.

'Percy's Farm' has slightly changed (Percy was the man that used to live there so we gave it that nickname).  He passed away last year, but his farm was for his own refuge of cattle, sheep, geese, pigs and chickens.  They were all his pets, however when foot and mouth came to the area most of his animals had to be destroyed, and I feel this destroyed him too.  Now the new owners have these little characters bouncing around.  Again, lovely people have moved there and were chatting away to Hubby as he reminisced about Percy.  They knew him well.

The surrounding countryside with it's rolling hills hit my memory banks once more and my heart tugged to see my neighbour once more on her bicycle tootling down the long lane to the local shop over a mile away.

Going past Sweetbriar cottage was hard, it was different but oh so familiar.  The pergola that Hubby built was still there, the gazebo in the middle of the garden where Mr Teen used to bounce from his baby bouncer was rusted but still in situ, the greenhouse had been replaced by the summer house that used to sit at the bottom of our garden next to our woodland, the gravel on the drive was still there.  So many happy memories of such a special place.  (I didn't take a shot of the garden from the road as I remember how upset I was when people used to do that when I lived there - nothing like sitting on a swing after a hard day's work on the garden with an audience!).

The neighbours across the road are still there, enjoying the sunshine.

Sweetbriar Cottage was a magical place and somewhere where our lives changed from repairing and re-designing to being parents.  Our neighbours were magical in being the most perfect people that anyone could wish to live next to.  Letters and cards of condolence will be sent however, the hamlet has lost an angel that touched so many lives and I hope that they cherish their remaining living angel through this incredibly hard time.

Sweetbriar will always be in my dreams and heart, along with the wonderful people that live and lived there.  Now do you see why this place is embedded deep within my heart?

But, it was time to head back to our lives and along the narrow little lane that is full of memories for us all as a family.

The cards and phone calls will continue and this time to reminisce not just on when we used to live together, but now also to reminisce of a wonderful lady.

Forever in our hearts.

Take care.

You can also follow me on: