Its kind of been a surreal day

OH was up early and out of the house for 7:30am.  I fell asleep and woke just after 9:00am with a bit of a start.  I had been dreaming.  Dreaming that Mum and Dad were coming to the house for a meal and not everything had been going well for me with the preparation.  Indeed I was starting to panic.  Something woke me up suddenly so as far as I know they had not arrived at that point.  It was one of those touchable tangible dreams that leaves an impression on you and leaves you kind of phased.

It had been arranged that my friend would pick me up for 10:00am and that on this occasion we were to go into Peterborough as it was warmer to be in the Queensgate Centre than out and about.  By the time she got here, and unbeknown to me she had decided to take me to Uppingham shopping.   I did not know this until I got in the car with her.

I had mentioned briefly in the past to my friend that I had lived in Uppingham, and at Gunthorpe near Oakham but I had not really gone into any detail about it with her.

We moved to Uppingham when I was about 3 1/2 years of age not long after my brother had been born in the cottage (one of Gunthorpe Hall's lodge cottages which are situated either side of Hall Drive, which leads onto the Uppingham Road. There is the Railway track behind the cottage and then the drive up to Gunthorpe Hall itself. After moving to Uppingham I started school there at the age of 4 (I was an early intake) and we left Uppingham when I was 7.  I had not been back since then. 

We arrived in Uppingham from a different direction to the one I normally went in from, but I was able to work out where I was which surprised me despite 54 years absence. The layout of the town has not changed much. We parked down a road that seemed familiar and on which I thought the picture house had been but it had changed quite a bit.  In the end I was able to locate the picture house which now has a different frontage on it and has been turned into lots of little businesses.  We then headed into the town itself.  I recognised the garage on the corner as being the garage that my dad used to work at i.e. Central Garage, Uppingham.  The buildings were different but in the same place.  My dad used to work for a local businessman called Mr Hamblin.

We then went to a Antiques Centre and spent a good couple of hours in there having a good look around before going to get something to eat and drink.  We went to a little tiny café run by Hambleton Bakery which sold Danish style open sandwiches which were absolutely delicious.

From there we went to another up market high class antiques shop which was all higgledy piggledy.  When I lived in the town I believe this was the local toy shop. From there we worked our way up the street looking at several other shops before turning into the market square and I was able to tell my friend that this was where the Fair came every year and that when I was a little girl, Mr Hamblin used to treat the youngsters at the Junior school to so many free tickets for rides at the Fair.  The market square was smaller than I remembered it though and I think in reality that when you are very little everything seems so big and further apart and that it takes absolutely ages to get somewhere.  Off the market square was the Church I used to go to with my Dad to Evensong.

On our way starting to walk back to the car, I also spotted the house of a friend who I used to go to.  The friend has long been gone but the house is still very much there.

Just prior to going back to the car I popped into a very interesting Antique shop which I would like to go back and have a look at.  It was like a very large shed, and more in keeping with Antique places of times past with lots of furniture being crammed in and stacked on each other but very interesting. I saw a couple of pieces in there which I would not mind having a look at again.

We then got into the car and my friend started to drive us back via Stamford.  However she took a wrong turn and we ended up going to Oakham which took us straight by the cottage, at Gunthorpe. The first place I remember and where my brother was born.  The cottage looked smaller than I remembered it. No leaded light windows now like there was when I was little or forget me nots and roses growing.  I lost my first cat Captain who was a Ginger Tom on that road.  Gunthorpe Hall is a private residence but they have turned over some of the properties on the estate into holiday accommodation.  

Here is a link to the Gunthorpe Hall Estate website.  You will see a picture of the Hall if you look on this.  It is a beautiful old place.  I think the current owner is the son of Captain Hayward but I am not sure. Gunthorpe Hall

I had not appreciated, that these villages were as close to us in Peterborough as they are approximately 30 minutes from where I live in Peterborough.  They had seemed so far away physically and in time.  

However I have had a lovely day and I hope to go back to Uppingham again soon and maybe even into Oakham itself at some point.  It has been wonderful.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

x