Places Where I Have Lived

I’m a Devonshire lass really as I was born by the sea in Torquay; my mother came from Kingsteignton, near the market town of Newton Abbot , and my father from the lace-making town of Tiverton, deep in the heart of the county.  My parents lived in the house I was born in all their lives, and my sister still lives near it.

After leaving school I joined the air force and spent most of my four years’ service at a base on the edge of the Chiltern Hills near Aylesbury. Then I married an airman and our first home was near there in Tring, just across the road from the stables of Pat Smythe, who was a famous showjumping star.

When our son was three months old, we were posted to Singapore for two and a half years. We lived at Changi, not too far from this beach.

pic. by Calvin C Teo

The next move was to the Kingston upon Thames area, where our daughter was born. Kingston is a town on the River Thames, surrounded by Royal parks and within easy reach of Central London.  I stayed in the area even after a fairly amicable divorce, and my return to education to get my degree, and I was there for over twenty years.

pic by Matthew Black

In 1997 I moved half way back to my roots, to Gillingham, a country town  in North Dorset. After 12 years there, I was desperate to get back to the sea, and moved to my present house on a peninsular in Poole Harbour.