1960s PRIVATE LIFE
0166 Knutsford
When I moved to work at Cussons, we had to look for a new house; and the Cheshire area South of Manchester was where the best houses were to be found. We looked at a number. We even looked in Prestbury which was the most expensive place at that time. We found a four-bedroom house there, but we gave it up when the London express crossed the embankment behind house; and whole house jumped up and down. We also noticed detritus on the grass around it, and the estate agent helpfully reassured us that the last time they had flooding – a few weeks previously - it came no closer than 20 feet to the house! Moreover, we realised that these four-bedroom private houses were in the situation that was normally occupied by council houses in other lesser neighbourhoods!
We also looked at another house in that direction, and were quite keen on it until the housewife blurted out that “the dual carriageway, when it is built, won't come closer than 20 feet”. It turned out that the garden was to be cut through by a completely new dual carriageway. We were grateful for her indiscretion.
Eventually, therefore, we ended up on a new estate being built south of Knutsford. There were numbers of new estates being built in the area, and they were being built for the new ‘professional’ classes -- detached with four bedrooms.
Houses under construction
and our house
when built
Knutsford its
elf
was an attractive town at that time, possibly the nicest place we ever lived. It
had delightful old streets and hotels, and a delightful range of old shops.
The main street in Knutsford
It was also right next Tatton Park, which was a wonderful place to go for its gardens; especially its Japanese garden. Tatton Hall itself was a superb example of an early 1900s country house. In particular it had a massive trophy room with walls covered by the heads of all the animals the owners had shot in Africa. It also had tunnel underneath it, along which coal was delivered, for the servants to carry up to all fireplaces around the building.
Our own house,
although smallish, was detached with f
our
bedrooms. In particular it had a very small dining room downstairs, though it
had a long living room.
The living room & scalextric;
together with our ladderax and painting
Upstairs it did have four bedrooms, one of which we fitted out with vinyl tiles as a playroom. The rest of the house was carpeted in very expensive carpeting, which I got cheap from my contacts through Dri-Foam. It was hard-wearing Wilton and we took it with us to several more houses. I say it was cheap, but it had to be fitted separately and the end result was that it cost almost as much as if we had bought it retail. The kitchen was only a narrow galley, but it was fitted out with all the fashionable new units; and it was the first real luxury house we had owned.
We went shopping for all the new furniture we needed. In particular we put white Venetian blinds into the main living room, hidden behind heavy woollen net curtains. This was very effective since it allowed light in during the daytime but at night, when the Venetian blinds were closed, they looked opaque. Thereafter the curtains also came with us around the country. They, and a number of other pieces of furniture, were bought in the expensive shops in Liverpool, most notably George Henry Lees, as we started to go up market.
The main feature of the living room was a track lighting system, with lots of spotlights and floodlights. This was the ‘in’ lighting system of the time, mainly used in shop-fitting. I bought it in London and brought it back by train. That was not a problem; except that, in the taxi to Euston, the track lighting system - which was twelve feet long - stuck out of the window at a very dangerous angle. The driver was not altogether happy about this.
It took a
long time to get the garden sorted out, but I eventually I split it into two
halves. One contained the climbing frame. The other had a lawn, leading to mound
on which we had a small patio; complementing the main patio behind the house. It
took so long for me to complete that we didn't really have time to enjoy this
before we moved on again.
The climbing frame in use again
We got friendly with the people over the road. The wife ran her own programming agency. Thus, as early as the mid-sixties, we already used to talk endlessly about computers.
This was when Sarah, who had been at a playgroup in Chalvey, went to her first real school, just at the top of the road. Miles of course wasn't even ready for nursery school.
The big advantage of being in Knutsford was that we were relatively close to my parents, only three-quarters of an hour away even before the motorway links were built. Accordingly we went over to see them, or they came to see us, most weekends. In the summer we also went out to the cottage with them. On the other hand, I can remember that I was so pressurised by work that I even had to phone in, to see what was happening, in the middle of Snowdonia; from a public telephone box up in the rain-clouds.
In particular, having just completed doing out the inside of our new house, we drove over to my parents for the first Christmas. However, they were so close that we decided there and then to have Christmas at our place -- it was bigger. So we packed all the food for Christmas into the two cars and raced back to Knutsford. En route it started to snow.
There is something about snow at Christmas. I'm certain must be coincidental that my favourite Christmases were those when we were surrounded by snow. Maybe it is just the feeling of being snug in a warm house surrounded by snow that brings everyone together.
hits