A few days ago my wife and I had the pleasure of meeting up with Janet Williams and her husband at the Hiltonbury Pub, my old home, and we discussed the way Chandler’s Ford had grown over the years.
In the entrance hall of the pub there is a photograph of Hiltonbury taken from the air in about 1974 and Janet suggested that I took a photograph of it and put it on the blog with some descriptions of some of the buildings in the photographs so here goes.
I will start with the Large Barn, bottom left hand side.
The Large Barn
Originally when my Father’s Uncle Great Simon Beattie lived at Hiltonbury this was the original cowshed. The cows milked were English Shorthorn.
When the larger shed was built for 36 cow standing when my Father took over, the Large Barn was used as a hay store the in the 60s. It was rented out most weekends for parties and many older residents of Chandler’s Ford will remember it as the Jug of Punch.
Jug of Punch
There were some great parties and a lot of Folk singing as folk groups used to hire the barn many times to have folk sessions.
When one particular party was held we had complaints about the noise and the complainer said they would call the police. We did mention to them that may cause a problem as it was the Police holding their annual bash!
The 36 Standing Cow Shed and Dairy
The 36 standing cow shed and dairy was used until about 1968 and from there we ran Vinings Dairy delivering milk (in cartons, not bottles), cream, butter and eggs to the residents of Chandler’s Ford until it was sold to South Coast Dairies.
In 1968 the new herringbone milking parlour was built along with the cubicle house, which housed 120 Jerseys in the winter.
Some of the Hiltonbury Jersey Herd can be seen in the photograph out in the field behind the 36 standing cow shed.
Here is a link to the herd (Hiltonbury Jerseys) as it is today in Botley run by my nephew and his partner.
The Old Cart Shed
The Old Cart Shed (Marked) was the building that can hardly be seen in the photo as it is hidden by trees but was the place where the Ferguson Tractor was stored that I learnt to drive at the age of 10.
I was allowed to drive it on the roads from the age of 14. Our first Combine was stored there. The Combine had a 6′ cut. Very small compared to the huge 40′ monsters used today.
World’s biggest combine harvester: 2 CLAAS LEXION 770
The Dutch Barn
The Dutch Barn was where we stored all our cattle feed, Silage, Hay and Straw. In around 1962 the barn was set on fire by vandals and we lost all our winter feed.The culprits were never caught.
My bedroom
The Hiltonbury Farmhouse can be clearly seen. I have marked my bedroom. It was FREEZING in winter, always ice on the inside of the windows and I often slept fully clothed in winter.
When we moved into Hiltonbury to join Mr and Mrs Beattie there was no electric, and water was from the well outside the back door. Mains water arrived in around 1946/7 when the trench was dug from the Hursley Road to Hiltonbury.
My first wages
I received my first wages as a 5/6 year old cleaning the shovels of the workmen hand digging the trench. The foreman of the workers was living in “Willowthatch Cottage” in Ramalley. We had Calor gas lighting downstairs but candles upstairs until electricity arrived.
This was my home until I married in 1964 when I moved into Ramalley Cottages just behind Draper. I have marked the “Gallops”, which was a horse riding track and the path to where I lived. The Cottages along with Willow Thatch were knocked down to make room for Draper’s carpark.
Draper arrived in Chandler’s Ford
Draper arrived in Chandler’s Ford around 1961/2 in what was the old Navy Victualing yards and grown into the huge business it is today.
The old “Granary” which stood on concrete mushrooms, was, I believe dismantled and moved to Twyford.
The Turkey House
The turkey house is marked and we used to grow around 200 turkeys every year for Christmas and I have met a number of people who remember collecting their Christmas Dinner from us at Hiltonbury.
Duck Pond
There was also a Duck Pond by the Farmhouse that my son Alex managed to fall in when he was small and my sister managed to rescue him before he drowned!
In 1974 I handed over the running of the Farm to my sister Heather who managed it until 1976 when our family had to leave the Farm and Heather and her Family moved with all the cattle and Cubical House and Milking Parlour to Velmore Farm (Opposite ASDA) and continued to grow the Hiltonbury Jersey Herd.
I started a Farm Hygiene service in 1974 working from the Farm and left Ramalley Cottages to live in Oakmount Road.
Hope this has been of interest.
Related posts:
- Farming in the Winter and Christmas at Hiltonbury Farm
- History of Hiltonbury Farmhouse
- The Vining Family And Hiltonbury Farmhouse
- About Chandler’s Ford
- Chandler’s Ford Guide Book Entry
A fascinating piece of local history. Good to know that the Jersey Herd is still going somewhere.
I lived on a farm as a child and no one believes me when I say we had to get water from a well and that we were considered very posh as we had calor gas lighting instead of paraffin lamps. Best not to go into the toilet facilities of the time.
Thank you Andy for this great piece. You bought us drinks, drove us home, and then wrote such a fascinating piece of your family history.
I love all the details. The Jug of Punch episode was funny. Turkey House sounds exactly the place for Christmas. Buying turkeys from the farm must have been less stressful than queuing at supermarkets.
Let’s meet again for drinks and your Part 2.
There is a Granary at the Bursledon Windmill I think that it might be the one from Hiltonbury. I will try to remember to check.
The Granary at Bursledon Windmill is the one from Hiltingbury. It is sometimes used for children’s story telling.
At present the Windmill is open on Sundays and is now back in operation.
Hi Alan,
Thank you for this piece of information. It’s great to find the link between Hiltonbury and Bursledon Windmill.
I chanced upon this interesting blog post written by Emma about Bursledon Windmill in her Come Step Back in Time blog: Happy 200th Birthday – Bursledon Windmill, Hampshire.
Thanks for you memories.
I use to attend the Jug o Punch and can remember walking down the lane in total darkness and then walking through the milking parlour to the club. Not sure if it was the right thing to do but we often grabbed a bale of hay on the way through for something to sit on.
I can remember taking a picture for people stuffing long plastic bags full of hay and stuffing them between the rafters as insulation against the cold. One of the members helped me write a story and it was my first ever picture to be used in the Echo.
They also had special nights where you could buy beer and cider. I helped behind the bar (three straw bales) pouring the drinks – and getting very drunk. Happy Days!
Hi Phil,
Many thanks for sharing your memory. I like it when you said “Not sure if it was the right thing to do but…”.
I wonder if you still keep the photograph and the newspaper clipping of the story? If so, please share them with us.
It is fascinating to read about people’s fond memories. Feel free to share more of your memories with us, and let us know what it was like in the older days, and what Chandler’s Ford has meant to you. Many thanks.
Great memories Phil, now I know who used to keep nicking our straw bales!!
I remember the farm lane well at night as I used to walk up there many times in the dark after getting the bus back from Winchester or Southampton and something I don’t see anywhere now were the little glow-worms lighting the hedgerow.
As I mentioned in a post earlier there were many parties in the Jug of Punch Barn and a great number of them were Country Folk evenings all very basic, The only toilet was over in the outhouse of the Farmhouse, No lights though!
Until the new herringbone parlour and Calving boxes were finished we kept two loose boxes at the end of the barn for calving expectant cows and I remember delivering some calves with my Dad late at night to the background of music and flashing Disco lights. Had the odd beer at the same time as delivering the calves as well. Great memories.
Only just read this having been sent it by my son Tom Bazeley. Well done Andy (My cousin!), a fantastic account which brought SO many memories flooding back. It was always an adventure to walk, usually with my mother, Norah Bazeley, from our nurseries in Twyford Rd Eastleigh, through the woods at Boyatt, past a farm that had a fierce dog which scared me to bits, and eventually up to the farm. Would we have walked cuckoo bushes lane past the Sanatorium? Or am I just remembering visits to the graveyard??
The Farm – as I first remembered it, straight out of HE Bates or similar……real duckpond, a fierce bull in his pen (more scary moments, pigs in their pen, cows being milked, calves to feed…..
Later, having pony riding lessons from Janet and Jenny Vining – I think they knew I was a scary cat little boy, and thought it a great joke when I galloped on my first ride (Storm?), completely out of control of course; also when Smokey, who had sussed me straight away, bolted down Hursley Road to get back to the farm.
Later (or maybe earlier???) being taught the game of ‘Postman’s Knock’ in a den we made by burrowing into a hay bale stack – I think on the left of the drive just before the house. (Spin the Bottle was a much later addition!!).
Jug o Punch was the venue for a party I had one New Year’s Eve – My God it was cold!! And all the girls in their party dresses had to be kept warm somehow….. Uncle John shouting from the Front Porch when it was time to vacate….
Happy days…….
Our last visit was for the unveiling of the Vining Bench and Garden – really weird, and a little sad to see what bits of the farmhouse remain recognisable……..
George and Glen Bazeley
now retired to West Wales, (complete with my first (and only) Little Grey Fergie!!)
Great stuff George and really good memories, I envy the Little Grey Fergie, perhaps a visit to West Wales is due to have a ride!
You are correct that there was a big dutch barn at the top of the drive where we used to store the hay and straw. One of my jobs on the nights of the Jug of Punch parties was to switch on the tractor lights to deter any ” Goings on ” on the Bales as the worry was lighting up a fag after, (If you know what I mean) and setting fire to the place.
There was also a few mishaps as there were 3 or 4 very smelly silage drainage pits alongside the barn and a few people stepped into them in the dark. Really spoiled their evening!!
I walk now most days with my Wife and our Dog along Monks Brook over The Camels Hump along Knightwood Park and have many memories of fishing for tadpoles in the stream. I still bear the scars of when I fell from the Railway culvert onto the concrete slipway under the bridge as the jam jars brok slicing into my left wrist. I was rushed home to the farmhouse by my mates bleeding profusely and bandaged up by my Mother. No A & E in those days as I remember.
Where we walk today we used to keep a small herd of Shetland Ponies to keep the rough rushes and growth under control and baled rough hay in good summers.
Everybody seems to have good memories of Hiltonbury so that’s good.
Keep them coming.
I’m absolutely delighted and feeling so privileged to read such exciting stories about Hiltonbury from so many of you.
Yes please keep the stories coming.
Andy, looking forward to your Part 2.
I was doing some local research when I found this blog from Andy Vining. I actually started to work at this farm during weekends and school holidays in the 1960’s and know every part of the photograph in vivid detail. I had great fun during those memorable days and knew all the Vining family well.
Sid Vining was a lovely man with a wicked sense of humour and I believe I had a crush on Heather for a while! My wife and I got engaged at The Jug and Punch in 1969 and also used to attend many of the folk functions there which were sometimes alchohol fueled with the odd bit of weed!
Believe it or not but I still live on the land that Hiltonbury Farm was on which is now called North Millers Dale. We have lived here for over 30 years and can’t think of a nicer place to live with so much space and open land that is enjoyed by all the local residents. I occasionally have a pint or two in the pub which was the old farmhouse and remember the layout well.
My memories of Chandler’s Ford go back to 1959 so have seen many changes in the area since then, but will always hold the Hiltingbury area with great affection since I have now lived here for over 55 years.
Hello Brian. Very remiss of me not replying before but I certainly remember you on the Farm. It is amazing that you live on North Millers Dale as we must be near neighbours as my Wife and I now live in Baddesley Road. Drop me an email andy@andyvining.com and we could meet up at the “Hiltonbury” and have a drink.
It is that time of year when I remember the days running up to Christmas at Hiltonbury Farm getting all the Turkeys ready. We usually did about 200 if my memory serves me correctly They all had to be plucked and dressed and made ready. The tradition still continues as my Nephew Julian Neagle at Velmore Farm does a number of turkeys for Christmas, if anyone has still to get theirs drop me an email and I will put you in touch. A Farm Fresh turkey, amazing.
So wishing you and yours Brian a very happy Christmas and to anybody reading this post my best wishes to you all and a wonderful 2016.
Wishing you and yours a very Happy Christmas.
Wow, that brings back memories for me as well; John and Peggy were my uncle and aunt, and as a nipper I’d go to the farm a lot – used to be terrified of (?) Clara the goose, who kept guard; the hook(s) in the beam in the kitchen from which the turkeys were hung for plucking. Remember Auntie Peggy with a pair of pliers removing some of the stubborn feather (?) roots.
Heather and I would play with the cut off legs, by pulling the exposed tendons, you could make the claws open and shut!!!
Happy times; remember the Jug o Punch too, tho I was never offered any wacky baccy!!
George Bazeley lived ‘Beechcroft’ in Lakewood Rd from 1961 till 1969
RIP the Jug o’Punch …….it must be 50 years; how about a re-union?
“When I am dead and in my grave,no costly tombstone will I crave,
Lay me down in my native peat, (interjection by rowdy audience – Hello Pete!) with a jug of punch at my head and feet.”
One of the defining experiences of my life. Love to all who were involved in this remarkable venture.