Author events are fun but they all have one thing in common – the writer always wonders if anyone will show up! The relief when people do is enormous.
So if you know writers and they are putting on events, do go along. Never underestimate the value of much appreciated morale boosting support here. (The other simple way of supporting writers is to review their books on the usual sites. The nice thing with this is the review doesn’t have to be a long one).
On Monday morning 5th June 2017, I, along with my wife Val, my sister, Heather Witham (Nee Vining), my brother Simon Vining and his son Bob Vining met with Rob Preston to see what progress had been made in the refurbishments of Hiltonbury Farmhouse since I was last there a couple of weeks ago.
It is certainly a “Proper” Building site now as it was a requirement for all of us to sign the visitors book and that we all wore high viz jackets and proper boots or to use the technical term we all had to wear “PPE” Personal Protective Equipment. [Read more…] about The Vinings Invade Hiltonbury Farmhouse!
On 22nd May I went to my old home Hiltonbury Farmhouse to meet Rob Preston the new tenant who is planning to open this wonderful old Farmhouse as a restaurant in early July this year.
Rob is a great entrepreneur who has been in and around the wine and drinks industry all his working life but always wanted to work on “The other side of the bar” as he put it and open a family restaurant setting a high standard for good food and excellent service. [Read more…] about A Special Visit to “Hiltonbury Farmhouse”
In the 1960s my Father, John Vining, and I decided to create a milk round in Chandler’s Ford direct from Hiltonbury Farm and deliver to a growing population wonderful Raw Jersey Milk direct from the farm.
From the Hiltonbury Herds beginnings in 1947 by my Father, we were at that time milking around 40-50 Jersey cows in a long shed that housed 36 at a time, so had to do a changeover during milking to accommodate all the cows. It was very time consuming and labour intensive. [Read more…] about Going Full Circle: the Journey of Hiltonbury Jerseys
The Hiltonbury Farmhouse Pub, a grade 2 listed building in North Millers Dale, is leased by Punch Taverns from Cranbury Estates. Punch want to re-open the pub and have made several planning applications to make alterations inside and outside.
The pub is adjacent to an open grass area about 35m x 50m which is subject of an agreement between Cranbury Estates and Eastleigh Borough Council made in 1980. The agreement and original plan of the area specifically commits Cranbury Estates to maintaining the community car park and public open space as a planning condition. [Read more…] about Protection of Open Space – Hiltonbury Farmhouse. What’s Your View?
Reading Andy Vining’s recent article, Farming in the Winter and Christmas at Hiltonbury Farm, sends me back to the 1950s and 60s, when my step-mother, Dad and I lived in the bungalows in the fourth service road (nowadays the third one!), on Hursley Road.
We looked from our back garden across the field to Hiltonbury Farmhouse where, in the 1960s, Andy was milking the cows and delivering milk. [Read more…] about Oh Happy Days! Fond Christmas Memories in Chandler’s Ford 1950s – 1960s
I am now going back to the 1962/3 before I was married, it was often very cold at this time of year. I used to get up at around 5.00 am to get the cows in for milking as we had yet to build the Cubicle House to keep the cows inside.
Sometimes when it was particularly cold and wet we kept the cows overnight in the cowshed but there was only room for thirty six of them in the cowshed so some had to stay under the lean-too to keep out of the weather, usually about 10 to twelve were the unlucky ones, usually the ones giving the least milk! [Read more…] about Farming in the Winter and Christmas at Hiltonbury Farm
I grew up in Chandler’s Ford in the 1950s and 1960s.
When I was about 12 years old, I started my first (part-time) job.
This was as a Saturday van-boy for Mr Smith, a greengrocer, who had a shop opposite “The Hut” on Bournemouth Road. (not to be confused with Mr Smith who had a grocers shop in Hursley Road, opposite the Railway Station.) [Read more…] about Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: Paper Boy; North End School (Part 2)
I was born, not in Chandler’s Ford, but in Tooting, South London, in 1947.
My father came from Lancashire, and my mother from Tooting.
We lived in Streatham, a mile or two from Tooting, but just before my second birthday, my mother died from influenza. [Read more…] about Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s (Part 1)
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. [Read more…] about History of Hiltonbury Farmhouse
My family farmed the North and South Millers Dale and surrounding areas for over 100 years living in Hiltonbury Farmhouse until 1976.
On the 6th of May in 2012, my family gave a picnic table and benches at the corner of North Millers Dale (off Hursley Road) to the NMDCA (North Millers Dale Community Association), unfortunately the little plaque attached to the table was removed some time ago.
Vining’s Copse is named after my family. [Read more…] about The Vining Family and Hiltonbury Farmhouse
