 |
|
||||
 |
 |
||||
|
|||||
  |
   |
 |
|||
|
|||||
The Wine Shop on the Corner of Farnburn Avenue and Farnham Roadby Susan Ottley-Hughes |
|
|
In 1969 my parents moved to Slough to manage the wine and gift shop on the corner of Farnburn Avenue and Farnham Road. The shop has now been demolished, but at the time had accomodation above and beghind it, with about five bedrooms and a living are at the back of the shop that gave out onto an enormous garden. The garden had a small ordchard to one side and a large pear tree in the middle - harvesting the pears at the end of the summer involved my father climbing to the top of the tree and shaking it hard so that the pears dropped - all the family would run around trying to catch or pick up the pears without getting hit by one of the missiles. Cutting the grass was a huge job and could take my father most of a Sunday afternoon to finish. At the end of the garden was a big double wooden gate which gave onto a trackway across the end of the garden, and the gardens of other houses on the road, this trackway leading to Farnburn Avenue. |
|
|
By the terrace at the back of the living area was a gate through into a delivery yard with timber framed sheds, much loved by our cat who would go hunting mice there. When the shop was burgled the thieves fled across the roofs of these sheds, leaving their booty on top of the sheds for my father to recover! A couple of times I heard what seemed to be a horse in harness moving around out of site in the yard, but there was never enything there when I went to look. |
|
|
The living quarters of the shop were haunted - downstairs by the sleeping figure of an elderly man in a chair, and upstairs by a far scarier presence. Now that the building has been demolished it would be interesting to know whether there is any disturbance in the shops that have replaced it. I mourn the garden though - it was a big and beautiful green space, and absolutely ideal for us children. Those summer days were wonderful. |
|
|
||
| Working in partnership with |  |
||
| Copyright | Sitemap | About Slough History Online | Contact Us |  |
||
|
|||