Danielle and Simon have recently posted photos of the views from their windows. As I’ve posted before the view from my window is shown at the top of the blog. It’s very wet now and the buttercups are starting to fade now, so the view is a bit different today. I’m not sure how old this house is and I’m researching its history. It was certainly built before 1870, possibly in 1848 as one of my neighbours in a similar house has a poster dated 1848 advertising the sale of two “newly built cottages” by auction.

It’s one of a group of 8 cottages set in pairs in a square around an old apple orchard three miles from a small market town, some 40 miles away from London. Some of the old apple trees are still growing in my neighbour’s garden. Originally it was a one-up-one-down cottage, which has had extensions over the years. It was part of a large landed estate dating back to the 11th century and is still in a quiet backwater away from the busy main road, even though that is at the top of the lane. I have seen records in the National Archives at Kew detailing the people who lived here in the early 1900s and want to look at the Census Returns to see how far I can go back to find out who else has lived here. My aim is to write about the house and its owners/occupiers.

I have one of Cassini’s historical maps, which shows the area as it was in 1822 – 1834 and although it is on a small scale it looks as though the cottage was in existence at that date. I shall be visiting our local County Record Office to see what else I can find out from maps and other documents.