• Home
  • Photos
  • What's On
  • Blogs
    • Gardeners World
    • Esmé's Page
    • Building our Community
    • Recipe of the Month
    • Frenchay Residents
    • Frenchay Place Names
    • Frenchay Mysteries
  • Local News
    • Neighbourhood Watch
    • Redrow Updates
    • FRA Reports 2021 >
      • FRA Reports 2020
    • Local Representatives >
      • From our Parish Councillors
      • From our South Gloucestershire Councillors
    • Frenchay Museum
    • Preservation Society
    • Frenchay CE Primary School
    • Frenchay Village Hall
    • Cricket Club
    • Dings Crusaders RFC
    • DRG Frenchay Football Club
  • Clubs & Societies
  • Information
    • Quick Links
    • Transport
    • Libraries
    • Nature Reserve
  • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
Frenchay Community, UK

Retirement

1/6/2016

0 Comments

 
My husband and I decided to retire when he was 50 and I was 48! We gave away all of our furniture to our customers at Hotwell’s Post Office. My mother very kindly stored our pictures, glassware and Wedgwood items. Our daughter guarded the piano!

We bought a sports-coach which had as its previous owner Kenny Roberts (then the motor-bike racing champion!) The coach was very luxurious, it even had a large bath. In two days we decided that it was too large to park easily and only did 7 miles to the gallon.

We returned it to the garage and ordered a Hi-Lo. When travelling this was the same height as a car, but by touching a button the roof rose to a normal caravan height. To tow it, we bought a Ford Granada. Another mistake! The Hi-Lo was too heavy for that car which quickly began to crack between the front and back seats! The garage decided that a Daimler was solid enough to do the job, so we bought one. Finally we set off for France!

Another problem, we didn’t know how to reverse the Hi-Lo. We phoned “Brian Brothers”, but they didn’t know either. The Hi-Lo was American, and we were the first people in England to buy one! Luckily Ron was a very skilled driver. His father owned Feltham’s Coaches, and at the age of 9 Ron had been driving them around their large garage. However, we found ourselves in some tricky situations! Imagine the length of a huge caravan plus a Daimler.

We didn't move around much. When we found a site that we really liked we stayed there for months on end. It was much more convenient than having a motor home because we had a car to use. It also meant that we made many French friends in each region that we parked.

We spent six months in Frejus in the south of France before hearing that one of our godsons, aged thirteen, had been killed in a traffic accident. Immediately we drove back to Bristol! We parked behind a garden centre in Yate. The weather was terrible, deep snow and bitterly cold. What a contrast to Frejus. Even our wine froze in the bottle!

We were always very impetuous, so the day after the funeral we went to an estate agent and in half an hour had signed to buy a lovely flat in Clifton overlooking the Downs. Having moved in, we thought we had better earn some money!

We read an advert asking for couples to run camp-sites in France. The holiday company was called “Eurovacs” which later became “Haven Holidays”. This was a great adventure. Everyone arrived ready to have a lovely time, so of course we had a wonderful time too.

I’ll continue this “saga” next month ... I hope you all have an enjoyable June!

Esmé

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Esmé Feltham

    Picture

    Archives

    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013

    Categories

    All
    April
    Art
    Asparagus
    Cauliflower
    Chocolate
    Christmas
    Church
    Dyrham Park
    Easter
    Fashion
    Flowers
    Food
    France
    Friends
    Furniture
    Harvest
    Holiday
    Hospital
    Hotel
    Motor Bikes
    Mushroom
    People
    School
    Seafood
    Time
    Trees
    Wedding

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.