A local family, who still live on Holly Hayes Road in Whitwick, lived in Fishpond cottage in Holly Hayes woods during the 1940’s. After chatting to them for a while, it seemed to me that they were living the Good Life long before we started thinking of living a greener way of life.
The Cottage was a two up two down, made of local stone and had a slate roof, which could have been Swithland slate, and a brick chimney made from local bricks.
There were four children living with their parents in the house, which had no electric or gas, or even a tap for running water. The toilet was a composting loo at the bottom of the garden, so no real modern conveniences at all. The cooking was done on a range down stairs and they had open fires up stairs & down stairs for heating, all using local fuel.
Not only was this a home, but what we would now call a smallholding. They kept ducks, chicken’s and pigs. It sounds like they also grew most of they own food too. For most other things like fresh milk and tap water, they acquired from just a few yards up the road from a Holly Hayes farmer.
I was told that they actually did their washing in the pond, but the family told me that they actually used the water from the pond, using an old tin bath to wash clothes and themselves in. They then recycled the water back into the brook or onto the garden.
The family transport was a horse and trap, even back in 1940’s they must have had one of the lowest carbon footprints in the country.
Peter Firth
The Cottage was a two up two down, made of local stone and had a slate roof, which could have been Swithland slate, and a brick chimney made from local bricks.
There were four children living with their parents in the house, which had no electric or gas, or even a tap for running water. The toilet was a composting loo at the bottom of the garden, so no real modern conveniences at all. The cooking was done on a range down stairs and they had open fires up stairs & down stairs for heating, all using local fuel.
Not only was this a home, but what we would now call a smallholding. They kept ducks, chicken’s and pigs. It sounds like they also grew most of they own food too. For most other things like fresh milk and tap water, they acquired from just a few yards up the road from a Holly Hayes farmer.
I was told that they actually did their washing in the pond, but the family told me that they actually used the water from the pond, using an old tin bath to wash clothes and themselves in. They then recycled the water back into the brook or onto the garden.
The family transport was a horse and trap, even back in 1940’s they must have had one of the lowest carbon footprints in the country.
Peter Firth
NB: The photo above was apparently taken during the great floods of 1947.
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