Merrymeet

It isn’t often that the whole family can meet up. My son and family are in N Yorkshire while my eldest daughter lives in Guildford about 300 miles away. It is perhaps fortunate that we are roughly equidistant from the two. Our youngest daughter lives in Birmingham which is quite close by. The two sisters are close and often exchange visits. My son Martin and his family have become deeply enmeshed in local activities so tend to be very busy. We did manage a family gathering last year but this year we have done something more ambitious.

We hired a “partyhouse” engagingly called Merrymeet in Derbyshire to accommodate all of us for a long weekend. This was particularly significant because Alison our eldest daughter has decided to take Debajit as a partner. He has two sons from his first marriage and this was our first opportunity to meet them. The oldest boy, Rajiv, is fresh from extraordinary A level results obtaining 4 A star grades. He goes up to Cambridge to read economics this autumn. The younger boy, Ronnie, is 15 and embarking on his GCSE year. Although they are a little older than our grandchildren,( Ellie is 15 soon with the rest ranging down to 7), they had no problem joining both with our grandchildren as well as the adults.

Merrymeet was situated just on the southern edge of the Peak National Park at Back o’the Brook near Waterhouses. It was a fairly remote location approached by narrow single track lanes one of which crossed a ford. Designed to accommodate 16 of us it had a large lounge, dining toom with a massive table, six bedrooms and a massive games room. This latter was the initial attraction for the kids with table tennis, mini billiards, table football and not forgetting the X box. The games were so attractive that the older children were up until past 3 in the morning at the end of our first day.

The dining table was massive enabling all to join together for our evening meal. Essentially Annette and the girls had catered for casual breakfast and lunch. Each day we joined together for an evening meal. Frances provided pizza slices and trimmings one evening, Annette several flans another, while Martin prepared a massive chili on another. When he left to go to university Martin had no cooking knowledge at all but now he is quite adept in the kitchen. As he reminded me this is very much part of being a modern man.

One afternoon we had hired a “nerf gun” experience. Essentially this was light hearted team combat using “nerf” guns which fired a largely foam plastic bullet. This came with an organiser who set things up and suggested various games. These were team versus team. I organised the teams by the simple expedient of lining the participants up in height order and allocating alternate ones to the two teams. The location was a steep sloping lawn at the rear of the property which had blow up obstacles including a blow up tank. I sat on the side lines and watched but I admired Frances and Matt for joining in with the kids. The activity was chosen so that the youngest, Ben, could join in which he did with gusto.

Various groups went on various expeditions. There was a walk to nearby Grindon and then a long group walk following a guide book recommended route.. This was partly cross country along steep paths. I just did the portion on the paved part. Grindon is significant as some of my distant ancestors lived there and also at nearby Ford. We found some references to Hall’s in Grindon church but the gravestones of the period ( 16^th and 17^th centuries ) are too worn to be decipherable. We have earlier tracked some through parish records. More fruitful was  Fradswell ( a village in North Staffordshire ) where my ancestors lived until the mid 19^th century

Other visits were to Ilam with its National Trust parkland and gardens. The house at Ilam is a Youth Hostel and not open to the public. It does have an excellent tearoom.

Unfortunately Rajiv had to leave early to attend a combined cadet force dinner which I gather had represented a big interest outside school. I had always been rather cynical about these groups but Alex has found Whitby Air Cadets interesting. He plays in the band and has had several opportunities for flying experience.
Our group photo is below. My son Martin is 8 from left and daughters Frances and Alison are extreme right