Seemingly later in the 1930s, Mum took two family holidays in Shropshire, both to Church Stretton. Her account of these contrasting holidays is as follows:
My recollection of the chronological order in which our holidays were taken is rather hazy, but some holidays do stand out because they were great or because they were a little different. We went on one famous holiday to Church Stretton to what had been featured in the advert in the Railway Gazette as a Private Hotel in the High Street. The “Private Hotel” was the “Essex House Hotel” and its main good feature was that it was near the station.
We took with us my cousin Frank and as we approached the “Hotel” we saw that it was a converted shop, the shop itself, being used as the Dining Room. The cuisine was very inferior and I can well remember my Mother’s face when she asked for salad cream to put on the salad and was offered HP sauce. There was quite a nice organ with an ominous notice on it which said “only sacred music on a Sunday”. The only decent meal we had was on the Sunday (we were there for a week) when we were served with Roast Chicken. Unfortunately, my father took us on a seven and a half mile walk on the top of Long Mynd and we got lost in the mist. This was the first time that I saw gliders at the Long Mynd Gliding Club. We were not exactly given a round of applause when we arrived back, and the chicken was a little over done. This was our last holiday at the “Essex House Hotel”, as during the fateful holiday holiday, my mother and father met a very posh lady and her farmer husband, who kept a very genteel establishment on the outskirts of Church Stretton called New House Farm. They were to spend many holidays there, but, to my knowledge, I only went once. It was all dress for dinner and polished tables and did not have the “enjoyable” atmosphere of the long to be remembered holiday in the “Essex House Hotel”.
The tale of the “HP sauce” in the converted shop was one that she told us many times in childhood. About 1990 I located an advertisement for the Essex House, and took great amusement in showing this to her, when she seemed somewhat less amused. It was then run by a Mrs Winifred Moyle. The building still stands, known as the Stretton Chambers, and used as offices, although the former shop front is clear. It had been built in 1907, when it was next to the railway station, which was then to the north of the bridge in Sandford Avenue (it is now located south of Sandford Avenue). From the 1914 war it was used as a military hospital by the Red Cross, and by 1944 (Birmingham Post, June 27 1944 advertisement), there was a Matron at Essex House, so it seems that its use as a “Private Hotel” was limited.
Mum mentioned the “Gliding Club”; this was actually the Midland Gliding Club, which had been founded in 1930. It had first operated from the Long Mynd in 1934, which suggests the mid-1930s for Mum’s visit. The Long Mynd – a favourite of mine, and a place to which I would return with Mum – is well-known for mists. On the fateful Sunday, they probably walked up the Burway – not then metalled – onto the Summit near Pole Bank. I wonder where else they visited? Perhaps Shrewsbury and Ludlow, which were (and are) easily visited by train.
A directory online features advertisements for various premises in Church Stretton. That for the Essex House Private Hotel, in Sandford Avenue, describes it accurately as “Conveniently situated within 2 minutes from Station…” and states that it is near to Tennis Courts, Bowling Green and Golf Links. Tennis had featured in the Ramsey holiday, and Mum’s father John was keen on golf, so he may well have patronised the local course. Golf featured in many advertisements for accommodation. Mum’s remarks about the cuisine at the Essex House do not commend the “Luncheons and Teas provided” there.
There are two photographs of the holiday at New House Farm, dated 1938, with brother Tony aged about 6. New House Farm still offers some accommodation, in former outhouses, and it remains somewhat distant from Church Stretton, part of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which seems to have stymied plans for housing development in the mid-2010s. It now has a large fishing lake.
We would return to Shropshire, notably to the Long Mynd Hotel, but not until the 1990s and 2000s.
Begun Aug 30 2020, further work July 1 2022
Joan Boughey Recalled 