Clean Clothes on a Sunday......

The family was not rich but they were comfortably off and able to employ a cook, a parlour maid and a nanny, who figures largely in Celia's early years in the nursery.

Her name was Edith Spavins and she was only 16 years old when she came to live with Celia's family in 1900 to take charge of their first baby, Barbara.

As the family increased Nanny managed affairs in the nursery with such kindness and authority Celia developed an absolute belief in the fairness of her system.

Although she was devoted to her young charges, Edith also became attached to a young chauffeur, who frequently accompanied the party on their afternoon walks.

As Celia recalled: "We children looked upon these occasions as Red Letter days. Whilst out for our afternoon walk we would meet Mr Freshwater at a pre-arranged place.

"He would raise his cap, and then shake hands with each of us in turn. On the way home we would, stop to watch a cricket match on the Green.

"It would never have occurred to Nanny to do this when out alone with us, but all gentlemen were interested in cricket, and gentlemen had to be humoured."

When Nanny left the family after eight-and-a-half years to marry her chauffeur, the bottom dropped out of Celia's world.

However, Nanny kept in touch with the family and was a friend to Celia until she died in l972.

Edith Freshwater's later years were spent at High Beech where she became a local celebrity and persuaded a forest keeper to build a bridge across the stream near her cottage so that she could take a short cut through the forest to go to church.

"Granny Freshwater's Bridge" is still there but she must have been an energetic old lady to climb the hill on the opposite side!

Not long after the departure of their beloved Nanny the children experienced an even greater change in their lives when in 1909 the family moved to a larger house at Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire.

Here the children found a wonderful and extensive garden with many mature trees to climb.

However Woodford was not forgotten and visits were made to grandfather who lived at Lytton Lodge in the Drive.

This was the venue for family gatherings at Christmas and the warmth and comfort of the house together with the wonderful smells from the kitchen made the long journey well worth while.

The family would enjoy turkey, plum pudding and all the traditional Christmas fare and even the children were allowed a little of grandfather's splendid 1847 port.

Celia's description of these festive occasions make the Edwardian era come alive again especially her writing about her elderly relatives.

"Great-uncle Alfred and great-aunt Emma. We never saw these two except on Christmas Day and they seemed to be seasonal characters like Father Christmas himself, who had no real existence during the rest of the year.

"Aunt Emma looked like a faded Victorian doll and it was easy to imagine her being packed away in a box, together with the Christmas decorations, till the season came around once more."

Celia was a child with a rich imagination, somewhat dominated by her older sister's tomboy ways.

When Barbara was sent away to school Celia enjoyed her days sometimes playing with her younger brother and occasionally boating on the River Lea in adult company.

The Great War brought many exciting times, with officers billeted at the house, fund-raising events and fierce patriotism.

Still a rather awkward teenager when the story ends Celia was later sent away to Cheltenham Ladies College.

In 1931 she married an officer in the Royal Engineers and lived in India, Canada and America travelling much as several of her uncles had done.

When the book was published in 1974 Celia lived in Royston in Hertfordshire, where she worked as a Marriage Guidance Counsellor.

Sadly she died in a car crash about three years later.

With grateful thanks to Terence Dalton Ltd, publishers, for their permission to quote from the book.

By.Sara Dixon