Visiting the past

In Bath for a family party and, on a whim, went to see the house my grandparents had lived in.

My grandmother died when I was about seven and then my grandfather lived there until the early eighties.

The house, a late Georgian artisan terraced house, was owned by him leasehold and a compulsory purchase order was served on the land in the early seventies along with several others in an area known as Little Mudcombe.  Some were demolished straight away to allow the building of a school and the others were allowed to become derelict as people died or moved on.

In the end my grandfather was the only one left, gardening eight gardens, loved gardening, grew enough veg to keep the local shop supplied, living in an increasingly derelict house.

Thankfully the Bath Preservation Society managed to stop the demolition but by then many of the houses were uninhabitable.  As the only remaining resident m grandfather was paid for the house, given compensation and moved to a warden controlled apartment so that renovation could occur.

This was how it looked when I last saw it (not sure the dereliction shows that well):

 

and now:

 

Really lovely, although I'd forgotten how small they are. I hope my grandfather would be pleased despite the lack of vegetables being grown, as he always said 'you can't eat flowers!'.