Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

Under great oak trees snowdrops, primroses, wild daffodils, bluebells, wood
anemones and other wild flowers, grew on the north bank of the stream amongst
fern and bracken and a tangle of briars and broom. I planted a little rock garden for
alpine plants in a sheltered spot on this bank, just where it caught the sun's rays.
The interior of Green Gables was all furnished to the highest standards. There
was mahogany paneling in the hall, sitting and dining rooms and the latter two had
beautiful views from window seats looking west and north. Outside was a small
verandah overlooking the formal rose garden. In the porch to the house was a
"quotation" at ceiling height: "Sibi dominus aedificaverunt domus, laborare in vanum qui
inhabitare". It had been carved in oak by Cuthbert Woods. Furniture, carpets and
hangings were all expensive and beautiful; the furniture was antique, and on the
sideboard stood antique cutlery boxes in burr mahogany. The drawing room was
little used but had glass-fronted bookcases, with a wide range of reading matter.
The fireplaces burned log-fires in winter, backed up by central heating, which I
had never experienced before. (One of my earliest memories is of the winter cold
indoors at home, where only the sitting room had a coal and wood fire, and gas fires
in dining room and kitchen weren’t often lit. The result was that the house in general
was like an ice-box. When we went to bed the room was cold, we undressed quickly
and jumped into bed, but the sheets were cold and damp until we warmed them
with our body heat). At Green Gables a boiler, located in a semi-basement, near the
kitchen, provided the central heating. This was Mr Woods' responsibility, but from
time to time he delegated the job to us boys; the main task was raking out the clinker,
which had to be done quite frequently if the fire was not to die. This was
accomplished in the choking fumes of sulphur dioxide gas, enhanced when we
threw water onto the fire to ‘damp it down’ and ‘bank’ it. The fire also had to be
stoked from time to time by hand, a task for which Bill and me were co-opted.
The kitchen was large and airy with huge storage cupboards, and an Aga cooker,
which promoted a cosy fug. The scullery looked out onto the concrete yard between
the kitchen wing and the garage, on which the car - a Daimler - was washed once a
week. Leading out of the main hall, near the front door was a cloakroom and toilet,
and a door led into the garage, with a workbench for rough work. Leading from it
was a long, narrow workroom, where Mr Woods did his finer work; it included a
small lathe, and a darkroom. A spacious flight of stairs rose from the hall to an
upper landing from which bedrooms and Mr Woods' dressing room led, and Bill and
I had rooms, separated by our own bathroom in the wing over the kitchen. The walls
were graced with attractive paintings and photographs, many of them of mountain
scenes. I still have a splendid large hand-coloured photograph in an ornate gilded
frame, of the Matterhorn viewed from Zermatt, which used to hang on my bedroom
wall. There was a lavender scent about the house and creaky wooden floors, which
gave an old-fashioned feel, even though the building was only fifteen years old at
that time.
Schooldays and schoolteachers
We shared with Windermere Grammar School, not as in Wigton in separate
classes, but completely integrated. We cycled about five miles to school each day -
uphill most of the way there and mostly downhill coasting in the evening.
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