Memories of our first home are a lifelong joy

WHY do we place so much importance on actually owning a property? I don’t think it’s the bricks and mortar any of us are after – it’s a home. And anywhere we buy only feels like a home if we are lucky enough to form a strong emotional attachment to the place.

Both Rod and I consider ourselves lucky to have really fond memories of our childhood homes. He’s taken me back to the place where he grew up in Highgate’s Archway Road, where his family home has now been demolished and replaced by a petrol station.

However, he still remembers sitting in his room as a child, looking at the rail tracks that ran behind the terrace houses. It’s these memories, he says, that sparked his love for railway modelling.

My experience of going back to my childhood home in Ilford, Essex, was just as sad. It was a beautiful corner property with a lovely tree in the front garden that I used to play under, and in the back garden there was a large fish pond where I spent hours staring into the water, fascinated by the tadpoles and newts. The new owners have totally remodelled the house, blocking in windows for an extra downstairs I VISITED MY OLD HOUSE – AND ALL THE CHARM HAD GONE bedroom. The tree has vanished and the pond has been filled in. All the charm I remember has gone.

Rod and I have found ourselves affected by the recent property stalemate thanks to Brexit. We can’t sell our old place in Essex, The Woodhouse, despite its unique architecture and strong historical links. The hike in stamp duty hasn’t helped – it almost stopped me in my tracks when I recently invested in an apartment just down the road from our new Essex home.

Between us, Rod and I have a big family and it’s a sure sign of a happy childhood that Rod’s children have gravitated back to where they grew up; and it makes me wonder where our boys will live when they’re older.

Rod’s eldest son Sean (he’s 36) frequently hangs out in Malibu, as it’s where he grew up. Ruby (now 31), Rod’s daughter, has this romantic vision that she will one day buy back The Woodhouse, where she enjoyed so many fantastic years. I hope Ruby realises her dream: The Woodhouse appears in so many of our memories. Rod and I brought our boys back there as newborns and they spent many happy summers there.

Call me sentimental, but even after they’ve flown the nest, The Woodhouse will always provide their first-home memories and I hope those feelings of comfort and belonging last for ever.

NEXT WEEK TOBY YOUNG