My country memories: Gloria Hunniford

From happy days spent on her grandmother's farm in Ireland to precious time with her daughter Caron in Cornwall, Gloria Hunniford treasures her rural experiences. By Kerry Fowler

'I never look at a bramley apple without thinking of my childhood. I grew up in Portadown in County Armagh, real orchard country, and we lived on the edge of the town with the fields behind us. My father didn't drive, so we grew up on bicycles: no helmets, no seats, just a cushion tied on at the back of my dad's bike until I had my own. I've vivid memories of being taught how to ride in the middle of the countryside during apple-blossom time, acre after acre. It looked magnificent and the scent was heavenly.

 

'My childhood was idyllic: I didn't ever wonder if I was loved, and had two great parents. My mother was always cooking and when I came home from school there was the smell of bread in the house and we had tins full of Victoria sponges and butterfly cakes. My dad was a newspaper man by day but a magician by night. So as a child I had the perfect combination: a father who did tricks for all your friends and a mother who baked prolifically. It was no hardship to come to our house.

 

'My grandmother lived about five miles out of town on a farm and we often cycled to her house. It was near the turf fields that stretched for miles and the place was full of wildflowers that, back then, we were allowed to pick. My sister was seven years older than me and she used to stay at the farm a lot. I would ask to go for a week in the summer but, as soon as I saw my mum and dad get on their bikes to go home, I'd cry to return with them. It was post-war and my grandmother grew lots of fruit. My uncle, my mother's brother who ran the farm, would come in with big boxes of damsons, apples and pears. Mum preserved the pears and made jam - it was a hive of activity. My grandmother had a huge kitchen with flagstones and a crook with a couple of pots hanging from it: one full of swill for the pigs, and a big pot of stew for us. She also kept a donkey in the orchard that we rode bareback.

 

'When my own children were young we lived in Hillsborough, about 14 miles from Belfast. It was a lovely country village and, again, we were surrounded by fields. We also lived in Lisburn and my son Paul used to play with the farmer's boy next door - he might as well have grown up on their farm. Paul used to play the trumpet and because the cows were outside our window they'd all come and listen.

 

'Now we are in Sevenoaks and on the edge of the countryside once more. Kent reminded me of the county I was born in, as the terrain is quite similar. We also love Fowey in Cornwall. When my daughter Caron was ill, she bought a place down there - her battle with cancer was over seven years and it encompassed a lot of situations and changes of life. She lived in Cornwall and came up to work in London, and suggested we got a place there, too, so that we could be close together. It meant I could be nearby without being on top of her, so it made good sense.

 

'After she died I thought we might sell it but we didn't. I still enjoy going there. It is very spiritual and so beautiful. As soon as we turn off the road from Lostwithiel to go into Fowey, my body says, ‘Thank you, thank you'. There's a great sense of peacefulness and a special spot called Alldays Field, right up on the headland overlooking Fowey and out to sea. It is a stunning view and Caron used to go there a lot. Her boy Charlie has his birthday party there every summer - he's nearly 15 now and I asked if he still wanted to do it and he said, "Of course, it's what we've done for years". Peppered through all of Caron's writing was the freedom they had as children growing up in Northern Ireland - they could go tramping over the fields and disappear for hours. In some of the letters to her children she said how lovely it was: she wanted them to have the freedom and space she'd enjoyed as they were growing up. I thought it might feel uncomfortable being there after she died, but it doesn't because I can still picture her there. I see her on the bike on the esplanade and up in the field - lots of good memories.'

Gloria Hunniford's book Always With You (Hodder & Stoughton, £7.99), about coping with the loss of her daughter Caron Keating, is out now.

Visit www.caronkeating.org for details of the foundation set up in her memory.

 

 

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