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"An Exotic Pet"
Way back in 1968, clutching my newly awarded degree, I left University in Birmingham and moved south to Taplow to start my new job.
I stayed in bed-sits in those days in Maidenhead and walked each day to work along the Thames past Boulters Lock. I thought I was living in paradise after my time in Brum.
Can you improve on paradise? I thought not at the time but one day I noticed an ad in the paper for a two room pad for £4 10s a week. (£4.50) with use of a garage for an extra 10 bob (50p).
I took it.
It was a very large white house alongside the Thames at Cookham, just between the church and the bridge. I had two rooms right up in the roof with beautiful views out across the river. One room was the kitchen/diner and the other a bedroom/lounge.
I was told I had to share the bathroom and it was on the floor below.
This bathroom was like nothing I had seen before. The room was huge, at least 15 feet square. A great bath in one corner with one large gold plated tap in the centre. The plug hole was operated by pulling a knob on the wall alongside the knobs for hot and cold water. All gold plated and very plush!
I enjoyed my stay at ‘Riverdene’ as the house was named but eventually moved into a flat in Taplow with some other chaps from work.
Some years later, maybe ten, I can’t remember, but this very house appeared up for sale in the local paper.
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Imagine my surprise. It was ’Riverdene’ and used to belong to Diana Dors.
No wonder it had gold plated taps! (click to enlarge the cutting)
With all this sunny weather I decided to take a riverside stroll to Cookham to see the ‘old pad’.
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It is a lovely walk from Bourne End. This is the approach to Cookham Bridge, which is visible in the background. It is a good place to moor a boat, as this one had, and very unusual to see this........
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Fish for tea again?
And there it was - Riverdene.
Those two little windows up in the roof on the left were my rooms.
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All very, very expensive. It has four bedroom suites, each with two rooms and a bathroom.
In total, it now has SIX bathrooms, all with shower cubicles and three with spa baths.
The Master suite has a 'King size' whirlpool version decorated with 22 carat Wedgewood Gold.
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A view from Cookham Bridge.
My, how I've gone down in the world?
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Well well. What a posh place. So you had no idea it had been Diana Dors'? You haven't gone down in the world. You have your own house and graden and your lovely cats and you can still see enjoy all the sights and places you liked then. You still could have gold plated taps, you know!
ReplyDeleteAhhhhhhhhhhhhMmmmmmmmmmmmmmm - I can hear the breath of sighs and delightful memories flowing from your body, Bernard. The house and setting is exquisite and you're very lucky to have been part of it. xx
ReplyDeleteWhich (as always) reminds me that when my husband's cousin came down from Fort William to study at Glasgow University in the early 60's, he had to find accommodation. He found a flat in Glasgow's West End for 10 shillings a week. Rooms in the West End of Glasgow are huge so he put a curtain down the middle brought in a bed, wardrobe and chest of drawers and offered the other half of the room for 10 shillings a week too - which was snapped up. He became a landlord by buying and letting some wonderful houses in the West End of Glasgow.
Gosh I remember seeing that house as I chugged in a boat up or down from where I parked my car on one side of the river to a friends house on the other side of the river.....and I had NO idea that Diana Dors had lived there, or far more importantly - that Uncle Bernard did!
ReplyDeleteVery well to do Bernard, my first place was a "bedsit" in a basement, share bathroom, kitchen and sitting room, but I did have the only access to the garden, which made me very popular in the summer.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of Diana Dors, we were driving through Ascot one Saturday many years ago and stopped at the level crossing, behind us was Diana in her blue convertible Roller with two louvre doors sticking out of the back seats, we managed a couple of minutes of conversation with her about where she was going to put them.
Lovely lady.
That takes me back Uncle! Not only did we use to pass that house in our Del-quay Dory, but we had "gold taps" on our burgundy bath (not our choice, I hasten to add!).
ReplyDeleteGosh Bernard!! Did the garage have gold-plated taps too, what a bonus!!! Paradise indeed!
ReplyDeleteHi Aching Foody:
ReplyDeleteIt is posh now, but in 1968 it was looking a bit ‘tired’. I was only joking about not affording gold taps! I wouldn’t want them anyway. I am very envious of the location though - right alongside the river.
Hi Mrs S.
Yes they were quiet days then. The roads were less busy, less aircraft overhead and rowing boats and punts on the river. I have rowed up and down this stretch of the river many times between Maidenhead and Marlow.
Ah, Fort William - Steam trains! - another of my secret passions.
Hi DD: Hope you’re not aching too much?
I remember you saying you crossed the river here. There used to be a hotel on the Cock Marsh side where your friend lives, but it got burnt down. There is now a pub there called the ‘Bounty’. If you wanted a drink, you rang a bell on this side and a boat came over to pick you up. And hopefully took you back afterwards. That was all stopped when they built the footbridge alongside the railway bridge. Happy days.
Hi Angus:
“Bedsit” days. Remember them well. Of course I had four years of them in Birmingham as well. Nothing like these ‘river-side’ sits. I felt as if I was part of “Three Men in a Boat” - which was of course based on this bit of the Thames.
Diana lived in several places around here. She also ran a coffee bar in Maidenhead called ‘El Toucan’.
Hi Kath:
“Del-quay Dory” was your boat I assume? And with gold taps?!? :D How posh.
Hi Von:
No, sorry. No taps in the garage - only my Three Wheeler Morgan.
What can I say...posh indeed. I'm getting envious of those of you who live in England, with your gorgeous country landscapes, and leisurely lives along the river.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a wonderful place to stay, such lovely views :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Myrna,
ReplyDeleteThere is something very tranquil about living alongside the river. I now live a bit further back. About a ten minute walk away.
Hi Cherie,
It was. You must come down and visit a few houses and gardens around this area. I can give you a long list.
Yes Unc, the Dory was called Annie. Alas she was not posh enough to have a bath, the burgundy apparition with gold taps was in our cottage in Rutland (they're a bit posh in Englands smallest county!).
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