Aston Pigott Scrapbook is a collection of the childhood memories of my mother, Janet Gill, (née Roberts). When I was a child I couldn't believe that she - my mum, nurse, health visitor, city dweller - had spent the whole of her childhood living on a farm. A farm, moreover, with the earthy name of Aston Pigott Farm. I was intrigued that she and her family had lived within the daily and seasonal routine imposed by the farm. Brought up on a diet of World War Two films, I was frankly disbelieving that the Roberts family had shared their home with prisoners of war from Germany and Italy. As an adult, I know and understand much more about her childhood, but I am still fascinated by a life that is very different to mine or that of my children. This scrapbook brings together some of her stories: incomplete, faded by the passage of time, interlinked and embroidered with family memory, but, above all, fascinating. Click here to listen to Janet Gill talking about growing up in the country.
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