Chapter 11: Scattered to the Four Winds
It's not certain, but we are fairly sure this is a photo of Grandpa Edgar Stephens -- maybe around 1920? He was quite a short man with a stocky build.
Gwladys on the left, looking very slim and elegant, and an unknown friend. Date unknown -- maybe around 1938?
Heather at the door of The Grove in April 2013. It was owned by various members of the Stephens family for around 60 years, from about 1895. This is the original entrance of the big house, although the parking area is new. Nowadays there is another apartment at the back of the house, used for holiday letting.
Coedybrain as it is today. It is still in the Stephens family. The old farmhouse still looks the same externally as it did in the 1940's, and the long cowshed / stable extension is not greatly changed, but the huge new barns at the back of the house are new.
On the right is De Rust, in Ferryside, where Grandpa and Grandma Stephens lived after passing the farm at Coedybrain on to Ivor. This is where Heather was born, and where Joy, Wynne, Hazel and Meryl spent much of the Second World War as evacuees. The old house is now called Clifton House, and it has a horrible set of steps stuck onto its front facade -- no doubt added when it was converted into a pair of flats. The chapel is 2 doors away.
This is Grey Mist in Pembrey, where Grandma and Grandpa lived towards the end of their lives. Grandpa died here in 1949, and shortly after that Grandma Johanna moved to join us at Ridgeway in Haverfordwest. She died there in 1952.
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Girlie (Gwladys) and her friend Irene (Renee) in the back garden at De Rust, Ferryside, around 1938? Where on earth did that great bunch of black bananas come from?
Our grandparents, Johanna and Edgar, as we remember them in the 1940's.
Above: Three photos of The Grove, Llansteffan, as it is today. It passed out of the Stephens family many years ago, and is now available for holiday letting. The lower photo shows that the house, set on the hillside above the village, has a wonderful view out over the estuary towards Ferryside on the other side.
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