When we Lived at Primrose Hill

In her memoir When we Lived at Primrose Hill Diana Farmbrough lovingly recreates her childhood experience of living at Finchers, Primrose Hill, her family home in rural Buckinghamshire as part of a large extended family, going on to recall the dramas and tragedies of her life.

She tells of the everyday life in the countryside, playing in the road with five stones, hopscotch or skipping and venturing further afield to collect frogspawn; there’s shopping trips to Wycombe before supermarkets existed; and she gives a vivid account of her schooldays and Christmas from times past.

We have a view from the family kitchen as a procession of colourful local characters bring deliveries of milk, post, grocery, bread, meat, laundry, greengrocery, and ice cream on Sundays. As Diana and her sister Mary grow up, they watch Dad, Pete, and Mum, Sybil, find creative and practical ways to enhance their happy family life.

There are carefree and amusing times when Pete buys a car and petrol comes off the ration. The family follow King George VI’s death and Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation and plan to put souvenirs in a time capsule.

Diana also goes further back in time to stories of her great grandparents and their resourcefulness in overcoming national events beyond their control.