I have very fond memories
of this place and my Grandparents “Jack & Bessie” who were
generous, outgoing people who always welcomed visitors to their
home and you are welcome to come and look for this cache which is
placed in their memory. The photograph below is of Gran &
Granddad with their dog Sunny.
There were the original
“Plotlanders” who moved to Laindon from Little Ilford just after
the First World War when times were tough, before they dug the
well, water was delivered by cart and for dinner, my Grandmother
would think nothing of baking a Hedgehog in a clay oven in the
garden.
The photograph below shows
the original house with corrugated roofing, my Granny is the one
standing proudly behind her front gate, and just to her left is my
great grandmother Mary. It is estimated this photo was taken around
the mid 1920’s.
By the time the next
photograph was taken to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George
the 5th in 1935, a new house had been built on the site,
that’s my mother dressed as Britannia.
This photograph is again of
my mother, this time sitting in the garden, the trees in the
background are in the southeast corner of the plot which are still
there to this day, although a little larger than they used to be!
It was taken in the early 1950’s
This final photograph shows
how I remember the house, the oak tree in the foreground is still
there although again it is much larger than it use to be. It was
taken in the late 1960’s and just to orientate yourself, the A127
is behind you.
My granddad died in 1969
and my granny in 1978 and the house stood empty for a time before
being destroyed by a fire in the early 1980’s. The cache is hidden
where the garage once stood on the west side of the house, just out
of shot on the left hand side of this picture.
Noak Bridge Nature Reserve
is excellent for dragonflies and damselflies, butterflies and
visiting warblers. There are also several ponds, open flower rich
grasslands and developing woodland. Spring and summer offer the
visitor a rich mix of wildlife within this small reserve. Offers
easy trail access but limited access for wheelchair users.
The grassland is colourful with a wide variety of wayside flowers
that attract good numbers of butterflies - up to 21 species. The
scrubby areas are attractive to warblers and lots of dead trees
within the wooded sections ensure that Green and Great-Spotted
Woodpeckers are common. Ponds and damp ditches are used by frogs
which are themselves hunted by grass snakes.
The footpath from Eastfield Road
gives the option of a circular route within the
reserve. Visitors may wish to take the path westwards along the
raised embankment and exit the reserve at either
Miles Grey Road (via
the footbridge across the A127) or
Coppice
Lane.
Happy hunting and please
treat this nature reserve with the respect it deserves.