In 1973 Dad was transferred to the Ordnance Survey in Plymouth and for just shy of two years we lived at Magpie Cottage, 21 Edgecombe Way, St. Anns Chapel, Gunnislake in Cornwall. I was aged 6 and Emma 4 when we landed in the Tamar Valley.
It was a small 3 bed bungalow and backed onto open fields, which were owned by the neighbouring Honicombe Holiday Centre, but which had yet to be developed.
The main access to the Holiday Centre was directly off Edgecombe Way and Honicombe was basically a giant playground of woodland and rolling countryside where all the kids who lived at Edgecombe Way could roam free (mainly on bikes) in a semi-feral manner. Certainly no-one ever seemed to stop us.
Contained within the extensive grounds were holiday caravans of varying berths at which the centre was the grandly historic Honicombe Manor House (from when it was a private estate). There was also a mini-market where we could buy sweets. This was very convenient but an even bigger draw for us kids was a games room with pinball, slots and table football, plus a television room. I am sure it was meant for holidaymaker guests only but it was all pretty unregulated.
But even back then the site was growing and changing and a big new feature was summer bungalows, modern open plan three bedroom chalet style accommodation, all pretty flash for the 70s and a huge upgrade on the holiday caravans. These bungalows signalled the start of the transition to holiday lodges and villas which subsequently became available for private ownership in the late 1980s.
But back in 1974 just two of these summer bungalows had been built. And one day Mum & Dad were approached along with our neighbours and their kids to appear in a photo shoot for a new brochure for the Holiday Centre, which was going to feature the new bungalows prominently.
I recall Dad being very excited about this opportunity and we scrubbed up nicely to cosplay as a wholesome nuclear family enjoying our summer holidays at Honicombe where the tagline was “fun for all”. There was no need for a foreign package tour when we had the amazing facilities of the Honicombe Holiday Centre and its luxurious new summer bungalows to enjoy, described immodestly as:
“The height of luxury and comfort in the carefree world of self-catering accommodation”
Who could argue with this when the bungalows even had bathrooms which included a new-fangled bidet? All very chic and continental.
I was delighted when I recently found the actual brochure in the attic at Malmsey, it is a magnificently cheesy relic of 70s styles, stereotypes and sexism.
Dad sports long hair and a very bushy moustache and apart from opening the fridge door and mugging for the camera clutching a packet of Corn Flakes is otherwise depicted reading the paper. Mum on the other hand gets to enjoy a nice spot of ironing thoughtfully captioned “Ironing in the Lounge” (such holiday fun!) whilst Emma and I and two other kids are wedged into a very shiny and contemporary built in dining table unit at which we are clearly marvelling.
Of course the pictures are now as dated as you can possibly imagine, particularly the bedding and curtains in the children’s bedroom featuring that classic 70s floral design of sludge brown and mustard yellow. And the breathless text tells its own story of accommodation standards back then when readers were bound to be enticed by the luxury on offer including:
- Wall to wall fitted carpets throughout
- A plentiful supply of hot water at no extra charge
- No extra charge for electricity nor is there a coin slot meter for anything
- Two portable fan heaters for use should there be a chilly evening
There are other gems. We learn that Honicombe Holiday Centre is a place where:
“….husbands become more attentive, wives more charming and the unmarried team up together…”
But my favourite part of the brochure is probably its closing sign off following a section on local attractions.
“At night the holiday maker can return to Honicombe to dance, drink, enjoy himself, often until the early hours of the morning, free to come and go as he pleases, to eat what he wants, to sleep when he wants, and to get up when he wants”.
Phew! Such freedom! The implication is clear: this is better than those fusty ‘ol guesthouses and small hotels with their rules and curfews and mandatory vacating of rooms in the daytime. But such a shame only the male holidaymaker can enjoy these new freedoms, for the females it seems there is just too much ironing to get done.
Honicombe is still there, with only a minor rebranding to Honicombe Holiday Village & Leisure Centre and Honicombe Manor remains at the historical heart of the village.
But there is one big difference: the access from Edgecombe Way (originally the main entrance) was permanently blocked and redirected to the current entrance at St Anns Chapel during the major site redevelopment in the late 1980s.
So Edgecombe Way kids no longer get the run of the place. Shame.
And those open fields I once looked out over from my bedroom are long gone too, replaced by leylandii to screen dense rows of Manorcombe and Lamerton holiday bungalows.
I know this not (for once) thanks to Google Maps but because we paid a return visit to 21 Edgecombe Way in June 2024. I was too shy but Jane marched up outside and the owner was happy to let us have a look around the front and back garden. It was a strange and unsettling feeling; everything was as I remembered but different too, like a dream sequence.
And so I passed on an opportunity to go the long way around to the new main entrance and check out the Manor House (now housing the Honicombe Arms rather than the Cornish Bar and classily named “Nosh” self-service restaurant as it was known back then). The games and television rooms will be long gone and the convenience store will no doubt be more comprehensively stocked now that the holiday park is home to over 100 lodges, villas and bungalows.
It is true what they say that you can never really go back.
Looking at the website today the boast is that some of the lodges even have their own private hot tubs. Now that would truly have blown our minds.
But we were happy in 1974 and the brochure got one thing right, it was indeed a place where
“little children can play in safety with never a moment of boredom”.
