Next morning we begin the search in the lovely English village of Ashton under Hill, so named as it situated at the foot of Bredon Hill and overlooks the Vale of Evesham. The village centre is idyllic, it could be the picture on a calendar or an old 1000-piece jigsaws, with its black and white thatched cottages and the church on three sides of the small triangular village green on which stands the old Celtic Cross. The Saxon Church is mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086 and is listed as St Andrew’s at that time. It was renamed in the 18^thcentury when it survived a lightning strike. The church is well maintained and still used, but the graveyard has been left in the past with few of the old gravestones left standing. We speculated that under the well-maintained and cut grass there must lie hundreds of gravestones now buried, keeping their secrets forever hidden. Not surprisingly, we only found one Cuff grave among those left standing (or exposed), one William Cuff (1807-1893) but not related to our branch of the family. This was a disappointment as Ashton under Hill was likely the home of the Cuff families for generations and the churchyard must hold so much information about their earlier past.

We have to be pragmatic and remember that the churchyard at Kirklinton in Cumbria is unusual in that almost all the graves are visible, well preserved and readable! In the heat of the day we walk through the village and enjoy the relaxed ambiance, the fruit trees laden with apples and hedgerows full of berries. Plenty of blackberries were picked and eaten later for tea.

Day 2 – Hasfield

Day 3 – Leigh

Leigh is a civil parish in the Malvern Hills district of Worcestershire about 5 miles/8km west of the City of Worcester located where Leigh Brook meets the River Teme. It was once the location of Leigh Court manor house, which dates back to the 1300s and belonged to the Benedictine monks of Pershore. The Abbot himself resided here at one time and was the overseer of the extensive farmlands until 1540 when the Abbey was closed. It passed into private ownership but it is unclear when the Manor itself fell into disrepair and disuse. All that remains now is Leigh Court barn, a magnificent cruck barn dating from 1344 which was used for the storage of grain until the last century (the Barn is now managed by English Heritage). The Saxon church of St Edburga stands next to the site of Leigh Court (now luxury private houses). It was also built by the Benedictine monks from Pershore Abbey in 1100 replacing an earlier church built on land granted by King Edgar in 972 AD. The new church was dedicated to Edburga (granddaughter of Alfred the Great), one of the patron saints of Pershore Abbey. The church still retains much of its 900-year ancient history and is worth a visit.

While still an active church, the graveyard is mostly mown grass, no doubt the older graves long since buried beneath this. Not surprisingly there were no relevant family graves found here. Leigh and the other nearby villages were at one time no more than a collection of farms and farm communities, isolated from everything except the minutiae of their lives in and around their own village. Some villages like Leigh gave a good sense of this, apart from modern housing nothing much has changed

Day 3 – Alfrick and Martley in Worcestershire.

We began at Leigh, the home of the Hyde family for generations. The Parish Church of St Edburga, disappointingly there were no Hyde graves found at any of the church yards.

The churchyards in general did not preserve the grave stones like they have done in Cumbria and Yorkshire. In most graveyards the grass had been allowed to grow over the graves and it is mown as grass. However, we visited some very interesting places making it a fascinating week. The weather was hot and sunny, with temperatures in the high twenties and up to 30c most days. The blackberries were cropping heavily and we picked several pound every other day.

Day 4 – Tewkesbury

We drive to Tewkesbury in the morning as the hot weather is breaking (it has already rained in the night), but the temperature is still 22C and looking thundery.

This should be a good day to revisit the places where my mother Doreen Garbutt was born and her mother Doris Lampard was born and brought up. It is a place full of memories, people and places of my childhood.

Parking on the Gloucester Road car park we walk across the road to Tewkesbury Abbey, a wonderful Saxon abbey rebuilt in the gothic style by the Normans. The place where Edward IV broke those seeking sanctuary in 1471, riding their war horses into the abbey and slaughtering all those in the sanctuary who supported Henry VI.

Gill reflects on the Page family of my grandmothe; they were baptised, married and buried here. Next we walk down Swilgate Street and along the Alleys: Lilley’s, Fish Alley, Fletcher the sheet-metal worker’s Alley and many more, clean with brick-paved floors and black and white painted walls. Not a bit like they were 180 years ago when Marianne Hyde (Doris’s mother) lived here.

We cross to Barton Street to look at the Alleys on the other side, rain begins, so heavily that we have to take shelter in a doorway. It pours for about 20 minutes; we are not impressed! No more walking the alleys, the sky is heavy with rain. We turn left down Chance Street and walk to the pair of semi-detached houses halfway down, numbers 20 and 22 where Doris’ half-brother Harold and wife Florence lived at number 20. They lived here for 50 years or so.

We take photos but it is raining steadily now so we return to the camper via Barton Street (not High Street where my mother was born). We have some lunch and it stops raining. We decide we have time for a riverside walk, past the old Abbey Mill here for almost 1000 years, built by the monks and the only watermill until about 1750 when Healing’s flour mill opened. It is picturesque and we take photographs of the Abbey Mill and weir and Tudor cottages where Nell, my grandmother’s cousin lived. We return to the camper and the campsite, only just in time as the heavens open and torrential rain pours all afternoon and into the evening, everywhere is flooded.

We drive home the following day.