Woman aged 99 returns to Devon house of her birth

A 99-year-old woman who returned to the house where she was born says she has "never been so happy".

Rhoda Till visited Shilstone House near Modbury with 32 family members on Saturday, after an invite from its current owners.

She was asked to record her memories, in the first interview to be done for a new project set up by the Devon Rural Archive.

Ms Till said: "I've got very happy memories of every minute there."

"Little things made us very happy and we didn't have all the equipment they have got today," she continued.

"We just went for it and if you made a mistake you did it differently the next day."

Ms Till's father was a farmer who worked in the surrounding fields before the family moved in 1952.

She was born at the house on the 10 November 1923 and lived there until she got married, aged 24.

Current owner Sebastien Fenwick bought the house in 1997 before refurbishing it and said it was "absolutely wonderful" to host Ms Till and her family.

He said: "We heard some wonderful stories of how they managed before tractors came in, using horse and carts - just the very basic, everyday life. Which is so different to how it is today.

"It was an absolute pleasure."

The Devon Rural Archive is kept at the property, and Ms Till is the first person to be interviewed as part of an oral history project.

Mr Fenwick said: "We are going around finding people in their 80s and 90s who would like to talk to us about how their lives were.

"We want the memories to live on and record every day life."

Ms Till said that among her memories are of her "rascal" brother pinching freshly cooked buns from the kitchen, and her father having the only telephone for miles.

She said: "The neighbouring farmer had a cow that was ill and had to walk a mile to my dad, to use the phone to ring the vet.

"And we never locked the door in those days. The postman used to come in, he had his own mug and there was always rough cider there for him."

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