We went down to Cornwall to stay with Ken and Mary Langdon in their house in Cawsand. Their house was called Drum House.
Cawsand and Kingsand were twin towns only separated by a stream that ran between the two villages.
Cawsand had smugglers living there and we used to be shown the wide and roomy skirts that these women could hide bottles of illegal wines in them. The government men would not dare to search their skirts – just imagine the screech these women would make.
We used to go for walks. One was called up the bonnets and down the lanes (both very steep). But once we had done this, we knew we had taken enough exercise for the day.
Cawsand and Kingsand were completely different. Cawsand was where the smugglers lived, while Kingsand was where the government people lived.
Originally Maud Langdon was paying a visit to Cawsand, and she saw this house called The Woodlands. She completely fell in love with it and arranged to buy it. When she told Bertram what she had done, he was horrified, but when he saw it he agreed with her So they bought it.
Initially, they ran a hotel there but as their own family grew, they gave up the idea of running a hotel and the Woodlands became a much-loved home.
There was a bus stop outside the house where buses would go to Plymouth which had good secondary schools there so the Langdon younger members could get onto the bus and be taken over the river Tamar to Plymouth and Piers, Christopher and the others could get to good schools and be educated very well.