As a gift to my mum

My mother-in-law has been researching both her family history and my FIL's side for as long as I can remember. My uncle had spent years working on my father's side of the family but my mum, then aged 75, was an only child and knew very little about her parents' background. She emigrated to Australia after marrying my Aussie dad and has not had much contact with the few relatives she has left in England; apart from Christmas cards, of course.

Spurred on by watching every episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?" when it started in Australia, I wondered if I would find out anything about my English family. I took a fourteen day trial with Find My Past then another with Ancestry UK and I was hooked! So much fun! So addictive! I took all my direct lines back as far as I could, working a part time job and researching about forty hours a week! In six months, at Christmas, I presented my mother with a book which detailed everything I could find, including the story of where her mother and her aunt had contracted ringworm (they were in the children's home when they contracted it and were sent to the Goldie Lee Home).

After a few months hiatus, I started researching the descendants of my English great-grandparents, then started on my great-great-grandparents' descendants. There is always someone new to discover! And I am still addicted! The records from England make research so easy. In Australia, we have no saved census details to refer to, and privacy laws mean we cannot access many of the indexes for the twentieth century that I had begun to take for granted with my English relatives.

When my husband retires, we plan a trip to the UK to visit the towns and villages that were home to our ancestors.

 

Lynne, I was in a similar situation as your mother - the only child of English parents and no other family in Oz. I had a very tenuous connection with a first cousin on my father's side and the name and address of a second cousin on my mother's side. So, with nothing to lose, I made contact with them. We have now had four visits to the UK and they have also become addicted with family history. We have visited churches, found headstones, war memorials, etc. We have found that complete strangers are willing to help. I'm sure that you'll have a great time, but wear comfortable shoes and allow plenty of time!

 

I discovered this when I realised my ancestors in Wiltshire were marrying people from across the county border! Thank goodness for programs like "Escape to the Country" where the nearest village is described as being just a "couple of miles away"!

 

Thanks for the advice Margery. We were in England in 1983 and have done a lot of the tourist things in and around London, so next time we want to focus on our ancestral "homes" -- for me that's mostly Berkshire and Wiltshire. I am hoping we can be in Britain for months rather than weeks.

 

Start saving Lynne, it's an expensive place to live (and don't forget how weak the Aussie dollar is).

 

Thanks for the hint. I don't mind motels but I'm not really a B&B kind of person; I like my peace and quiet too much! I don't want to be sociable after a day of tramping around the countryside or searching through archives!

That's what my husband and I generally do here in Australia too! A cabin in the caravan park in the beach town where our daughter and her family live is over $1000 off-season. We've rented a cottage that sleeps six (we're taking both mother and mother-in-law) for under $800 for the week. We have a better view, and the neighbours are not as close so our young grandsons are less likely to disturb anyone.

 

Yes, we've been saving for a couple of years but then we went and bought a new house so we have a mortgage for the first time in years!