For years, Claire Marsh drove past the house she grew up in and smiled. Then a new website helped her walk back through the door.
The Eastleigh, Hampshire, woman connected with the house’s current owner through HouseStories, a website designed for sharing memories about places people once lived. After leaving a comment and some photos, she soon found herself on the doorstep of her childhood home.
“I always missed this house. We moved into a bigger house with more land but I still miss this house. I love this house,” she told the BBC.
Claire now lives less than 0.8 kilometres from the property and passes it every day. She lived there until the age of 10 with her parents and four brothers.
Her parents, Lynn and Mike Burrows, joined her for the recent visit.
The house was derelict when the family moved in in 1976 and needed renovating.
Mike said: “I’m so pleased to see everything left as we left it, and what I built, what I made. I’m overjoyed with it.”
“Whenever I drive past this house, it always makes me smile,” Claire said.
The Burrows family home stood within 1.2 hectares of land that Claire said was full of wildlife. She used to keep animals there and ride motorbikes with her siblings, before Ascot Close covered most of the area.
“I always was surrounded by animals and plants and the house became part of my grounding, and I think more than anything this house is a grounding house.
“I’m actually married to a farmer now so I’ve still got the plants and still got the animals around me.”
Current homeowner Roger Doughty said: “I actually picture it in those days as probably being quite utopian… the kids running around on their little enduro motorbikes.”
HouseStories was set up earlier this year so Hampshire residents could create a timeline and archive of memories attached to homes they had lived in. It has since expanded to cover the rest of the country.
Its founder, Donna Line, from Droxford, said she started the website because she was “nosey”.
“I’m always on Rightmove looking at houses and I just thought there are so many stories that are lost, because everyone moves, and I just wanted a place where people can save their memories.”
Claire said the visit had helped settle something for her.
“It’s brought some peace to my life because for so many years I’ve been wanting to come back in and see it,” she said.
“It’s just been lovely to come back and spend some time here looking around and reminiscing and making new friends too.”
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