Villagers tell their own stories               

Jack Ankers & Don Archer were farmers in the village throughout the 20th Century, & they recorded their  memories in 1999 for the Millennium. Jack lived at Lynwood , his family owning the Kings Arms for many years. Don Archer & his family lived and farmed Top Farm for most of the 20th Century, the house has  since been renamed Prior House
 
Jack Ankers    
 
Who says rabbits can’t climb trees
 
Village Characters
 
Village Deliveries
 
Trees & Wildlife

 
Don Archer         
 
Memories of Cleeve
 
Dialects in the Vale
 
Horses on the farm
 
The Railways
 
Other Farms
 
Moving Farms & the Village Elders
 
The blacksmith, the quarry & the carpenter
 
Mrs Howes Sweet Shop
 
Growing food, holidays, the baker & the shoemaker
 
Oaks & Elms
 
Field Barn
 
Charlett’s House
 
Funerals in Cleeve Prior

 
Bernard Smith still lives in the village today. Having been evacuated to the village during the second world war, he and his wife Shelia have fond memories of the Sheaf family & Bay Tree Farm. He starts the story by telling how his mother bought the cottage they still live in today.
 
How I came to live in the village
 
Going to school during the war
 
After the War
 
The Mayor of Cleeve
 
John Sheaf Horses & Me
 
Bay Tree Farm