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This story was submitted to the People's War website by Nina Davey on behalf of Harry Pilgrim, the author and has been added to the site with his permission. the author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Horticulture was not really allowed during the war, unless it was coupled with prolific vegetable production. Our garden’s central feature was a group of four huge square flowerbeds around an ornamental pond. My father removed all of these and turfed the area. It remains that way to this day. Cutting the lawns was a double handed job, one pushing and one pulling — usually me! By the beach we had the deck house of HMS Lion, which my father prepared for the LDV (Local Defence Volunteers) later the Home Guard, to use. With the Dutch Naval College at nearby Enys, we had many Dutch sailors to visit or stay. One night the Home Guard on duty pounced on a Dutch naval officer, convinced they had caught a German parachutist. As there were only two of them they were not willing to go up to the hotel to check, so held him there till morning!

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