THIS weekend sees the well-established and popular Heritage Day events taking place all over the country. Historic sites and buildings, many of which are not usually accessible, throw open their doors to the public, usually offering free entry.

There is a wide variety of sites to visit in Hampshire, ranging from stately homes to churches, and brickworks to mills.

Whilst most visitors will enjoy the experience of seeing a new building or place they haven’t seen before and learning about its history, for some people the visit will take them back into their own past and become a trip “down memory lane”.

This is just what happened to Totton resident, Janet Osborne, when she took advantage of an Open Day at Townhill Park House, Southampton.

Townhill Park House is now the home of The Gregg School, but, since it was built 100 years ago, it has had a chequered history.

It was originally the home of Louis, Lord Swaythling , his wife Lady Gladys and their four children. They lived a life of luxury there with numerous servants. A total of 25 gardeners tended the beautiful gardens, which had been designed by Gertrude Jekyll, one of England’s foremost horticulturalists.

In 1927 Lord Louis was succeeded by his son, Lord Stuart, who developed a magnificent valley garden in Marlhill Copse, good enough to rival the de Rothschild’s at Exbury Gardens.

The Second World War saw the family move out and the house taken over by the Red Cross as a convalescent home for soldiers. When hostilities were finally over, society had changed, and Lord Swaythling decided to sell up and move to a more modest farmhouse near Ascot. Southampton Council bought large areas of land for housing and built the Townhill estate, but the mansion and 11 acres of grounds were bought by Middlesex County Council in 1948 for use as a boarding school for girls aged between seven and 11 years old who had learning difficulties.

The elegant rooms were converted into dormitories and classrooms for 50 pupils, and residential accommodation for the staff.

Lord and Lady Swaythling’s luxurious sunken bath, which was decorated in turquoise blue polished glass tiles and had a spout in the shape of a lion’s head for the hot water, became the staff bathroom.

Janet had always loved children and wanted to train as a Norland Nanny at London's famous college, but this was too expensive. Instead she accepted jobs as a nursery-maid in aristocratic families to gain experience, eventually caring for the children of wealthy parents in Belgravia, London.

However, Janet desperately missed her own family and having been brought up on the Isle of Wight, she also longed to be near the sea, so she decided to look for a job back in Southampton. A post as a children’s supervisor at Townhill Park School seemed to offer new opportunities, so Janet went to work there in 1955.

Along with three other girls who were supervisors, she “lived in” at the school. Her wages were six pounds and seven shillings (£6.35) per week with two pounds and five shillings (£2 .25p) deducted for board and lodging and the laundering of her white overalls.

They had one day off a week, but were responsible for the children, and “on duty”, at all other times whenever they were needed.

Janet had a large bedroom overlooking the gardens and was responsible for two dormitories accommodating 12 girls which adjoined her room.

Janet would rouse the children at 7 a.m. and had to ensure that they were all washed and dressed before breakfast, no easy task bearing in mind that the pupils had learning difficulties and had to be taught to look after themselves properly as part of their education.

After breakfast they had to learn to make their own beds and tidy the bedrooms before going down to start their lessons with the teachers.

The headmistress, Miss Masters, was kindness itself with the children, but she was very strict with her staff.

Although they were all young women it was very difficult for them to go out to the cinema or dances because Miss Masters insisted that they should be in by 11p.m , at which time the front door was locked. Another drawback was the walk up the mile-long drive from Woodmill in pitch darkness if they had been out, unless they could afford the expense of a taxi out of their meagre wages.

So courting was quite difficult. Janet’s boyfriend, Trevor, bought a motor bike and that made life much easier. Janet left the school in 1959 when she got married.

Townhill Park School remained open until 1969 when it was deemed too expensive to continue and it was closed down. It was said that it cost as much to keep a child at Townhill as it did to send a boy to Eton. The house next became a hostel for Merchant Navy cadets, then a conference centre for some years, and in 1994 it was bought by The Gregg School.

Townhill Park House and gardens will be open to the public on Sunday September 13th from 2pm-5pm.

Free admission and parking. Partial disabled access. Refreshments and free guided tours of the house led by the school prefects. Entertainment by Southampton Ukulele Jam. Display of Classic cars, and plant stall.