Kitchen Garden Forum

I was talking to one of the posher folk in the village today, we got talking about how the village used to be before he had moved here. I got round to telling him how we were one of the last ones to have an inside toilet, and had to go down the garden to the outside loo. And this was only just over thirty years ago. The look on his face was utter disgust and amazement, which led me into greater detail.
So i told him how we used to dig a trench in the vegetable garden, empty the bucket and bury it.
I also told him about the time my auntie came to stay and dropped her lighter in the bucket, she said she was sitting down and dropped it, how it fell in i don't know because she was a big old girl, so i had to delve about until i found it. Bet he won't ask about the village again in a hurry.
Can anyone else remember emptying the bucket.
Oh by the way hope you enjoy your suppers.

Kind regards the bucket emptying Old Herbaceous.

Theres no fool like an old fool.

Hi Oldherb

In the late 70's / early 80's I lived in a house in Hampshire which was a terrace of eight, we had the outside loo buildings stil in tact, we used them as tool sheds, down the bottom of the garden, there was a fantastic rhubarb patch which I am told was on the sight of the 'trench' although human excrement is pretty dodgy for veg.

Outside loos are excellent for gardens and outdoor living, and lets face it all unpleasant smells and noises are excluded from the house, some things have not necessarily changed for the better? Do we not think?

I love outsiders.

Toilets that is, remember being very impressed with my Uncle's house which had a discrete wooden door at the rear of the house and a concrete floor.

Wish we had one, not allowed in with boots on.

Ah the joys of the old thunderbox!

valmarg

Hello,
My grandparents lived in a Lincolnshire half cottage..with an "outside" as mentioned in use up to c.1980...this lead to a good nettle patch in the corner of the Fen field where the bucket was taken.

Drinking water was from a hand pump which also with the addition of a wooden chute filled a trough in the yard and by virtue of a link pipe filled another tank on the same level in the Home field for the cattle.
No electricity...parafin lamp and stove with a
range type oven alongside fire in kitchen.
No dustcart visit...

Then came a big rate/water rate demand from the new fangle amalgamated local council....Hang on a minute...no sewage removal, no water being piped in (abstraction licence held), no dustcart rubbish removal..some adjustment of rate needed...and was acheived...

A magic place to visit every weekend..when I was a little lad.. I mean cottage, fields, cattle, apple trees, grandads garden on very very heavy clay, the "wood shed" where I spent hours in the winter sawing thorn logs for gran'..Orchard grass to tame with Qualcast B1 push mower.

..and the "outside" too

All the best,
Clive.

We've still got one! It's 'quite nice', tiled floor, panelled walls, hot water and all. OH won't let me in when I'm mucky so it was essential.

Hello Tigger, we could of only dreamt about hot water.
Is yours a flush toilet or still the old bucket kind, and if so who gets the job of emptying it.

Kind regards an interested Old Herbaceous.

Theres no fool like an old fool.

I've got a fancy flush one outside, but hot water, you're posh ain't you Tigger?

LOL what a hoot as the posh folk would say ,
my other half always goes on about the chemical toilet they had on the broads about 40 years ago cant say I would have liked to have seen it but the discription is graphic enough .
we used to have an outside lavvy it was a bit of wood went from one side of the wall to the other with a hole in the middle of course but it was posh it had a flush
Fuchsia

Ain't I just Beccy......

does a porta potti in the caravan count as an outside chemical toilet

I remember the squares of newspaper.
Pete

I found squares of newspaper in our toilet recently, carefully cut out by Tim and hung on a piece of string as he said we'd run out of loo roll. I'm not so sure, as

a) I found some loo roll in the cupboard
b) All the squares of paper had photos of well known people or government ministers on them. Hmmm

I do remember our outside toilet when I was a child, although we had an inside one too. The outside one was bitterly cold in the winter and a place to be avoided at all costs.

Hi All

My mum still has the outside privvy and it's still in working order. Not used now though.

When we were all at home it was in constant use right up till the mid 1980's. One of my brothers would be on the inside one with a book and the paper. He'd be there for hours in "the library" so the outside one was used while he was enthroned.

There was a draft though, it could be wicked when blowing in the wrong direction