Paul Couchman - Regency Cook

@marionfolkie How very beautiful!

@TheRegencyCook Oh yes. Ours have come really good this year. They're as sweet as jam inside. Also, our blackcurrants are edible straight off the bushes. Usually they have a very strong musty flavour but this year they're lovely! The grapes aren't ours 😁

To & tailing. Self-grown gooseberries on their way to my freezer for enjoying later. Are you a gooseberry lover too?

@ExhibitionsGM How delicious that sounds.

@TheRegencyCook We love them. I made red gooseberry ice-cream a while ago. It’s so delicious

@janV_CA It’s a Katana Saya. Lovely & sharp. I’d recommend.

@TheRegencyCook Definitely 😍 'Kruisbessen' as we call them here. Yet even more impressed by your Japanese petty knife. Which one is that?

@ShariAStewart Tart. If you are lucky you’ll find a ripe one but they are best, in my opinion, cooked slowly with sugar in a pie or crumble. Think of using them like rhubarb & you won’t go wrong.

@TheRegencyCook I have never had gooseberries. Are they sweet or tart?

@poochiewalker Such a short season. I grab them when I see them. Damsons too. The best things in life, like fruit, are elusive.

@TheRegencyCook Yes. Had some at the market two weeks ago and I missed them. Gutted.

@lorrainepaylor Thx Lorraine. Yes I’ve been trying all these archives but unfortunately my ancestors were so poor that there’s little to find. Coincidentally however my favourite fish restaurant is about 5 mins from where my great grandparents were living in the 1920s! Plymouth’s east end.

@TheRegencyCook I don’t know how extensive Plymouth library archives are but you may find historical street maps and they could have digitised local newspapers which are fascinating glimpses into the lives of our ancestors. Apologies if you have already thought of this.

Your help is needed. I'm transcribing some family history and my grandparents address in the Census of 1921 is fiendishly difficult to read. Can you work out what is BEFORE Teats Hill, Plymouth? A number? All guesses welcome.

@Graye101101 That’s really useful thank you.

@steveifyoulike That’s fascinating & may explain a lot.

@TheRegencyCook or a rooming house without numbered rooms. The street (and house) where I live has lots of old census entries with just the street name because it was all rooming houses.

@niki_milligan Agree!!

@TheRegencyCook By the way… These sites say not allowed to copy images. The copyright laws are that unless they have made significant changes they do NOT have copyright. Scanning a document does dot give them ANY copyright. Screenshot away! Gov should not have this stuff behind a paywall

@Liedora2 This is do helpful. Thank you.

@TheRegencyCook That area was notoriously overcrowded, with several households being at the same address. From my own research of my ancestors, and using the 1921 census, it looks like they used 'Ar' to mean at. As my family came from a similarly overcrowded area, this was used on their entry.

@Williewoose 2 houses for Ar Icats Hill, that's interesting. I Icats Hill is a transcription mistake for Teats Hill, looking at the map of the time there could be an area of Teats Hill before it becomes Teats Hill Road. I suspect that's what we are looking at, no way of confirming as yet. thx

@TheRegencyCook 1911 census and 1939 register clearly show just 5 houses 1-5 for Teats Hill Road - No Couchmans 1921 doesn't show anything but 2 houses show for AR Icats Hill Google AI recognises AR Icats Hill as Teats Hill Road Strange one

@LucyStorer3 4 could work. I'm going through the neighbours' houses and 7 doesn't seem to exist on the census, so it could be that, if I can't find 4 there's another contender...

@TheRegencyCook Don’t think it’s 7 - there’s another 7 on the document and they don’t look alike. Quite possibly 4 r (cursive) as in rear flat of the property. A very large villa converted perhaps?

@APillar123 oh excellent. I'm busy looking at a later map but this one has a little more detail thank you Alison!

@TheRegencyCook The map for 1914 suggests that it might well be behind another building. The entry before, is for someone living in a Caravan on Parr Street.

@Streakyblue1951 A quick check of a neighbour reveals that "Rd' was added later the enumerator missed it, hence the confusion, so I've learned something else. Your suggestion has helped me incredibly so far, thanks again.

@TheRegencyCook Are you able to see the other entries for the street, as the households will be on the Census record sequentially? Any chance they were still living there in 1939? If they were alive in Sept 1939 and not in the forces, they'll be on that.

@Streakyblue1951 That's a great idea. Ok will look. Thank you.

@offhandmanor1 I'm thinking 7 rear might be closest...fascinating. Thank you, I seem to be getting closer.

@TheRegencyCook 7r? 7 rear. But I think that’s a v American sort of designation?

@The_Marmalady Unfortunately no more readable and the transcription was completely useless. It took me ages to work out it was Teats Hill. The transcription had something like 'Ar Cat' which was completely wrong.

@TheRegencyCook It looks a bit like Av (the v in superscript) -- short for Avenue -- but that doesn't really make sense. Are the addresses on the forms either side more readable?

@BaconRolypoly It's definitely Couchman, that's my name. Tricky isn't it the rest...?

@TheRegencyCook One word reads like 'Couchinan' but I can't make out the rest.