The secluded valley of Balsdean is hidden from Woodingdean by the Downs.

When I was between five and seven years old, from 1939 to 1941, I lived on the farm there with my foster parents, Mr and Mrs Nicholls and other farm workers.

What I recall most are the lovely downland flowers in spring and summer which I saw a lot of on the long walks to Warren Farm School at Woodingdean.

We and the Dixon family were given our marching orders by the Army to leave the houses about 1940 or 1941.

We moved to another farmstead, the Cambridgeshire Farm, which I believe was demolished in 1976 or 1977.

It was another long walk from there to school at Falmer, opposite the village pond. The teachers were Miss Pascoe and Miss Francis.

There was no electricity or running water at this farm.

We had to draw water from a well which did not always work and sometimes there was a dead bird or two in there.

We cooked on an old kitchen range, burning wood, or coal if we could get it.

Provisions were carried from the shops in Woodingdean and mail would have to be collected from either there or Falmer.

I cannot find Cambridgeshire Farm on a current Ordnance Survey map so am not sure exactly where it was.

However, I know exactly where Balsdean was and revisited it recently.

I have visited many places in Britain but the Downs around Brighton and Lewes are uniquely beautiful.

-J Munro, Newmarket, Suffolk