It was sad once again to say 'Goodbye' this morning to another of Peter's relatives. Gill has always been extra special as she provided a home for Tammy when she came in England in the late 1990's. Tammy stayed with Gill until she went to Cambridge nursing and Gill's home and support was always there for Tammy. Their friendship has remained more than just relatives.

Gill came to Australia when she was 17 and brought grandfather Harry Batten out for a visit. She has been back to Australia a number of times and we last saw her in October 2004, when she came with her partner Carl. We have really enjoyed our stay with Gill and Carl and 'Thank' them sincerely for their wonderful hospitality. Maybe we will see them in Australia in 2020. We will keep our fingers crossed for good health Carl.

Today we are off to trace where a number of the Carrott family lived, in the county of Lincolnshire. So from Wetherby we will head a little south and then east, before crossing the Humber Bridge. The Humber Bridge is huge and it is somewhere and something Gill has not been to or done! Cross the Humber on this huge bridge.

Before getting to the Humber we crossed the river Ouse, near Howden, whilst travelling on the M62. The river Ouse becomes quite large in width, before it flows into the Humber. Vegetables were being grown beside the river. The Humber Bridge is a toll bridge, so we paid our one pound fifty and over we went. We actually went into Barton Upon Humber, so we could get a good view of the bridge. Pretty impressive.

From there we went to Barrow Upon Humber, the first stopover in tracing the footsteps of the Carrott family. John Carrott once lived here and he was landlord at the Royal Oak Tavern. He served in the Navy in World War 1, married but had no children. He was a brother to my grandfather, Arthur and he lived until he was 89. He is buried in the Barrow Upon Humber Cemetery, but we couldn't find a headstone.

Next stop was Healing. We stopped at a village along the way to have a bite of lunch. It was a nice pastie and sausage roll for Pete. My great grandfather Charlie, had a market garden in Healing on Station Road. He lived in a bungalow named 'The Haven' at 96 Station Road. We found the street, but the bungalow has long gone and there are now many new homes in the street. In fact we really did think that there weren't any of the old homes left in the street. Both Charles and his wife Mary Anne are buried in Cleesthorpe.

We stopped in Grimsby briefly, as this was the town both my grandparents birth registrations are from. Maybe they were born here as well. Grimsby is a very old fishing town and there hasn't been much development here for a long time. Peter was keen to visit the fishing Museum, but the signage wasn't good enough to get us to where we needed to be, so a photo of the statue near the fishing wharf is our reminder of the Grimsby visit. A view snaps of the old Main Street have made me think that Arthur and Jessie made a wise decision to emigrate to Australia in 1912. Especially when one reflects on the gold strike of Arthur and eldest son Jack in Kalgoorlie in July 1939.  

The towns of Grimsby and Cleesthorpe seem to run into each other and Cleesthorpe had more appeal for us than Grimsby. By visiting these towns it does make the family history research more real.

Next stop was Binbrook. This was where Charles Carrott came to work as a farm foreman at the age of 30. We tried to find Giles Row where they lived, but were through the town before we knew it! I had to be content with a photo of the farming land, at a spot where we stopped to put in the next postcode. Frederick Carrott his son was born here and a few of the other 11 children Charles and Mary had. Fred was killed in Belgium in the First World War. He was four years younger than his brother Arthur, our Pop. Kate the eldest child lived until she was 101.

Onwards to the small village of Withern. Not a very big village at all. This was the area where great, great grandfather William Carrott settled. Initially he owned 8 acres and then increased his holding to 18 acres. He was a cattle dealer and had a carrier business. He married Anne Watson who I recently found out, actually had my two year old great grandfather Charles at that time. So.....should we really be Carrott's? Maybe we should have been Watson's! I recently told my two brothers of my research and they both looked at each other....smiled...and then said "I think I'd rather be a Carrott"!

I had seen a photo of William Carrott's headstone on a Public Family Tree, on Ancestry.com, so I knew it was in Withern somewhere! But where! We couldn't find the cemetery or a churchyard. We found a church, but it is has been renovated to a home. We could see a significant headstone in the front garden, but decided when we drove in, we really shouldn't have been there. Rather than just drive on, I decided we should check at the local pub first.

They didn't know where the headstones had been removed to and confirmed that the church and rectory were private residences in Church Lane now. They suggested we go to the next village of Alford. Just as well we decided to have a final look down Church Lane. There was a road to the Trout Farm. That was worth a look. As we turned to go to the Trout Farm, there were the headstones. They have been placed along the fence and the fence line and the trees have made a lovely avenue. The photo I had seen previously, was in a yard which was over grown with long grass. The avenue was nice and tidy. At the end of the avenue was a small cemetery and it is still used today. There has been recent burials, so much for the knowledge at the local pub. Might have to email them and let them know where their town cemetery is! We were excited with our find and we had a further look around in the cemetery. We found the double grave of another William Carrott and his wife. This was great, great grandfather William's youngest son. Great find Pete!

Feeling very satisfied we continued on down to Boston, where we had booked for the night at the White Hart hotel in the centre of town. The Sat Nav took us on a small country road. Not far from Withern, there was a field that had just been blade ploughed. The clods of earth were massive. We found a spot to pull over and get a snap. This was the type of soil William Carrott farmed. Well maybe!

We went off the main road to drive through the town of Louth. This was the registration district for another branch or leaf of the tree. Maybe even came here to this town, for the birth of a child or two. Who knows! It was a nice clean town, nice shops and a large church in the middle of the town with a coffee shop at the back.

We arrived in Boston about 4.30pm and as we got closer to this area of Lincolnshire the fields were considerably larger, there were irrigation channels and vegetables were being grown. The soil looks very rich and if the rainfall is reliable there would be good yields. Gill had said we would find this area of England flat and quite different. She was right. The roads are wider too! And it does look like hedges are slowly being removed. No fencing, so maybe these days it is more cropping.

The day had been quite cold and there was a definite chill in the air. It had rained in some areas and it was enough to leave puddles. Once settled in the hotel, we decided to go for a walk. The hotel was right beside the river and the tide was out, so it was looking really slimy with the green algae. As always Peter is keen to find the wharf and I kept saying we are miles from the sea! We walked and walked. 

St Botolph's Church is visible from wherever you are in the city. There are a couple of town square areas and one is so huge the cars do drive through it. The flowers everywhere were very appealing. Lots of eating places and a good variety of shops. It would appear the city is experiencing growth and is being cleaned up. Old warehouses near the river have been converted to flats and others pulled down and new flats built. To our surprise there were large fishing boats in the river and we could see the wharf area, but couldn't get to it. Once back at the hotel, we got the map from the car and discovered it was 6 miles to the North Sea from Boston.

We dined at the White Hart and this small hotel with its narrow passages, had plenty of fire doors. There was plenty of timber to burn should there be a fire! We had creaking wooden floors, but the ensuite had recently been renovated and even included coloured flashing lights around the bath. Quite pretty really. We had a room overlooking the green river. The tide was well in by the time we called it a night. It has been a BIG day, but a GREAT day.