We played Ludo on the landing when we were little. There were other games - a big box full of stuff - snakes and ladders, a fancy old chess set - you had to look hard at the pieces to tell which was which - but the game that's really stuck with me was Ludo.
There were two floors in the annexe, now I think about it, with a couple of bedrooms (and maybe a bathroom) on each, which I don't think anyone ever used. Maybe a kitchen - I can't remember. But there was this big landing space where we used to play. I'm sure about that.
Mrs Holdsworth would take us back there after supper, every night from June right through to September, and we'd mess about for an hour or two before bedtime. She would sit on the box and watch us. I don't think she ever left us back there on our own.
Once she caught us running through, Molly and me chasing each other, cackling as we careered from unknown room to unknown room. She was sitting on one of the beds, looking out without expression at the door. When we burst in, she took us back to the landing and beat us.
I don't know where the door was exactly... Somewhere around here, between these beds to the left of the cupboard. There are no marks on the wall and it's so long ago that it's hard to know for sure. The memories are there, but I was young and can't trust them.
Maybe they bricked the annexe up and it's back here, intact and untouched.
But I can't help thinking that I might have made it up.
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