THE Days of My Freedom was originally published in 1978 and is now reproduced by the Bow and District Historical Society.

It was written by a Bow resident who grew up in a remote thatched cottage outside the village in the 1920's. This is an autobiographical account of her life and will be a fascinating read to those who know Bow - or think they do.

Personal stories of what life was like before the Second World War run through the book and some of it would provoke disbelief in the young today.

Miss Griffiths wrote about the rarity of cars and planes, of her father writing and reading for the country people who were unable to do so for themselves, of a local "witch" who provided potions because the family could not afford medicine, of carving turnips for Halloween and of her parents providing lodging for the "tramps" who travelled between the Exeter and Okehampton workhouses.

The first impression from reading this book is of how much life has changed in Devon since her childhood.

Miss Griffiths died 11 years ago and would have been only 88 today. Yet her childhood seems far more long ago.

It has been years since bread was delivered by pony and wagon, when children were sewn into their underwear for winter warmth or when milk was fetched each morning from a local farm.

Few children today would believe that it is within living memory that earth closets were commonplace in Devon or that wells supplied drinking water.

Or that children would search through the fields at night looking for pixies. Country people today will be able to relate to her memories of the seasons, of hay-making, sheep-dipping and gathering hedge-row fruit. But even they will find much has changed in the countryside.

The book ends with a disastrous storm which destroys the thatched roof and the family moved into Bow where, for the first time, at 10 years old, Grace Griffiths had a flush toilet. Shortly afterwards they moved to Crediton, which obviously felt like a big city after the wild countryside life she had enjoyed.

Curiously, it is was eight years later and now, 70 years ago this month, that Crediton had its rush of evacuees that would have very different experiences.

The Days of My Freedom is about a time which was quieter, far simpler and yet also much poorer than modern life. Television, mobile phones and computer games would dominate an account written today of modern childhood. It would also make less interesting reading.

Copies of the book are available to buy at The Crediton Country Courier office priced £5.

Dr Todd Gray