Happy Fair Oak days at Sprinfield.

My interest in the Hampshire village of Fair Oak, three and a half miles from Eastleigh, stems from my father’s childhood memories. My father was Eric John CLARK bom 22 July 1907, who lived with his three sisters, Eileen Nora bom 1904, Joan Mary bom 1912, Enid Elizabeth bom 1914 and their widowed mother, Dorothy Maria Clark (nee Axford bom 1883). The family lived with his grandparents John Edward AXFORD (1856 -1934) and Dinah (1851-1924) at “Springfield”, Fair Oak, which was a detached house situated in Botley Road. It was the home from 1886 to 1926 and market garden business of the Axford family with extensive greenhouses, vegetable gardens, orchards and a seven-acre field.