Sooty's home, Lymm, Cheshire

I grew up watching The Sooty Show which featured the famous bear glove puppets Sooty and Sweep. The franchise still continues today. Harry Corbett invented the show and after his death the mantle passed to his son Matthew. Here I am outside Matthew's former home splat on the side of the canal in Lymm village.

Matthew and his wife Sally bought this cottage in 1994. They loved canals and had a narrow-boat so a waterside setting was apt. The boat was sometimes moored in Castlefield in Manchester as when Matthew was filming shows in Manchester he’d sleep on the water.

The couple bought the cottage for £180,000 and set about renovating it. They lived here for twenty years before moving to the south of England to be nearer their children. Matthew caught Corona virus and was in Warrington General Hospital for ten nights and almost didn’t make it. It spooked the move to a retirement village in Horsham in West Sussex

While driving around Cheshire grave-hunting I thought I’d visit Lymm (on a dull day.) I read the cottage is the most photographed building in Lymm and it’s not difficult to see why. On a warm sunny day there wouldn’t more idyllic places to live. Good to see Sooty's home. I did a salute and left.

Matthew and Sally outside their front door...