AN ELDERLY lady amazed builders by showing them a 'secret' gate unopened for more than half a century at the house they were renovating.

Workmen had been refurbishing the building in Manor Road, Bladon, for almost a year, but had failed to spot the gate as it was hidden behind shrubbery.

That was until 85-year-old Judith Thompson visited the property, where she lived as a child, and fascinated developers with her memories.

Mrs Thompson would use the gate several times every week to access the village and builders from J and B Developments are now planning to reinstate the original door and pathway.

Read also: Woodstock police move in with town's firefighters

She said: "They wouldn't have found it and would never have known it was there.

"It used to lead down some steps and at the bottom there used to be a lovely lawn, but it's all rough now.

"I was so grateful to be able to see it again."

Mrs Thompson's father, Clifford, built the house and the family moved in when she was four, in 1938.

The Witney resident recalled how they housed evacuees from London and men working in the war office during the Second World War, when MI5 used Blenheim Palace as a base.

Oxford Mail:

She also recounted sledging down the steps during the winter with her sister, Margaret Minte, while the family would traipse up and down four times every Sunday to go to Bladon Methodist Church.

In 1955, Mrs Thompson married husband Don and they bought the house from her father, who built another home across the road.

They saw Sir Winston Churchill's funeral procession travel past the house ten years later, but Mrs Thompson last used the gate in 1966 - in the week England won the football world cup.

The couple moved five miles north east to Tackley, before settling in Witney.

Read also: Countryfile 'likely to leave Blenheim Palace', exhibitors told

Her sister, now 82 and living in nearby Woodstock, visited the house earlier this month and suggested Mrs Thompson should take a nostalgia trip.

She said: "It brings back lots of memories. I remember playing and going to the woods.

"You used to be able to see the lake at Blenheim Palace from the living room."

Oxford Mail:

Builders from Kirtlington-based J and B Developments offered the family the chance to see the 'transformed' house, which led to the rediscovery of the gate.

Barry Grinham, one of the developer's directors, said: "We knew two [other] sisters had been there for a number of years, but thought they'd always lived there. It was amazing to hear Judith's stories."

Mr Grinham said the refurbishment, which started last autumn, is expected to finish today.

The house will then be put on the market.