Happy Home Rd in Westmorland – Named after Happy Home, the farm there owned by James George Francis (1907- 1962). The farm had been named by earlier owners and was sold to James Francis in the 1940s. First appears in street directories in 1953.
A small amount of information from the library website. There were several entries for Happy Home Farm on Papers Past. The first entries that I found were dated 1860 but many entries were in 1916. The entries in 1916 were about court case to do with a breach of the covenants of the lease of the farm. The covenant was about keeping the gorse clear on the farm but this wasn’t happening. James George Francis was only 56 when he died.
In 1957 there were complaints from the residents about people dumping rubbish on their street. In 1963 the Milk Board banned milk delivery to the street. Reason was that the street was little more than a farm track. Several entries between 1971 and 1974 about connecting sewers to the 29 houses on the street. In 1986 and 1987 there was a subdivision on this street and several sections available. The entry from 1968 about a car that ran down a driveway out of control interested me because as I walked this street yesterday I was thinking that there was no way that my little car could cope with the very steep driveways.
There is one house here from 1950s but most were built between 1980 and 2000. There were some nice houses here plus some ugly ones. I was surprised that there was a footpath for the entire street. The houses were mostly on only one side of the street especially as you got higher up the hill.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 