Meeting the Ancestors

Since it began I have been fascinated by the programme Who Do You Think You Are? I always felt it would be almost worth becoming famous to have some BBC researcher find exciting things about my family history, then lead me on a treasure hunt of discovery.
I mean, we had some interesting family legends. You know the standard vanities that probably all families have. My Gran (or rather Great Gran) was a veritable gold mine of stories. One of her favourites was that her father's family, the Cliffes, were descended from the Normans and used to own Kent. Her evidence was:
1. It was a slightly unusual and possibly (if you said it with an accent) French sounding name.
2. Her family came from Kent.
And then there are the standard war hero stories to discover; a guy that may or may not have looked after Lord Kitchener's horses; and maybe a ship's captain.
So, with lots of free time on my hands, and my living family at work or school, I decided to make the acquaintance of my ancestors.
I have two weeks. Those Ancestry websites always give you a free trail for that amount of time so in my eagerness not to have an obscene amount of money go onto my credit card,  I am almost a little too dedicated. They may be family but due to a notable lack of inheritance from them I ain't paying.
It's fun though you know. Every time you see a name you know on a census, or birth index, or marriage certificate it's exciting. I FOUND HIM I FOUND HIM!!
That was what I was screaming when I found the military records for my Great Great Grandfather who had for two days been annoyingly allusive.
Before I go into it, let me warn you: if you ever do research into your own family history be aware that they were very free with their names and vital information in the past. This man seems to start off life as Woods William Cliff. By the time he's in the army he's dropped the Woods (well, fair enough...I would too). His wife is just as bad. Sometimes shes Frances Eliza Bennett, other times Eliza Frances or Frances E. or...and then there are changing surnames to contend with.
Anyway, so I eventually tracked down (Woods) William in the Royal Horse Artillery. Army records are the best ones. For example I know that W.W was 5 ft 5 and about 8.5 stone (thanks for the short gene!), fair haired, grey eyed, of 'fresh' complexion and once broke his right leg because an excitable young horse fell on him. There are about four pages of records that discuss the accident and all conclude 'the injury is not likely to interfere with his future efficiency as a soldier.' All written in beautiful but almost illegible handwriting.
I feel like I know the man quite well. I've grown to be quite fond of the little guy. Especially as I have a vague memory of seeing a photo of Frances E. and I believe she looked a bit like Miss Trunchbull. I hope she was a nice lady or poor man.
So thanks to the British Army I had the names of his parents and their address in Ketton. Not Kent, Rutland. And definitely not the descendants of Norman nobility but actually a long line of agricultural labourers called Isaac.
I have to say I'm relieved. I'd much rather be a family on the up than one fallen from grace. And as far as I can tell they were all decent and incredibly fertile people. I mean to regularly have families of ten cropping up...don't expect me to continue the tradition.
And anyway, those farmers lived through stuff like the corn laws...I learnt about those in history. For me, not exciting, for them probably big news.
So that's the Cliff(e)s. Next the Williams side and there's definitely a master mariner or two to learn about. Wish me luck!