Self-Sufficiency in Style
november 2003 diary
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Self-Sufficiency in Style november 2003 diary |
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It's now the quiet time of year. So we thought we
would use some of the sunnier Autumn days to take a few photographs around
the area, starting at Hangman's Cottage and working our way outwards into the village. On another day we will go beyond to the little town in the valley, perhaps even a little further. |
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It's a flat landscape, just a little above sea-level, but it has its
glories, mostly the work of man. Our contribution is the walled garden. As the winter winds start to howl in from the North Sea, the walls, the hedges and trees, give a little protection to man and plants. The first wind strips the leaves from the ash trees, and for the first time for many months, we can see lights at night to the west from beyond the old castle mound. |
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To the north too, the missing leaves give us a clear view across an arable
field. Rabbits and many pheasants, not much else. |
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Opposite and to the east, a clear view now, of absolutely nothing. Thousands of acres of "set aside." Corn land left fallow as part of a political process. Just hay is taken off to keep it from becoming over-grown. Once it was a patchwork of small fields, with hedgerows and trees. You can still see the marks where ditches and hedges once enclosed the land.. Still, it is appreciated by the riders. This is splendid horse country. It once would have looked just like this before in history, before the orders came to enclose the common lands. Now owned by a Mr Vaughan, very naturally it has become known as "Vaughan's Lawns." The people from here have always been great at naming things. If you live in any part of the new worlds, the name of your town or settlement, may well owe something to immigrants that came from these parts. There is often a little tongue in cheek and light humour in the process. The new arrangements mean temporary access for local people has been restored to private land. It has become an asset for the area appreciated by everyone. Not everything new is bad, in this case, the owner obviously enjoys the opportunity to give access. Good Luck to him. |
Vaughan's Lawns. |
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To the south there is little to see except the sheep, always attentive when someone takes any interest. |
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It is very much a winter landscape now. The short days and gloom mean it is actually quite hard to get good photographs. |
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We live amongst the heaviest concentration of medieval churches anywhere in the world - hundreds of them. You can often stand on a lane anywhere here and see four churches, almost never less than two. It is very much a man-made countryside subject to constant upheaval. |
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There is a pretty non-conformist church in the centre of the village, now
a shared church - over the centuries the village moved and left the
original church behind. A very common story in this particular county - and typical of continuous changes. In this area, the plague "The Black Death" is blamed for the separation of village and church. |
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The village has now lost its pub, its shop, its school, but it survives
with a very determined sense of community. The post-box is still there, of course, unchanged for many years. It still bears the cipher of George V. Seventy years ago, and still doing a twice daily job. |
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The original church stands in splendid isolation with the former rectory, also a magnificent building, alongside. |
| A very French view frames a vista of the next village church. |
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Less than a mile away, rather grand too. The product of many centuries of change. |
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Churches are not the only buildings that change, some really change their function. |
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The clue to the former use of this little building is in the arch. It was built as a locomotive shed, for the little steam railway that ran along the valley. Long ago closed, and almost forgotten, the route of the railway was taken by a new road. The engine house now serves for vehicle repairs. |
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| Going back to churches, if we travel a mile north, we move further into the ancient lands of Boudicca, the warrior queen who stormed London, with her charioted army. A land fortified by the Romans following her defeat, and eventually to become the homeland of a kind of church rarely seen elsewhere. The round towered churches - two are visible in one vista, less than a mile apart. | |
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This little church awaits Christmas with the holly from the churchyard. |
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But if we take a different view, we see a magnificent building swamping its humble tower. You can almost see the additions and alterations of century after century...centuries of change |
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It is a changing countryside with changing buildings, and changing land
use. What looks to be a very traditional and stable rural society is
actually vibrant with decline and renewal often both at the same time. And that really is the message of this little off season tour, we too at Hangman's Cottage are making changes and seeing change around us. |
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Harbinger of change, the chicken army. |
Over the last five years we have seen a remarkable transformation. As traditional farming has faced difficulties, small corners of field adjoining houses have been sold to the occupants...horse pasture, of course. Horses are the traditional love of the English countrywoman. Modern Boudiccas are formidable allies in the battle for a kind of freedom. The writer would not seek to frustrate them, with or without their chariots. But that is not all - little huts are being placed here and there, the odd sheep, a couple of goats....and everywhere chickens. A more self-sufficient lifestyle is emerging from the wreckage and tensions of change in the least expected place. |
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Noting rural change from Hangman's Cottage, just to the south of Misery Corner. |
