Thursday, April 02, 2009

Little Bowden on Unmitigated England

Photo by Peter Ashley

One of these days I shall trip over Peter Ashley while he takes one of his photographs. For the second time his Unmitigated England blog has featured buildings I walk past every day on my journey to the station.

Last time it was the site of the old Dainite Mills (now blocks of buy-to-let flats that are being hastily remarketed as a "retirement village"). This time it is a pair of houses in Rectory Lane, Little Bowden.

Back in the 1980s the right-hand house was occupied by Liberal supporters. At election time they would show one of our posters in the diamond window pane.

There used to be a field to the right of these houses - you can see the start of the houses that have recently been built on it in the photograph. At the far side of it there was a sweet little twenties or thirties bungalow - it was the sort of place the artist suspect would live in an Agatha Christie.

Sometimes sheep would graze in the field. One spring there were some Jacob sheep and the lambs were so small that they could squeeze through the railings and graze the lawn across the road. Not only has the field been built on: that lawn has been paved over as hardstanding for a car.

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