Skelton Hall warming itself in the morning sunshine after a cold night.

Skelton Hall was built by a younger Hutton during a fit of competitive building with another family (whose house was Clints Hall and was located where I took this blip). But the young man died and Skelton Hall was never finished. In my childhood there was a small house at the back which was inhabited by a Miss Mariner, a very proper spinster. On her death it was inherited by her brother, the less proper and slightly scary looking but actually rather nice, Ernie Mariner. He continued to live in the back of the building and left the front decay. On his death it was acquired by a developer who has turned it into several flats and maisonettes, occupied by people who commute to jobs 20 miles away, driving slightly too fast down the narrow lane in their 4x4s, and never stopping to get to know the people who live in and farm the village.

Still, Nine Lessons and Carols had a congregation of about 60 today, so the community is healthy enough.