River Avon, Nr Naseby, Northamptonshire

or 'No Billy, No!'

For something to do, I went to an old favourite, the source of the Warwickshire or Shakespeare's Avon. I wondered if I would find it much as it was when I trekked and photographed the river from source to Severn over a period of about a year in 1993/4. The source is reliably in the front garden of the Manor House (now Manor Farm) and is so marked with a cone dated 1822 and basin. When I was there last the basin contained water. Today it appears dry. The inn across the road is The Fitzgerald Arms. A pretender source with a garden well. In 1993 I lifted their timber well cover to discover inside an array of crisp packets. Sadly, the pub is now closed. Nevertheless the river was known to run beneath the cellar and sometimes bubble up through the stone flags.

I wandered back past the church and headed down Carvells Lane, a track to Naseby Reservoir and the A14. Last time I went down here the A14 was still under construction. I took this route because I knew that about a quarter of a mile west of Naseby the river would emerge under the lane. Back in '93 I had photographed the river with a foot on each bank, when it had a running width of about 6 inches.

Having found the river I skipped into the adjacent copse, slid down the bank and stood in the river, a full two inches at its deepest. Thing was, the photographs were plain dull. There's nothing attractive about a ditch where folk toss their building rubble. Happily, someone with a dog took a walk down Carvells Lane. I was alerted to the dog when a man yelled 'No Billy, No' followed by 'Bloody hell, Billy'. After that came ever closing sounds of splashes.

I stood my ground, or rather crouched within my patch of ditch, and soon enough, Billy's tongue and legs hurtled into frame at full pelt.

Extra: The Source, Manor Farm, Naseby.