Pastoral Abstract

The village hall is about to get a bit of a facelift and renovation. For many years this mural has adorned the back of the stage, but I fear it's about to be lost to the building work. The hall chairman requested therefore that I capture it before it went.

It shows a view of the village from the hill behind. My house would be just behind the trees to the far left (if it were there when the mural was painted, which it wasn't). It's a scene that was mostly accurate for many decades, but no longer.

If the JSP currently under examination becomes real, then all the fields you can see here are destined to become housing. The amount of new housing proposed is more than currently exists in the village at the moment. The roads, alas, are only B-roads or country lanes. We anticipate polluted gridlock.

The loss of this mural may in fact turn out to be a boon. Who really wants a constant reminder of the countryside we once had? On a similar vein, a late neighbour of mine has been published post-mortem. It's a whimsical work about a land gone forever.