Brick Wall

In the last two decades of his life, my father lived in the village of Ravenstone, one of many small communities in the East Midlands coal field. The nearest town is Coalville - no mystery in that name! Just south of Coalville is the village of Ibstock, which was also a pit village. The first shaft was sunk there in 1832. Very soon afterwards, the business established a brick-works on site as a way of using by-products from the mine: clay that was extracted from the surface layers above the seam, and poor-quality coal that was barely saleable

The brick works proved highly profitable, more so than the mine. The colliery closed in 1928 but the brick and tile manufacturing business continued to thrive and became the largest brick manufacturer in the country, absorbing other businesses along the way. Ibstock bricks are still a recognised name, quoted as a guarantee of quality by building suppliers and brick wholesalers. The OS map still marks a brick works and a clay pit, east of the village

Ibstock also had a brief national salience in 2005. My father's doctor, who he liked and admired, was based in Ibstock. In that year Dr Stephen Farley, 55, committed suicide, an event that shocked and surprised the entire community. In an ominous premonition of the crisis that now threatens the existence of the NHS, Dr Farley had been visited by officers of his primary care trust, and been sent letters, criticising the number of patients that he was referring to hospital specialists

We are having a few days away from home. Our route took us close to Ibstock and our lunch-stop cafe was nearby, with this attached 18th century garden. This was only one of several enormous brick walls that now form boundaries around and within the garden - presumably a bulk order from the local supplier