Villages are the same...

Villages are the same in character but individually different. That's my hunch, anyway. Looking around my new one, in company with Barney

, I could see the village history in its street names and buildings. The church: big and important in the past, less so now. Most villages seem to have 'The Old Rectory' somewhere, like East Chinnock and Steep. Then there are signs of the former wheelwrights and carters who kept the wheels turning and goods on the move. (George Sturt's 'The Wheelwright's Shop' describing his family business in Farnham in the early 1900s is still an engrossing read). Then there's the forge which looked after everything metal, in trade, commerce and domestic use. I haven't seen 'The Old Bakery' yet, but am sure there is one. And then the encircling fields and footpaths around the still small village of 400 people.

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