Model Railway Forum

Plenty of lovely spots here in Norfolk though the "market" town we chose to move to seven years ago is fast becoming more than it sounds. Even got a dreaded McDonalds opening up near the old airfield.

The south east gets a bad rap when it comes to urbanization but I live just 15 miles outside the M25 on the edge side of the largest conurbation south of the Thames and I can see sheep on the hill opposite our landing window.
Not so bad really.

"To be honest there are still many areas of beautiful countryside but in some places it is disappearing fast as green belt is increasingly swallowed up for housing.

Richard"


Which is why I am a trustee of 40 acres of beautiful meadows now registered as a village green, second largest in the UK.

Where we live is still in the main surrounded by pleasant greenery. If I look down the crescent I can see a wooded valley surrounding two Victorian reservoirs, the woods were a particular go to place in those times. Still a pleasant place to walk but like many places seems to attract undesirables these days. Over my side fence I can see green fields bordering the wooded valley and if I go to the end of our crescent to the road bordering the development it is just green fields to the Pennines and if I walk to the top of the hill separating us from the next village, I can see the Yorkshire Dales.

However, our village is an example of the urban sprawl that has taken place. When I was a kid it was a few shops, a few houses and two long gone mills. Since then the shops have gone and housing has linked us to a nearby district. Unfortunately our bungalow is part of that 70’s spread and loss of identity, so much so that despite signs on the four roads that meet here naming the village it is not part of the postal address. The local parish council is trying to get the name re-established but the Post Office does not want to know. I suppose you cannot stop progress and if not for development in the 70’s we would not be living here.

Richard

Richard they were going to build on the farmland around us but there were many protests and the plan was abandoned. Trouble is the small estate we live on was a farm so it makes you feel a bit guilty thinking how the villagers felt when our houses were built.

Our estate is built on an orchard that was once part of the landed gentry estate that was turned over to industry, then reverted to housing when the industry failed (furniture and clock making), in fact our title deeds ban us from the manufacture and sale of clocks and in the next street they have the same caveat for furniture.

Before the war there was a large house with a zoo then the land was turned into a POW camp.

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Mon May 03, 2021 10:39 pm Before the war there was a large house with a zoo then the land was turned into a POW camp.

Was that Billy Smart’s place that eventually morphed into the safari park and then Legoland by any chance?

Steve M wrote: ↑Mon May 03, 2021 12:20 pm The south east gets a bad rap when it comes to urbanization but I live just 15 miles outside the M25 on the edge side of the largest conurbation south of the Thames and I can see sheep on the hill opposite our landing window.
Not so bad really.

Talking of sheep, our house looks out over fields and hills, okay we have 2 quarries a mile either side of the village but we have an un-obstructed view. We had sheep in the field recently, used to count them every day and pretty stressful when they were hiding behind a bush or wall.

dtb wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 12:38 am

Steve M wrote: ↑Mon May 03, 2021 12:20 pm The south east gets a bad rap when it comes to urbanization but I live just 15 miles outside the M25 on the edge side of the largest conurbation south of the Thames and I can see sheep on the hill opposite our landing window.
Not so bad really.

Talking of sheep, our house looks out over fields and hills, okay we have 2 quarries a mile either side of the village but we have an un-obstructed view. We had sheep in the field recently, used to count them every day and pretty stressful when they were hiding behind a bush or wall.

hang on thread says International Shipping Costs