Whats in a name and how soon do we forget recent news

On my way to a school this morning a white van appears before me with the business name written on it.

                                                                R Harris, Painter.


I bet he has kept his head down or got a lot of stick lately. Anyway told a couple of folk about the van and both couldn't see what I was going on about, I had to explain it. Have we got so used to getting so much news and scandal that we don't even register it properly.

my mad mind and words

Coming back home this afternoon from a days storytelling at a primary school, I see this lovely old wooden farm barn signs all over it saying pools for sale, jacuzzis paddling etc etc, what was the name of the farm, Wash Farm.

five bells burwell 5th july

Went down to the Five Bells this morning to tell some stories with Rachel OLeary to children as part of Burwell Carnival Week.

A relaxed and rainy morning but bumped into some old friends, Terri and Paul who were entertaining with music and Jig Dolls.

Paul reckons the one Terri was working with could be over a hundred years old, it has had a few repairs courtesy of Terri and is now back dancing.

Food we just buy it dont we

We dont think where it comes from or what it takes to grow it. And excuse me if you know better but too many dont.

A simple field of wheat to make what, bread. Its a big field its kept free of crop pests and weeds and a loaf of bread costs what?

A simple field of potatoes to make what, chips, crisps.Again the field is kept free of pests and weeds but look at the left of the photo that's a huge reservoir because potatoes need a lot of water and the farmer cannot guarantee he will be able to take it from the local rivers. So he builds a reservoir and when its filled usually over winter its his water to do with as he wishes and uses pumps, pipes and mobile irrigators to make his crops grow. And all for a packet of crisps or a portion of chips.

Its too easy to walk into a shop and buy food any food, we expect the shelves to be full and everything to be cheap.

Stopped for lunch and there was Nancy well almost

The other day I was between gardens and thinking lunch so I took a drive by the river in Cambridge till I found somewhere I could stop, and there before me was the start of a story I tell. 

What story, well Nancy the Waterman of course.

working in the land of story part two

Its about a year now since I first wrote about this area and I have been back. The fields are now divided by a bare ribbon of earth, with crops growing right up to that ribbon as reminders of what the land will return too when work is completed.

During the clearance work to create the ribbon through the fields, signs of early human occupation have been found, on ground that would when the signs were left have been dry in that time before the peat developed, a time when Doggerland existed taking Norfolks coast hundreds of miles northwards. The signs are not big or incredible, they are just reminders and souvenirs that remind us we are never far from those that went before, what signs will we leave I sometimes wonder.

and it all starts with reading a book or two

If you know me you know I love books especially books on aspects of east anglian history.

One of our local heroines is Etheldreda who has links to Ely cathedral and other villages closeby. Another local this time a hero is Hereward again with links to Ely.

In both books there is talk of standing on the ridge of land that Haddenham Aldreth and Wilburton stand on and looking out over the fens towards the south and cambridge and beyond. In the days pre drainage the near view would have seen the lush green of reeds and willows intersected by ribbons of water of various depths and widths with perhaps the off large pool here and there. Since drainage though the view is very organised with rectangular fields stretching into the distance all separated by ditches sometimes with a remnant strip of reed or a bit of hedge or a tree or two.

 

I have often wondered what it might have looked like  in the days pre-drainage.

A few years ago at the base of the ridge in Wilburton a solar farm was installed which you can see easily enough from the ridge, then last year work started on extending it.

I had a really good look a few days ago as I was driving past, area has been increased a lot and there it sits a grey blue block of colour contained within the network of regular fields. And what does it remind me of water. And I think to myself can we perhaps now start to imagine what the landscape used to look like using this block as a guide.

Will we again see the army of William massing on the far shore, the men the horses the towers on the causeway. Will Hereward again send fire rushing through the reeds sending men and horse and the ladies in the towers tumbling into the water.

And it all starts with reading a book or two and imagining.