Wigan Album

I`m sure that`s now the Douglas bank nursing home

That looks lovely..if ever I get lucky on the lottery that's what I'm looking for.

Photos like this one make my heart ache for the hot summer days when you could walk down a country lane and hear nothing but the sound of birds singing and maybe the clickety clack of a steam train in the distance.
O for the softer, gentler pace of life before the coming of the motor car and the forty ton articulated Lorry.

DTease: Nice recollections made perfect by the rhythmic beat of distant steam trains ... hand me your Bartholomew's One Inch ..., sir.

DTease: Go into Images, with 'Pattreiouex Our Countryside'. You'll find the 1938 set of cig' cards will ease your yearning for 'the pastoral' - I have the full-set, so ... . Regards.

Agree DeTease -there seems to be a longing inside many of us for the countryside -mountains 'do it' for me as well. I wonder if it is built inside us and comes down from our ancestors! There has been so many changes over the las 200 years which isn't so long ago in the grand scheme of things.

Thank goodness our long and happy association with the countryside is alive and well; Mother Nature will brook no denial of the bond. A walk along a half-forgotten and now partially overgrown hedgerow can also be quite nostalgic; the summer's bounty - something given and not taken, the wooden gate that once stood proudly and now lies crestfallen, Ragwort's relentless surge ... . I'm reminded of my brother and I having been taken on a particular walk almost sixty years ago by our Dad, and of the chat that had taken place en route between Dad and the elderly gentleman that had been seen tending to the roses in his front garden. The elderly gentleman wore a white shirt, a dark waistcoat and spoke of his wife's ill-health. His home - not too dissimilar in size to that of Hodge's farmhouse, had been built on open land and is, along with thoughts of the elderly but dejected gentleman, worthy of recollection. In September 1994, I retraced our footsteps during which time, and in no more than two shakes of a lamb's tail, made the decision to return with my sketchbook in hand. During my return and with the sketch nearing completion a gentleman, whom I assumed to have been the current owner, came from the house to have a friendly chat with me and to see my sketch. During our chat I told him about the previous visit made together all those years ago by Dad, older brother and myself, and of the chat that had taken place between Dad and the elderly gentleman. I was then asked if I could recall when our walk had been taken and duly informed him that 1959-60 was reasonable. It soon emerged that our respective fathers had spoken to each other on that particular occasion; the current owner's father (and rose grower) losing his wife soon afterwards - a very sad part of a nostalgic walk.

It seems that more and more people are turning to and wanting to live in the country..to be near to nature beats all town and city life..I continually hope that my lottery ticket will enable me to move to the countryside before it's too late.Just imagine waking up in the morning to hear nothing but the sound of the birds,sheep and cattle in the fields...oh yes I know the couple of drawbacks that it would bring,but it would bring me in particular nothing but happiness to live with Mother Nature.

Maureen: Stick with Thunderball, as half a million would set you up nicely in your pastoral paradise - as they say, Half a Ming Vase is better than no Ming Vase. You never know.

Maureen I know it's not the same but there's always camping under the stars for a week or two! Fresh milk from the moo cows and the bull in the next field and not forgetting the cow-pats! Oh and all that lovely home-baking as well! (we'll get the gang together! )Then again ...perhaps not! :0)) Keep doing the lottery!

Veronica, I would love to see you trying to get fresh milk from the bull in the next field!

Philip,I'll try Thunderball instead of Health Lottery,you never know it might
be a good omen coming from you.
Veronica..never fancied camping out..Ill just keep waiting for the big one..
and then..Id have a lovely big kitchen and do all the baking I wanted to..will
you be coming round to sample my wares...see...I'm speaking like a country girl already..you could all come to see the llamas that I'm going to buy as well.....one has to dream doesn't one.

D tease.I think Veronica would have to be a top notch runner to try and milk a bull.lol

Trust you Dtease meant the bull charging in the next field Hahaha!
Maureen I would love to sample your wares! Good Luck with the lottery I can't win a sausage!

Milk from a Bull. I suspect not.

Maureen: I've been told that the chance of success with Thunderball is greater than that of the Nat' Lottery - with you in spirit.
Veronica: During the 1950s, Elisabeth Lutyens had described England's pastoral composers as 'the cowpat school'. Perhaps The Banks of Green Willow, and The Lark Ascending also failed to impress her.

Philip have you ever stood on a cowpat? I have .....thinking it was hard I put my foot down as if I was accelerating a car....to my horror it was all soft and gooey ! Ugh ! There was I with suede sandals on my feet!

That was quite a statement, Veronica.

My favourite piece of music I could listen to all day every day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR2JlDnT2l8

Maureen, How do you bake a Llama? Would you need a large Aga?

Yes DTease..with a very secure door as I believe they spit a lot.lol

Good one Maureen!

Veronica..lol..lol..lol.
P.S...I love Llamas.

They make lovely wooly hats too! Not the Llamas just the wool off their backs! Hahaha!

Mick's colour photo of the farmhouse (Item 22673) includes neighbouring hedgerows, gates, cart track, farmyard 'clutter' ... .